Star Wars (1977 Original Version) Theatrical Rerelease Discussion — Page 2

Broom Kid said:

Nothing probably changed their minds, they likely always planned for it to drop on the 50th Anniversary. they’ll have been working on it for 5 years before it actually gets released.

It’s not like this is going to earn THAT much, or that they’re down so bad that they NEEDED it to come out earlier.

I doubt it was planned all along.

JJ Abrams said in 2019 he directly asked Lucasfilm to release the original versions, and they gave some vague answer about how it wasn’t going to happen.

“I have asked about this because, I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that? But I’ve been told that — for reasons that I don’t quite understand — that that’s not necessarily possible. Which is, you know, too bad because that was the thing that I loved.”

If he wasn’t able to convince them or was even given a reason, that’s pretty odd.

Everyone’s hunch seemed to be just that they wanted to respect George’s wishes, and now they no longer care I guess lol

And I think between theatrical and home media it will easily earn them $100 million+

RM4747 said:

charlynne said:

I honestly thought that George would never do it, but I’m glad to be proven wrong. With so many changes made to this movie, a re-release of the original version and in higher quality was very due.

As of last year, George still seemed opposed to releasing the originals. He was asked directly at Cannes 2024, and grumbled about “We released them on DVD, but no one wanted them! Everyone said they looked terrible! It would cost millions of dollars to restore them! It’s my movie and I can change what I want!”

Once he sold the company in 2012, he gave up all control over things like this.

I seriously doubt they asked for his blessing, since they don’t need it. And Bob Iger supposedly doesn’t get along well with him anyway since he rejected his story ideas for Episodes 7-9 and he didn’t like the sequels.

What confuses me is why they waited so long.

Disney could’ve done this immediately after buying Lucasfilm, or for the 40th anniversary.

So I wonder who changed their mind, and why.

The top heads at Disney/Lucasfilm are only concerned about their careers, thus they were focused on propping up their own immediate projects (mainly the ST) and make money out of that.

They probably were waiting for the 50th anniversary to do this for a while, and I can’t help but feel the fall of the franchise put some urgency into doing something safe and basic like this to get some goodwill back and people into their seats.

Of course the fans will be glad over this, but I wonder if the general audiences will be that excited to watch movies they’ve seen a thousand times already again, right after Star Wars got milked dry for content.

MORC said:

Of course the fans will be glad over this, but I wonder if the general audiences will be that excited to watch movies they’ve seen a thousand times already again, right after Star Wars got milked dry for content.

I think so. I’ve personally never seen the originals (or prequels) in theaters, so this will be my first time, and I’m excited for it to be the original versions.

The last time it was widely released in theaters was 1997, and that was the special editions. I was very young then lol, so I never saw that release.

They were planning a re-release in 2012, but that was cancelled when they sold the company to Disney.

I grew up watching the trilogy on my dad’s VHS copies from the 80s.

Broom Kid said:

Yeah, I don’t think anything “changed their mind” - I think they had ideas for what they wanted to do when they first bought the company, and then those ideas ran their course, and then they decided to get ready for the 50th Anniversary. The fact we didn’t even know they were doing this for YEARS before it accidentally leaked out, pretty strongly suggests they think about stuff like this WAY in advance, on schedules it doesn’t occur to us they’re even working on.

Then why was JJ Abrams told it was impossible and given a vague non-answer that he didn’t understand? lol

Broom Kid said:

Why do you think Abrams talking to the press on a press tour is giving 100% honest answers at all times? Also when was Abrams giving that answer? About A DECADE ago, yeah? If my answer is “they wanted to do other stuff first, and then decided to do this on the 50th” then probably nothing changed their mind, and Abrams was giving a now 10-yr old answer that isn’t relevant anymore (if it ever was since it was press tour b.s). Like, why would they tell Abrams anything anyway, what does he have to do with it?

It was 2019, like I said. 6 years ago.

But you said they’ve been planning this release all along in secret, which there’s no evidence of.

And yeah, he seemed pretty honest. It was surprising enough to people at the time that it made headlines that a Star Wars director had asked Lucasfilm directly to release the originals, and they said no or that it “wasn’t possible”.

Broom Kid said:
Your whole thing since you got here is “Just asking questions” and then arguing almost everything you’re eventually told. You can’t simultaneously know better than everyone in here while ALSO asking everyone in here to educate you on all the shit you don’t know, man! Either you actually want to know, or you just want prompts to talk about how much YOU know. One of those is useful, the other not so much.

All of that seems like an off-topic personal attack, so I won’t be responding to it. But none of that is correct.

Yes, I ask for proof when people make wild, unfounded claims like “They’ve been planning this all along!!” lol

In fact, most of these threads are filled with unfounded claims.

It’s lots of “Trust me! I have access to lots of leaked and internal things. No… I can’t post them… just trust me!!”

Sure, Jan.

No one believes any claims without proof.

Thanks to whoever leaked the screenshots on Reddit, otherwise this group would’ve been gatekeeping it for years lol

RM4747 said:

charlynne said:

I honestly thought that George would never do it, but I’m glad to be proven wrong. With so many changes made to this movie, a re-release of the original version and in higher quality was very due.

As of last year, George still seemed opposed to releasing the originals. He was asked directly at Cannes 2024, and grumbled about “We released them on DVD, but no one wanted them! Everyone said they looked terrible! It would cost millions of dollars to restore them! It’s my movie and I can change what I want!”

Once he sold the company in 2012, he gave up all control over things like this.

I seriously doubt they asked for his blessing, since they don’t need it. And Bob Iger supposedly doesn’t get along well with him anyway since he rejected his story ideas for Episodes 7-9 and he didn’t like the sequels.

What confuses me is why they waited so long.

Disney could’ve done this immediately after buying Lucasfilm, or for the 40th anniversary.

So I wonder who changed their mind, and why.

No they couldn’t for the 40th. They didn’t own Star Wars until 2019. The original film belonged to Fox.

Broom Kid said:

Firstly, I’m not making “wild, unfounded claims” I’m telling you what I think. I’m giving an opinion on what I think the plausible scenario is, which is that I don’t think they “changed their minds” on anything, I think “give em the originals on the 50th Anniversary” was the idea for awhile now, and then put forward the support for my opinion being that they’d been working on this for YEARS before anyone found out, which means they were likely planning/scheduling it YEARS before that.

If you don’t want to hear what people are telling you, if you want to wrestle every conversation into a referendum on you and your belief (or lack of it) and the trivia you can’t wait to share like we haven’t already heard it, I mean - you can do that, but I think you already know how tiresome that comes across, right?

Do you want to know what you’re talking about or do you want to be “right” on the internet? Because those are increasingly two completely different things. If you want to react to people answering your questions in good faith like a cross-examining defense attorney you can, sure. Nothing’s stopping you (certainly not a block button, which we unfortunately don’t have here). But it seems like a real weird way to go about learning stuff you don’t know.

The only evidence we have is that work started in 2022.

There’s no proof they were planning this earlier than that, which means it’s definitely possible in 2019 when JJ Abrams said that, they weren’t at that time planning to release them, but changed their mind a few years later.

I think it’s obvious if they were planning to release them back then, they would’ve told JJ Abrams privately and he wouldn’t have answered that way in the interview, saying it’s impossible. He could’ve just said “They don’t want me talking about this.” or “You’ll have to wait and see.”

Broom Kid said:
But it seems like a real weird way to go about learning stuff you don’t know.

No one here knows anything I don’t know, because it all leaked publicly, thanks to the leakers who didn’t agree with you all gatekeeping the information and clips for years lol

And no one believes anonymous people saying “Trust me… I have more proof… I just can’t share it!”

Sorry, no one believes you. Share the proof, otherwise everyone automatically assumes you’re lying and you’ll be ignored.

I hope more people leak things publicly from your secret little group, so you no longer feel special and important!

2022 makes perfect sense because the Fox deal finalized in 2019. The 40th was skipped for Star Wars but celebrated for Empire and Jedi which Disney had the rights to. So the 50th anniversary is kind of a big deal, even more so being the original.

Nothing of this magnitude has happened since the 1997 Special Edition, and the original Star Wars hasn’t been seen since the 1980 reissue. 1981 being the year A New Hope was added and they redid the crawl and starfield.

In 2027 it will have been almost 46 years since anyone has seen the original cut of Star Wars. As of this year it has been withheld for 44 years.

Broom Kid said:

Good luck to you!

You too, Jabba!

Broom Kid said:

No one here knows anything I don’t know

This is sort of the problem I’m trying to get at, your inability to consider that’s not correct

Claims of insider knowledge or leaks require proof.

“Trust me, bro” is not a source.

Either post the screenshots and documents, or stop talking about it and claiming to have information.

No one will believe you otherwise.

Didn’t the Special Edition restoration take 2 years to do? These things do take time.

At least when you are doing them properly and with quality in mind. Not a 30 day turnaround like the 2004 Lowry DVD.

To be honest I can’t wait until they release the trailer for this. Its going to be epic.

RM4747 said:

Broom Kid said:

No one here knows anything I don’t know

This is sort of the problem I’m trying to get at, your inability to consider that’s not correct

Claims of insider knowledge or leaks require proof.

“Trust me, bro” is not a source.

Either post the screenshots and documents, or stop talking about it and claiming to have information.

No one will believe you otherwise.

I thought you were done here.

That guy with no name said:

We didn’t just come out of nowhere, claiming we have info you don’t, we have an ethos, we have credibility. Everything that leaked did not leak from the actual source: the YouTube channel, but from within our archive, and not everything made its way out. Everything in this thread has been pre-approved by me for public release… Because most of these screenshots were taken by me… We have been discussing these leaks for almost an entire year, privately. We have a multitude of information that we chose not to release. Why? Because it’s sensitive info that might get people in trouble. You either accept that, so we can have a proper conversation, or you can remain in ignorance. And at this point, you don’t know the half of it.

Credibility? Who gave you credibility?

According to the FAQ, you randomly saw the ALI YouTube page in your recommendations. That’s not a leak, that’s dumb luck.

That’s assuming it’s true, many people (including EckhartsLadder) believe it was more likely leaked by an employee working on the restoration, and this story of someone accidentally discovering the YouTube channel is unlikely, and doesn’t pass the smell test.

Yeah, I’m sure you care deeply about the names you censored from the documents lol

Like “Supervised by K.K.”

Yeah… really hard to imagine who that might be… thank god you censored that one. Really would put her job at risk!

That guy with no name said:
And at this point, you don’t know the half of it.

What’s the purpose of hiding it and keeping it to yourself, if not to make yourselves feel important?

Sure, censor the names of employees, I agree with that.

Nothing else would jeopardize anyone’s jobs. It’s their own fault for leaking this in the first place lol

I’m very thankful to whoever in your group leaked this publicly, otherwise you almost certainly would’ve been gatekeeping this for another year, so you all felt extra special and important.

It honestly doesn’t matter, since they’re going to release this regardless of what leaks out.

So you might as well just leak the rest, assuming you have any more information.

That guy with no name said:
Because it’s sensitive info that might get people in trouble. You either accept that, so we can have a proper conversation, or you can remain in ignorance. And at this point, you don’t know the half of it.

I’ve already seen the uncensored leaks, with the names of employees lol

I seriously doubt they would just fire people randomly without tracking down a source of the leak.

If anyone is to blame, it’s probably the IT person who set up the auto-upload script, assuming that explanation is true.

JadedSkywalker said:

Didn’t the Special Edition restoration take 2 years to do? These things do take time.

Yes, though it doesn’t take 5 years to restore 3 movies, especially not for a company with the resources of Disney.

From what’s leaked, apparently the scans at least started in 2022, though I’m not sure if all scans were done then.

There was apparently an original 6K Cintel scan. Then they went back at some point later and did Cinelab 6K scans and 8K scans of the VistaVision.

Not sure if those were also done in 2022, or later.

But all of the leaked clips have a 2025 copyright date on them, so I’m not sure what work was done between 2022-2025.