Empire Strikes Back - Two 1980 Theatrical Cuts?

So I was reading wikipedia and discovered this

“1980: In May, The Empire Strikes Back was theatrically released.[2] After its initial opening, but before its wide release, George Lucas extended the end sequence.[4] A 70 mm print of the film differed from the more widely distributed 35 mm print in takes of dialogue, visual and sound effects, shot choices, and transitions between shots;[5] none of these changes appeared in later releases, with exception of one dialogue change.[6]”

I can’t seem to find any other information about the 2 different versions so I was wondering if anyone had a list or if someone knows where I can find the preservations for each version?

The-long-and-the-short of it is that when the film was released on May 21st, 1980, it was a limited engagement that was shown only in 70mm prints. When the film went into general release with 35mm prints on the following June 18th, it was new a cut that included changes (some optical-effects fixes and dialogue replacements, among them) and 3 new special effects shots that increased that length of the film by 20 seconds.

Discussion of that limited-engagement cut can be found here.
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/ESB-70mm-Soundtrack-1980-in-theatre-recording/id/12501/page/1
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Hopefully-the-last-70mm-vs-35mm-ESB-audio-differences-thread/id/14128/page/1
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/70-mm-print-of-the-Empire-Strikes-Back-Differences/id/2321/page/1

Someone did a recreation of the ending of that limited-engagement cut on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbl8tLOfFE
The audio in that video is a vintage In-Theater recording of a screening from that alternate cut.

Details about that audio recording can be found here:
http://wideanglecloseup.com/starwarsaudio.html

I increasingly get the feeling one day we’re finally gonna get our hands on the full 70mm cut for viewing and discover it’s virtually identical to the later cut we’re familiar with aside from the redone final scene. I have a theory that the other supposed differences actually come from one of the prints that mistakenly got sent out with “unfinished effects” shots that we’ve also heard murmurs about over the years.

It’s just a hunch and a guess, I could definitely be wrong, but every time we get a chance to see/ hear some more of the 70mm version the expected differences never seem to materialize.

I’m surprised a 70MM mag print hasn’t surfaced. Nor have loose reels in a number of years. I came upon reels for Empire and Return of the Jedi once upon a time on Ebay.

I just have a feeling they would be faded all to hell, be warped or even have vinegar syndrome.

JadedSkywalker said:

I’m surprised a 70MM mag print hasn’t surfaced. Nor have loose reels in a number of years. I came upon reels for Empire and Return of the Jedi once upon a time on Ebay.

I just have a feeling they would be faded all to hell, be warped or even have vinegar syndrome.

Might be one of the few pieces of star wars lost to time sadly. At the very least the final scene can still be viewed in some form on youtube with audience reactions right before the jump to hyperspace as someone posted earlier. Bet lucasfilm has something somewhere digitally scanned for preservation.

JadedSkywalker said:

I’m surprised a 70MM mag print hasn’t surfaced. Nor have loose reels in a number of years. I came upon reels for Empire and Return of the Jedi once upon a time on Ebay.

I just have a feeling they would be faded all to hell, be warped or even have vinegar syndrome.

oh no, it’s been found, albeit fairly recently

Barfolomew said:

I increasingly get the feeling one day we’re finally gonna get our hands on the full 70mm cut for viewing and discover it’s virtually identical to the later cut we’re familiar with aside from the redone final scene. I have a theory that the other supposed differences actually come from one of the prints that mistakenly got sent out with “unfinished effects” shots that we’ve also heard murmurs about over the years.

It’s just a hunch and a guess, I could definitely be wrong, but every time we get a chance to see/ hear some more of the 70mm version the expected differences never seem to materialize.

Well it seems you were wrong (although perhaps not about the accidental less finished or not meant to be released ones, that stuff is still open question). Even more wild, it is now proven that there were at least two different versions of ESB in 70mm alone!

I still wonder about a few of the initial batch 70mm for Star Wars…

For those unaware a while ago the Blast Points podcast was able to view a print of the 70mm version and confirm the differences:
https://blastpointspodcast.com/2024/01/30/episode-387-the-70mm-empire-strikes-back-experience/

I also came across this video discussing some of the changes and it seems to show some legitimate footage:
https://youtu.be/FbezmT4crf8?si=iXGhH9wa_nYl0guC

MonkeyLizard10 said:

Barfolomew said:

I increasingly get the feeling one day we’re finally gonna get our hands on the full 70mm cut for viewing and discover it’s virtually identical to the later cut we’re familiar with aside from the redone final scene. I have a theory that the other supposed differences actually come from one of the prints that mistakenly got sent out with “unfinished effects” shots that we’ve also heard murmurs about over the years.

It’s just a hunch and a guess, I could definitely be wrong, but every time we get a chance to see/ hear some more of the 70mm version the expected differences never seem to materialize.

Well it seems you were wrong (although perhaps not about the accidental less finished or not meant to be released ones, that stuff is still open question). Even more wild, it is now proven that there were at least two different versions of ESB in 70mm alone!

I still wonder about a few of the initial batch 70mm for Star Wars…

Yep, there’s also this news footage from opening day 1980 includes shots of the screening itself that don’t appear to match the “A” print. I feel pretty confident that it wouldn’t match the “B” print either (I think that one was probably prepared for a later international release, so it conforms to the 35mm cut) and probably represents the “A” print but with the completed effects… but unless we find more prints, we’ll probably never know for sure!

https://youtu.be/M_C5tAUKlGc?si=DApA0jF7g67cg2JE

DarthSmaul said:

For those unaware a while ago the Blast Points podcast was able to view a print of the 70mm version and confirm the differences:
https://blastpointspodcast.com/2024/01/30/episode-387-the-70mm-empire-strikes-back-experience/

I also came across this video discussing some of the changes and it seems to show some legitimate footage:
https://youtu.be/FbezmT4crf8?si=iXGhH9wa_nYl0guC

Yeah, Team Negative One (the guys who’ve released the 4K files of the original trilogy theatrical prints) managed to get their hands on two 70mm ESB prints last year and are currently working on remastering them. Those podcasts/vids likely received raw grindhouse scans.

Honestly it’s big enough news I’ve been tempted to start a new thread about it, but so far I’ve held off because it feels like there’s an air of discretion about it, like they don’t want too much attention until they know the prints can’t be traced back to their owners (I don’t know for sure, I’m just guessing). Exciting stuff, though!