Fang Zei

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.

TV’s Frink said:

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:

https://youtu.be/RV7Fla2_ew4

Ryan-SWI said:

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).

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

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.

lovelikewinter said:

nickyd47 said:

RooBee said:

Oh boy…

https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/834885989583622145

"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 spoken

My 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.

One thing Bill Hunt disregards in his latest post is that an OOT restoration might not be based on the o-neg.

It could be that, like Blade Runner, the o-neg will be used for the current version but other sources (like interpositives and separation masters) could be used for the unaltered versions. This would still produce something much better looking than any fan-restoration could hope to achieve with a 35mm print.

GlastoEls said:

So we have:

Making Star Wars on the YES side.

Bill & Pablo on the NO side.

?

I can’t see why Pablo would think George has any say in this, but he works for Lucasfilm so what the hell do we know?

Maybe there actually was some kind of agreement not to release the original versions when he sold everything to Disney. He’s one of their biggest shareholders now, so it’s not like Disney can just completely disregard his wishes (but then again they threw out his treatments for the ST). There was even that rumor a couple years ago about how Fox doesn’t feel comfortable being involved with it while George is still alive.

Then there’s the John Landis quote about George telling him that Disney is going to put them out “the way they were,” and that was only a little over a year ago. His story would certainly seem to conflict with Pablo’s.

Suffice it to say we’ll want some kind of clarification from the panel in Orlando. It’s at least encouraging to read confirmation after all these years that the pieces of the o-neg replaced for the SE were indeed put into storage and not trashed.

Wazzles said:

I’m still holding out hope that they’ll at least comment on it during the panel. If all they have to announce is a 4k SE, who will really care? I mean, sure it will be better for fan preservations, but i don’t think the general public will care all that much.

My thoughts exactly.

I mean, if they announced that a 4k remastered SE was hitting the new UHD format this year it actually would be kind of a big deal if for no other reason than the fact that Star Wars has never been released on any home video format this early in its lifespan.

But even then, who cares?

The new format is growing faster than anticipated, but it’s still a new format. A 4k UHD of a remastered SE released this year wouldn’t come close to the $80 million the blu-ray made in its first week, much less the '04 dvd which made more than $100 million on its very first day.

Besides, aren’t they teasing some “big surprises” for this panel? Granted, that could mean literally anything. Maybe it has nothing to do with a new release of the films. But I can’t see news of a 4K SE - and nothing more - generating much excitement.

JawsTDS said:

Fang Zei said:

https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/834885989583622145
Oh, God.

You don’t think…

I feel like this guy pulls stuff out his ass sometimes, merely to shut people up… and I really hope he’s wrong.

I would certainly hope so. But it’s worrisome after almost five years of Disney ownership that he’s even under the impression George holds any sway over this.

https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/834885989583622145

Oh, God.

You don’t think…

In any event, I can totally see now why Jason is being so vague.

Do we know the story of how this person got caught? I’m also curious how we even know about this.

lovelikewinter said:

Cobra Kai said:

I went through that site shortly after seeing TFA just out of curiosity, and I was shocked to find out just how much of the movie had been leaked. He posted a pretty detailed description of the Han death scene in February of 2015 and then by May, they had pieced together almost the entire plot with descriptions of all the key scenes.
This gives me hope…

Disney found out who leaked to him and fired that person. He won’t get anything that juicy ever again, and I’m sure people were told not to talk to him at all.

Seriously? Wow, I had no idea.

moviefreakedmind said:

I agree with everyone so far. They have recently been good about not posting potentially fake stuff just for views. The problem with sharing who their sources are in cases like these is that it endangers people’s jobs, but I wish he’d have given us a little more to go on.

EDIT: Notice that he says the tips and evidence have been piling up “over the last month”, so this isn’t just a reflection on the last few years of rumors and coming to the conclusion that they must be true.

I mean, we haven’t heard anything over the last month, have we?

Like you say, he’s really making it seem like he knows something we don’t.

bump

http://makingstarwars.net/2017/02/rumor-unaltered-original-star-wars-trilogy-re-released-year/

SilverWook said:

DrDre said:

The site makingstarwars.net posted a rumor about the release of the OOT for the 40th anniverary:

http://makingstarwars.net/2017/02/rumor-unaltered-original-star-wars-trilogy-re-released-year/

They state: “Several sources have let us know it was coming and it appears to actually be on the way this time.”

Considering makingstarwars.net has a track record for generally posting reliable rumors, should we be hopeful?

They have a checkered history though. Take a big chunk of salt unless proven otherwise.

Yeah but he led with “we don’t run those rumors” and “the tips and evidence have been piling up,” which at least gives me hope.

Of course his sources could just be giving him their own opinion based on no solid evidence.

I wonder why he feels the need to be so vague about it. Is he worried about getting someone fired?

SilverWook said:

Don’t most UHD titles come with a Blu Ray disc already?

Well that’s the thing …

If we’re talking a multi-disc release with the SE and unaltered on separate discs, do they include two more regular blu-rays? Even if they did, the price would be significantly higher. I could almost see them forgoing the “combo” approach and making you choose.

… Or, they keep it to just the most recent version remastered in 4k, leaving the OOT and the '97 version completely off the table, and debut it on both formats (regular and 4k blu) to go along with TFA and RO. Then they could include a regular blu (which would still look better than the 2011 discs) in the package as well. They could even put out the PT on the new format the same day. Being stuck in 2k hasn’t stopped all these other movies from reaching UHD.

Honestly, we’re getting ahead of ourselves until we know anything is happening at all this year.

I’d like to think they would finally do justice to the unaltereds this year. I just can’t see anyone caring about yet another release of the SE, even if there are more changes to sift through, even if it’s from a new 4k master you can watch at full res with hdr.

But a remastered OOT? People will put their money where their mouth has been all these years and buy it day one. A multi-disc package that doesn’t include regular 1080p versions might even sell a guy like me a UHD player just so I don’t have to double-dip later on.

Even if they only release it on regular blu, the people who’ve upgraded all their hardware to 4k will begrudgingly purchase it. Like I said, this would still piss those people off and Disney would be smart to let Fox put it out in 4k.

Who knows what the hell will happen. We’ll see.

Couldn’t have said it better, CHEWBAKAspelledwrong.

Disney “could be gracious enough to” let Fox release the hypothetical OOT on UHD day-and-date with the 1080p blu.

Keeping the UHD in their back pocket for after 2020 would actively piss off a lot of people now that I think about it.

SilverWook said:

The crashed X Wing looks a tad out of scale. 😉

And damn, someone at Celebration better be telling us we’re getting all that alternate footage down the road.

Kinda awkward doing it only a couple weeks after the initial blu-ray goes on sale, though.

joefavs said:

Has anyone suggested that Disney might put out a regular Blu-ray (of either the OUT or a new master of the SE) this year and then a UHD release after 2020? They’d be able to cash in on the anniversary and have something exclusive for when Fox’s distribution deal runs out. Plus the ST will be complete by then, so it could be box set city.

That’s been a big theory of mine as well.

The timing is certainly right. They could get away with it being a 1080p-only release this year, for the 40th. Next year, not so much. But I would still hope the unaltered trilogy eventually makes it to the 4k disc format as well.

DominicCobb said:

Interesting. This wouldn’t be surprising if Johnson hadn’t already said he wouldn’t shoot anything in the format. Wonder what changed.

Funny, I never heard about him saying that. Was it before principle photography started in earnest? It may very well have been a last minute decision.

I won’t link to the slashfilm article I got the news from as even the photo of the camera has what some could consider to be a spoiler, but Imax’s twitter confirmed today that some of Episode VIII was indeed shot in their format.

Just thought I would share the news here in case anyone was wondering (I certainly was).

Now to see if I’ll actually be able to watch it both full-sized and in 2D as shot or if Disney is going to unnecessarily force the 3D version on the two of the Smithsonian’s three theaters that have already converted to the laser system. I certainly don’t see them paying to send a 15/70 print here when the only remaining Imax film theater is right across the National Mall from one of the lasers.