I’m super suspicious of this.
And if it is true, there’s no way it doesn’t end up on Blu as well.
Then again, if it was only digital then Disney would get 100% of the profit on Empire and Jedi.
Disney will most likely say nothing until Celebration, assuming they’re even planning an announcement at all.
The language in their description of the Celebration Orlando panel about “a few surprises” could literally mean anything. It might not have anything to do with a new release of the movies.
Trying not to get my hopes up, but it would be nice if they at least gave us some kind of official statement on the matter.
I’m super suspicious of this.
And if it is true, there’s no way it doesn’t end up on Blu as well.
If this turns out to be true, what’s weird is that the lid keeps getting blown off in the weirdest of ways.
First there was RMW’s blurb on their website about how they’d done a 4k 16-bit restoration of the OT (yeah, no big deal or anything), which spawned the 4k thread, and now we find out (if it’s true) about the unaltered versions coming out because someone/something changed the title of the amazon download page?
Last time I saw Pablo comment, he said this:
As far as I know, there’s only one person who could make this happen and he hasn’t seemed all that interested.
He’s apparently shifting this onto Lucas. Which doesn’t make sense if Fox and Disney are meeting with Verta on his restoration. But if they had one of their own, they wouldn’t be meeting with Verta saying “we have one, thanks.” I guess we’ll find out at Celebration.
He didn’t pitch his meeting as an offering of the unaltered version of Star Wars.
What exactly was the situation with that meeting?
Did it ever even happen?
Last time I saw Pablo comment, he said this:
As far as I know, there’s only one person who could make this happen and he hasn’t seemed all that interested.
He’s apparently shifting this onto Lucas. Which doesn’t make sense if Fox and Disney are meeting with Verta on his restoration. But if they had one of their own, they wouldn’t be meeting with Verta saying “we have one, thanks.” I guess we’ll find out at Celebration.
Very good point.
All this time I’ve been pointing to John Landis’ story about what George said and yet I completely forgot about Mike Verta’s meeting with Lucasfilm.
I mean, I’m not getting any hopes up, but it does seem like such an oddly specific mistake to make (and an update to the listing, at that). So who knows.
Any chance it might just end up being a streaming GOUT?
That’s what I was wondering.
This reminds me of how people got all excited to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s director’s cut up on one of the streaming/download sites only to find out it was simply the dvd master. Same thing happened with Undiscovered Country IIRC.
I doubt that they would just slap the GOUT transfer on Amazon because it would be very low quality. In Lucas’s mind, the low quality was justified because it was an oddity on a bonus disc, but as a product being sold specifically, it wouldn’t cut it. The whole reason there’s a demand for the OOT is because the GOUT was so subpar.
Very true.
In the examples of the Star Trek: TMP and TUC director’s cuts, those were at least from 16:9 480p masters, unlike the GOUT.
Since the SE got a theatrical release, this could be technically accurate if they actually changed the video to the '97 version, which I’m sure they haven’t done.
Even the 2011 versions have been shown in theaters, but the download version of Jedi hasn’t. They removed the Fox fanfare from Empire, Jedi and the prequels for the digital and broadcast versions.
Granted, that’s the only difference and maybe I’m splitting hairs, but it’s still enough to make me wonder why the hell it would say “theatrical version.”
Im saying that makes it unlikely the algorithm mistook the digital version for the GOUT, as they say “Theatrical version” as opposed to “limited”
If it’s an innocent mistake and not a leak, then it might have to do with TFA being labelled as theatrical, which is also a bit of a mystery, but one I’m admittedly uninterested in.
Well it’s funny because there’s only one version of TFA, the theatrical one.
Also, RotS is the least altered prequel on video, essentially unaltered on blu-ray from its theatrical version.
So it’s very curious that those are the only other ones to now given “theatrical version” designation.
I mean, I’m not getting any hopes up, but it does seem like such an oddly specific mistake to make (and an update to the listing, at that). So who knows.
Any chance it might just end up being a streaming GOUT?
That’s what I was wondering.
This reminds me of how people got all excited to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s director’s cut up on one of the streaming/download sites only to find out it was simply the dvd master. Same thing happened with Undiscovered Country IIRC.
Right. But at some point a human must’ve put in that this would be relased, no? And the computer decided when/where to list it.
Probably, that’s my assumption. Keep in mind, and I hate to be a downer, that this very well could be a mistake. Just a mistake, not a leak, not a premature labeling of the product, but a freak accident that is no indication of any release of the theatrical version of Jedi. I don’t think that’s the case, but let’s not rule that out.
What could’ve caused it? Did their algorithm get it mixed up with the GOUT?
Quit playing games with my heart, Disney!
Weird.
A LOOOOOOOOTT more than the BDs in some cases.
…why?
That’s nothing compared to those who think the Diamond Edition Disney tapes are worth something: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beauty-and-the-Beast-VHS-1992-Walt-Disneys-Black-Diamond-Classic-/182452425052?hash=item2a7b03115c:g:yUEAAOSwTuJYn95x
Holy Crap! Some people will pay any price.
Is their line of thinking “Well, I don’t want to undersell this thing” and that’s why they start at such an absurdly high price?
“Was it shot digitally? No? It was shot on film? Oh, well then it’s not HD anyway.”
I mean, I guess that’s technically true. HD is a digital standard, not a film one. It is an ignorant statement, however.
Exactly, some people fail to make that very simple connection.
Don’t even get me started on the TFN founder’s statements on that Attack of the Show segment when the GOUT was released.
This article is comical. What does it even mean that the effects won’t hold up in HD? Does the author realize that for its first few years, Star Wars was only available in better-than-HD quality? (I.e. Film)
The ignorance of some people never fails to amaze me.
I still remember listening to an episode of Imperial Holonet Radio where one guy mentioned that the movie Fanboys was getting released on dvd but not blu-ray.
“Was it shot digitally? No? It was shot on film? Oh, well then it’s not HD anyway.”
A LOOOOOOOOTT more than the BDs in some cases.
…why?
If I may, it’s not like Disney doesn’t already have a really good reason to give us what we’ve been clamoring for.
Harmy’s version has become very well known over the last several years, and now we have 1080p transfers of actual prints (or is it just ANH?) thanks to Team Negative One.
I’m not sure what it’s going to take to convince Disney of the money they’re losing by not doing a professional remastering themselves and slapping a price tag on it.
Slashfilm and Birthmoviesdeath both reported on Bill Hunt’s update from Friday today. They are, of course, jumping to conclusions based on what was technically just pure speculation. The o-neg is not the end all be all. As some have pointed out, they could scan the pieces separately and cut everything together in the computer. But even that is beside the point since they could still use other sources for the unaltered versions.
The most likely scenario to me?
If it happens at all, I think Disney will finally put out the original versions on blu-ray this year but maybe wait until after 2020 to put any of the first six movies out on 4k UHD. For starters, it is too early for them to put out such a high-profile catalogue title on such a new format (yes, I realize Harry Potter begs to differ). It would be milking, plain and simple, and would piss off the not-insignificant number of people who just upgraded their hardware and would probably love to own an unaltered Star Wars in full 4k. BUT, this is a rock and a hard place situation for Disney.
Keeping in mind that the movies were already released on blu-ray six years ago, and a surprisingly large amount of people probably don’t care about the changes (not as much as we do), it would be seen as a nice “here you are in the meantime” gesture. The vast majority of people also haven’t upgraded their hardware to 4k. It would be like when the GOUT was released, only not nearly as bad.
Disney will probably put out TFA and RO on 4k in the meantime. I’m reminded of how TPM was the first Star Wars movie to hit dvd, more than two years after its theatrical release. Then AotC’s dvd was day-and-date with the vhs. Meanwhile, the only mass-market video format you could watch the OT on was still vhs. Lucas wanted to wait until after RotS hit theaters to put out the OT on dvd. Wiser heads prevailed, but it looks like that actually will be what happens with the OT in regards to 4k and the ST simply because of when Fox’s rights to the other five movies expire.
The 1997 versions were also released in theaters.
In a world where we have an Army of Darkness blu-ray with three different cuts of the movie (scanned from different sources!), I would very much like to see such treatment given to each of the OT movies.
Us and Lucasfilm (under Disney) are like Emma Stone and Josh Groban in Crazy, Stupid Love.
The Celebration panel better not go down like this:
Another thing to think about might be Kennedy.
George personally appointed her as the head of his life’s work; I don’t know if the decision is up to her but she knows how strongly he feels on the matter and might be holding out due to respect on both a personal and professional level.
That’s just speculation though.
All the more reason for them to remaster the SE in 4k as well, which apparently already happened three years ago. George simply didn’t want to spend the money remastering the unaltered versions. Now that it’s not his money being spent, I really don’t see any awkwardness so long as both versions are presented in equal quality (which is exactly what we did not get with the GOUT btw).
Landis, and the fact it was Lucas’ staff who convinced him to release the GOUT.
Another good point.
The way I see it, come 2020 Disney is officially out of excuses.
It’s still not cool in the meantime if they’re holding it back for that reason, but it’s at least understandable from a business perspective.
In the comment section over at birthmoviesdeath, some people are raising the subject of potential enmity between Fox and Disney. After all, Fox and Marvel hate each other over what’s happened with Fantastic Four. But so far as Star Wars is concerned, the fact that we’ve seen a digital release and two reissues of the 2011 discs should be proof enough that they’d be willing to work together.
Other people in that same comment section debate the likelihood of Lucasfilm’s staff still feeling loyal to George and holding back the OOT as a result. But, like I keep bringing up, John Landis’ quote convinces me that George himself no longer has any say in this matter.
Oh boy…
"As far as I know, there’s only one person who could make this happen and he hasn’t seemed all that interested."
I don’t think he’s talking about George. I think he’s referring to a studio big wig. That’s just my two cents on
that. Anyways, the Episode III extra has spokenMy thing with Lucas holding it up is that Disney was able to drop his treatments and have JJ and Kasden do what they wanted.
Also, George told John Landis that Disney was going to put out the original versions, which directly conflicts with what Pablo is saying (if he’s referring to George).
Trevorrow has said he wants to shoot IX entirely in 65mm, presumably with some of that being full Imax.
Nolan shot Dunkirk that way.