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Fang Zei

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14-Oct-2006
Last activity
11-Aug-2025
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Post
#275433
Topic
How much does it cost Lucasfilm to make a DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275433/action/topic#275433
Time
Originally posted by: zombie84
The other option would to just take a print--or better yet, a IN or IP--and just run a straight transfer, with the standard dirt/scratch/grain removal filters that come standard in telecine packages. This would not yield a perfectly clean version of the film, but it would be as sharp as any other classic film out there and would be imperfect but reasonably clean--and it would definitly blow everyone away with its resolution and clarity. The cost of doing this is practically peanuts, which is why worthless shit that only few people buy like Smokey and the Bandit 2 and Revenge of the Nerds 3 get the same treatment--way under $50, 000. Add authoring a master and creating a simple menu system and you are looking at a great looking version of Star Wars that would cost Lucasfilm just under $100, 000. So basically, if ever user in this forum bought a copy, Lucasfilm would already be making profit on the disk, and obviously this would sell a few million copies and not just a few hundred.


Which is exactly what I was thinking would happen when the news broke back in early May. Weren't all of the original theatrical releases off of IP's anyway? And as you said, most old movies are put to dvd via IP at best, not the o-neg. And if telecines of the OOT were still being made as of 1995, doesn't that seriously call into question LFL's statement about the existing film copies being in bad condition? I mean, maybe after another 12 years they are now in bad condition, but I still wouldn't know.
Post
#275205
Topic
How much does it cost Lucasfilm to make a DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275205/action/topic#275205
Time
Originally posted by: skyjedi2005
On top of that the original negative was altered. that is the best source for a restoration, being a first generation or no generation copy of the film coming right from the camera. that is what they used to restore the bond films by lowry the o-neg. sure Lucas must still have the interpositives or selected takes of those scenes on film rolls but the quality is at least 1 to 2 generations older than the o-neg.


a depressing, but true statement

also, this leads me to a question I've had. A lot of people said that it was Lowry's digital restoration that screwed up the colors for the '04 dvd, but since this was also the first time that the negatives had been scanned directly into the computer, do you think it's possible the negatives always looked like that? All of the previous releases were off of the IP's.
Post
#274394
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274394/action/topic#274394
Time
pretty much....

Like I've said before, you don't alter the old movie just so the new movie will conveniently flow with it. What was the point of making the old movie in the first place if that's what you were going to do? It's cheating. You don't see the studios doing this with their old movies when a new installment in one of their franchises is released. In fact, you see the studios going more and more for an archival treatment of their films serieses on dvd. That's why Lucas has less and less of a leg to stand on with each passing day.
Post
#274072
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274072/action/topic#274072
Time
I think the "9-disc" part of the rumor is actually just pure speculation and a jumped-to conclusion on their part. It's funny the way you construe it as the 2-disc prequel sets plus the '04 OT discs, 'cause I was thinking something quite different. If it were nine discs, I'd think it would be the latest 2007 edition of the saga plus the 3 OOT movies fully remastered. If the Superman set was 14 discs and it could be sold for only 70 dollars, I don't see why LFL can't go all out and do at least 12 discs for the movies themselves plus any additional discs on top of that.
Post
#274055
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274055/action/topic#274055
Time
Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"this is the first time that something SW didn't sell well"

Actually, product merchandising for TPM was abysmal. Lucas complained that there was simply too much, and subsequently limited the licensing for AOTC.


Right, but I think what was meant is that it was the first time a home video release of Star Wars did not sell well, and even that I think is up for debate because as we've said the numbers pretty conclusively show that the GOUT sets sold well.

Lucas really is an attention whore when it comes to the OOT. I actually want to believe that he authorized the GOUT release not only to keep money flowing into LFL but also to keep people talking about him.
Post
#274045
Topic
It seems like nobody involved in the making of the Original Trilogy has spoken up about George Lucas’ oppression of the unaltered theatrical version of the OT.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274045/action/topic#274045
Time
that's interesting to find out

Kersh didn't really seem to care about the changes made to Empire since it wasn't changing the story so far as he saw it, but since that scream does pretty much change what happenned it's interesting to know that it might've been taken out for the '04 dvd at his behest.
Post
#274043
Topic
Lucas @ The Oscars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274043/action/topic#274043
Time
Originally posted by: ReverendBeastly
Originally posted by: Jumpman
If someone can give me a complete and logic answer to this question, I'll gladly change my mind....

Becuase they didn't have 30 years of cultural hindsight in 1978.


you beat me to it

Star Wars was something like no one had ever seen before, it was too new. Even The Return of the King, which is pretty much regarded as the first Fantasy movie of any kind to win the award, was the third movie of a trilogy. The previous two had already been nominated for best picture and both lost.
Post
#273917
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273917/action/topic#273917
Time
the way in which the theatrical LOTR dvd's were done would actually be my ideal treatment for the OOT. For each film, first disc is the movie in 16:9 enhanced widescreen and Dolby 5.1, with maybe a commentary or something since the movie isn't as long as an LOTR and hence doesn't take up as much space on the disc, and then the second disc would be all vintage documentaries, commercials, trailers, etc (then again, they already took care of the commercials and trailers on the '04 dvd). This wouldn't be hard to do at all, but LFL will probably drag this out as long as they can, selling us the "30th anniversary" stuff and the two tv shows before they bother to get around to it.
Post
#273905
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273905/action/topic#273905
Time
Originally posted by: Number20
But as someone has said earlier, nowhere has anything been promised.


that was me,

although thinking back on that, Lucas did say in an interview around the time of the 9/12 release "now we'll see" and "it'll all come out in the end." Maybe to him this is nothing more than a funny experiment even though, as I keep saying, there's no way he doesn't know about the huge demand for a good quality OOT release. LFL should just do a high-def transfer of the OOT and get it over with so they can keep revising the SE every few years to keep it "updated."

As someone said in either this thread or one of the others, the star wars trilogy is just one of countless other movies that are yet to see the light of day. Watching that youtube video that someone linked to earlier, the "real political face talk" one, THX-1138's original version hasn't been released on dvd either. What are the chances it ever will be?
Post
#273833
Topic
It seems like nobody involved in the making of the Original Trilogy has spoken up about George Lucas’ oppression of the unaltered theatrical version of the OT.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273833/action/topic#273833
Time
I was just thinking about this exact thing yesterday. At the press junket for the '04 dvd, Kershner said "I don't know what he's talking about" in response to some guy asking what he thought about the SE. Kershner just said that the color was enhanced, the sound was enhanced, they added the snow monster and that was it, "it's the movie I made." Maybe it's just because special effects are special effects and he himself said that wasn't his department or forte. He's a humble director who realizes that there are other people involved in making the movie besides him, something Lucas doesn't have the biggest respect for.

Kershner obviously had Lucas's blessing to do the SE of Empire, but I don't think ROTJ's would have been as bad if Marquand had still been alive in '97.
Post
#273765
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273765/action/topic#273765
Time
Originally posted by: Jumpman
"please someone tell me what's prevented LFL over all these years from remastering the OUT."

Because, he didn't want to. The Special Edition is closer to what he wanted all along, from the beginning. He feels this is what HE wants to see out there in the general public when it comes to Star Wars.

Yes, but this was never preventing them from remastering the original versions.

Originally posted by: Jumpman
Also, this notion that Lucas won't or can't stop changing things is stupid. From '97 to '04, he didn't really change much at all. '97 was the year he changed and updated. '04 was the year he fixed the updates he made. I can pretty much guarantee that whenever the films are released again, the changes and updates will be very minimal compared to what he did in '97. It'll be fixing lightsaber colors, correcting matte lines, and another transfer. He'll do the most updating with the Prequels.

But Lucas' days of constantly redo the films is pretty much coming to an end....The scenario of what's going to be changed in this boxset has gotten way out of hand in the online community.


Were we discussing possible changes to the future boxset? No, we were discussing changes that have been made.
Post
#273722
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273722/action/topic#273722
Time
Well, we already knew the boxset was happenning. Now comes rumor that it just might not be happenning this year. To be perfectly honest, they didn't promise us a damn thing besides the '06 GOUT being the only time (as of now) that the original versions will be available. Is that a slap in the face to the fans? Of course it is, and it always will be. If they release a remastered OOT, we can put all of this behind us (that's exactly what people said when they announced the 9/12 release, back before the non-anamorphic news broke, ugh...) but it won't make the 9/12 release any less of a slap in the face. LFL has made their choice and they can't take it back.

I think a big problem is that while people care about seeing the OUT restored and remastered once and for all, they don't care enough about it. I mean, otherwise, wouldn't LFL have done it by now? Maybe there just aren't enough film fans out there and the general public really will just accept whatever LFL puts out. I think even if this rumor turns out to be true, LFL should announce the OOT's status one way or the other and do it soon, certainly no later than Celebration IV.
Post
#273702
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273702/action/topic#273702
Time
and that's pretty much how I felt back in '97 seeing the SE. It didn't feel like the same movie because it wasn't the same movie. The biggest way in which some fans have been duped is thinking that these movies are legally Lucas's. Guess what? ANH wasn't even his until the mid-90's. Star Wars '77 was a studio picture that Lucas directed. The sequels were legally Lucas's but he did not direct them. Eventually he got hold of the total rights to ANH...just in time to turn it into a different movie. Do you see what happenned here? Look at the end credits of Star Wars SE, it only says copyright 1997 LFL. So please, unless those rumors about Lucas's divorce settlement with Marcia are true, please someone tell me what's prevented LFL over all these years from remastering the OUT.