Density said:
Lucas handed over all Star Wars assets to Disney. All his ideas, all his licensing rights, property rights, absolutely everything. And he got paid 4 billion dollars for it. When you’re getting that kind of obscene money, you’re not in any position to tell the buyer what to do with their new property. If he was, if he still cared so much about his “artistic vision,” he probably would have made them use his ideas for the sequel trilogy, no? But he didn’t do that; we know they didn’t use any of his ideas even though he had to give them to them. I think it’s clear that Lucas was just done with Star Wars and was fed up with the fan backlash so he was admitting defeat, cashing out and running. I think the idea that he forced Disney to only release the Special Editions absurd. If that was the case, then why would Disney and Fox executives even bother to meet with Mike Verta? Clearly they can if they want to. I’m telling you people, they’re waiting for the 40th anniversary in 2017. That’s part of the reason why they didn’t do it immediately, that and they wanted to make a proper restoration and build hype. I think a theatrical release isn’t out of the question either. Disney is not “infamous for Lucasization” as far as I know and, more importantly, they like money. Plus, with TFA, they’ve proven that they’re listening to the fans and are happy to give older fans nostalgia.
I know this is off-topic to the thread itself, but felt compelled to respond to this part of the conversation. I have no doubts that Disney wants a 40th Anniversary release, however there is at least one tall hurdle to clear.
An article from ScreenRant published on September 19 2015 states that Twentieth Century Fox owns distribution rights to Episodes I-III; V; and VI until 2020, and owns the distribution rights to Episode IV indefinitely. If that article is accurate, any meeting between Disney/Fox and Verta would have to be awfully productive. That’s not to say that an original trilogy re-release is impossible, of course.