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Fang Zei

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14-Oct-2006
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28-Mar-2024
Posts
2,768

Post History

Post
#1374067
Topic
Dune - Denis Villeneuve
Time

Yeah, Legendary Picture announced almost four years ago that they’d acquired both the film and streaming rights to the Dune franchise.

A lot of people keep referencing Warner Bros as if they’re the studio financing the movie, but they’re technically just the distributor.

That said, Legendary appear to have made a distribution deal with Warner Media over Dune, at least in the short term. WB is distributing this first film and probably at least the next one after (should it get made) and a streaming series called The Sisterhood is in development for HBO Max.

Post
#1373719
Topic
Info Wanted: Are there any 1997 Special Edition 4K Scans available?
Time

Williarob said:

Poita scanned this same Ep IV print on a professional grade film scanner, but never released anything beyond a few samples. He may have access to the other SE prints too, but if so (as far as I know) they have not yet been scanned.

That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask about how exactly the 4k77/80/83 projects were scanned. Over at TheStarWarsTrilogy, the text towards the bottom of the 4k80 page seems to imply that a professional scanner was used.

But from what you’re saying about Poita’s scan using a professional film scanner, am I to infer that’s not what you guys did for the 4k projects?

Post
#1373504
Topic
Info Wanted: Are there any 1997 Special Edition 4K Scans available?
Time

Williarob said:

Fang Zei said:

So a ‘97 35mm print of ANH was scanned, just not cleaned up?
Correct

Was this from Poita’s project?

No, this is our own scan of the same print.

What About Empire and Jedi?

Find us some prints and we’ll scan them.

I was under the impression that Poita had scanned or at least had access to all three of them, but I must be remembering wrong.

Post
#1372401
Topic
Were the prequels released on 70mm, and were the sequels released on film other than IMAX 70mm?
Time

SilverWook said:

Was there still a time limit in 2005? Maybe Lucas didn’t want to make a shorter cut again.

As far as I know, they upped the limit from 120 minutes to 167 in time for The Matrix Reloaded’s release in May of 2003, and that was only two minutes shorter than RotS.

It was probably a combination of George wanting more time to work on the 35mm and digital versions of the movie (Imax probably needing more lead time to get the 15/70 prints made and shipped to theaters before release day) and the fact that Batman Begins was coming out in Imax only a month later.

Post
#1372211
Topic
Were the prequels released on 70mm, and were the sequels released on film other than IMAX 70mm?
Time

It’s entirely possible that all of the Disney era films got released in 35mm in certain overseas territories where they’re not as far along in converting their theaters to digital, but the only Disney era Star Wars movie I’m absolutely sure got released here in the States in 35mm is TFA (I remember reading an article about it on slashfilm).

Thank you for the clarification about RotS, none. I didn’t remember any ads at the time saying it was playing in Imax, so now I know why that misinformation about it being shown that way got out there in the first place. Someone should really update the technical specs on imdb.

I wonder why RotS didn’t get the Imax treatment. Maybe there was some other big Hollywood movie opening in 15/70 within only a couple weeks of RotS (Batman Begins came out in Imax only a month later, so that might’ve been a factor). Maybe they needed more than two weeks to get the prints made and Lucas cared more about having the extra time to tweak the digital version. Who knows?

Post
#1371736
Topic
Were the prequels released on 70mm, and were the sequels released on film other than IMAX 70mm?
Time

AotC got an Imax release only a week before (or was it a week after? can’t remember now) the dvd hit shelves. The Imax projectors’ platters could only hold 120 minutes of film running at 24 frames a second, so the movie had to be cut down to that length. Presumably the end credits were time-compressed to keep as much of the actual movie as possible. By the time The Matrix Reloaded hit theaters the following May, the platters had been modified to hold 167 minutes of film. Notice we’ve never gotten a movie released on actual Imax film prints since then with running times going over that (Watchmen, Avatar and Dark Knight Rises all came close, and Interstellar had to compress its end credits to shave off two extra minutes).

The technical specs for RotS on its imdb page list 70mm Imax as one of the printed film formats, but I’m not sure how accurate this is.

There were a small number of 35mm prints made for TFA. This was probably done at the behest of JJ Abrams. There were, apparently, also 35mm prints made for TRoS, but I don’t remember hearing about it like I did with TFA. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, no 35mm prints were made for TLJ.

There were no regular 5-perf 70mm prints made for the PT and ST movies.

Post
#1369614
Topic
Info: Mike Verta’s 4K Restoration - May 2020 Livestream
Time

StarkillerAG said:

SilverWook said:

StarkillerAG said:

In my opinion, the original Star Wars will only be released after George Lucas dies. Disney clearly wants the original versions to be released, but they will never have the guts to go against his wishes while he’s still alive. After he dies, they’ll probably still hold off the release for a few years in order to avoid seeming insensitive, but after a while they’ll release the original.

After dumping his final production Strange Magic and blowing off his ideas for the sequels, I have doubts that they are really that considerate of his wishes.

But those were done in a very low-key way, not really in public view. I doubt they’d go against Lucas’ wishes publicly, especially not to the degree of visibility that a release of the OOT would have.

Except I seriously doubt George cares anymore at this point. He released the unaltered cuts on dvd. Laserdisc ports, sure, but he did release them. He even changed his tune circa 2010 from “the unaltereds aren’t my vision for the saga” to “they’re too expensive to restore right now.” He let the Academy screen a 70mm of the ‘81 ANH just last year.

When he sold Star Wars for $4 Billion, he let it go.

George is not the problem anymore, it’s Disney.

Now, it might very well be the case that the bean-counters have decided the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. It might also be the case that they’re simply sitting on an OOT restoration intentionally biding their time. I swore up and down that people would not be nearly as enthusiastic about spending their money on “Jedi Rocks but in 4k hdr this time” after three rounds of revisions to these classics. It could turn out that Disney simply wanted to cash in on the latest format and still has the OOT in their back pocket for when the well dries up.

Time will tell.

Post
#1369554
Topic
Info: Mike Verta’s 4K Restoration - May 2020 Livestream
Time

Rodney-2187 said:

I don’t think it is possible for anyone to ever release any sort of restoration on any part of the Original Trilogy that wont immediately be regarded as inferior to what is actually desired.

True, but 4k83 in theory gets pretty darn close to what’s desired since it’s from a show print directly off the negative.

4k77 uses a tech print which is also, theoretically, closer to the resolution of the camera negative than any run of the mill print could provide.

I’m not sure what’s being used for 4k80.

Post
#1369387
Topic
Info: Mike Verta’s 4K Restoration - May 2020 Livestream
Time

Disney has every motivation they could possibly need to restore and release the original versions. They paid $20 billion more than they’d originally planned (which was already something like $50 billion) to buy 20th Century Fox thanks to the bidding war they ended up in with Comcast. The original Star Wars was one of the films they gained the rights to in the buyout, along with the other five pre-ST films. Are we really to think 2020 was the last time we’ll see a new release of these movies?

With all of the talk these days about how movie theaters are hurting financially, it would sure make Disney look good if, let’s say, three years from now they were to release an unaltered OOT restoration in theaters and have that be the only way you could see it. They would of course announce a home release months later, but the message they’d be sending in the meantime about how they respect the history of their films and how much it means to their fans, not to mention the importance of the theatrical experience, would ultimately benefit their bottom line.

Post
#1369123
Topic
4K restoration on Star Wars
Time

There was speculation on these boards as to whether or not the ‘97 cg shots were transferred directly from the digital filmout tapes for the 2019 4k version à la the 2011 rebuild of TPM or if they were simply scanned back in from the negative just like any other shot in the movie.

There was also speculation somewhere (maybe it wasn’t here) that the ‘97 re-comps were re-done from scratch yet again to take advantage of the higher resolution.

Has any evidence emerged to support either of these theories?

Post
#1368136
Topic
4K restoration on Star Wars
Time

doubleofive said:

Vladimon said:

Stotchy said:

Not sure what FHD is?

FHD Full HD (1080p)
UHD Ultra HD (4K)

I was asking about the the 2020 FHD blu-rays that came out with the 4k ones. But I guess since those come from the same “new” sources as the 4K versions, the colors, the tighter framing etc. are identical to those of the 4k ones. Minus the higher resolution and HDR ofc.

Keep in mind those are only available in the box with the 4K, the individual releases are still the 2011 version.

And it seems the only reason they did that was because they didn’t want to have the newer 4k-derived transfer out there in any form (not even as a regular 1080p blu-ray) until it debuted on day 1 of Disney+ and then later in physical form with the UHD release. But now, simply because they wanted the individual blu’s out there when they did, it’s going to create confusion for people who see identical cover art to the 4k expecting it to contain the newer transfer. (EDIT: SilverWook and Broom Kid basically beat me to it)

Were the 2011 versions ever released as just dvd-only or were they only included with the dvd/bd trilogy combo packs that came out in 2013? If it’s the former then we might be looking at a repeat here, only minus the trilogy part.

Also, were the OT films (any version) ever released on dvd individually outside of the 2006 GOUT?

Post
#1360228
Topic
Is it Lucas, or Fox, who has prevented the restored OOT release?
Time

imperialscum said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

The casual Star Wars fan would likely buy such as a set, and even film fans in general.

That may be true, but most of them would not know what they are buying anyway. So in the end, that does not amount to a demand, because if they throw out another SE with a minimal effort, they will get just as much money as if they put a lot of effort into a proper restoration of OOT.

A restored OOT would at this point be the only thing Lucasfilm has in their back pocket to get people to shell out for these movies yet again. I’m not getting my hopes up, but we did see a reissue of the 2004 dvd discs two years later that included the GOUT, and a trilogy reissue two years after that which still included the GOUT discs.

We also saw reissues of the 2011 bd, first in 2013 and then 2015, before everything went quiet for four years in the build-up to D+ and the physical 4k UHD release. It would seem Lucasfilm can’t resist the urge to double-dip, and as of now they’ve still got a Star Wars movie pencilled in for the end of 2022. That’s a long way away, and almost three years will have passed since the debut of the 4k versions by then. Maybe just maybe they’re saving the long sought after unaltereds for last.

Post
#1345680
Topic
I'll never understand the attitude of people who oppose the release of the unaltered original trilogy.
Time

SilverWook said:

I refuse to believe anybody loves Maclunkey. Even the guy who played Greedo is baffled.😛
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-greedo-maclunkey-disney-plus-exclusive-interview/

And where are people getting the idea this is any sort of final definitive version? I’ll believe that when George says he’s done with it.

Star Wars: The George Lucas “I May Have Gone Too Far in a Few Places” Director’s Cut

Post
#1345296
Topic
Is it Lucas, or Fox, who has prevented the restored OOT release?
Time

Broom Kid said:

Fang Zei said:

Maybe, but I’m not so sure just how much loyalty they’ll feel once they start feeling the pressure from the higher ups at Disney to make them as much money as possible by any means necessary.

The money Disney is losing isn’t about to be made up by releasing the Original Trilogy to Disney+, though. That’s not feasible or plausible. Lucasfilm is already driving a lot of traffic to that platform (and to Disney in general) as it is and it’s not really having much of an effect on those losses, because those losses aren’t really FROM the movies division. Disney’s losses are being most strongly felt in the parks being closed, and sports being gone. Theaters being closed is hurting them, yes, but that’s not a particularly large concern in the face of their owning their own streaming network. They just moved the Hamilton release up a year and a half, for example.

As for George, half of that $4 billion he got paid in the sale was in Disney stock, not actual cash. It’s in his interest to see the company do well,

The original versions aren’t big enough for that to be a concern. They just aren’t. It’s not a money thing. Lucasfilm just doesn’t want to do it right now. They probably will, eventually. But there’s no weird conspiracy behind it. No contractual stipulations, no distribution problems. And it’s not a spite thing, either. They just… don’t want to do it.

For now.

When they do, it probably won’t be due to money concerns, either.

Who said anything about Disney+? They’ll probably never do that. I was talking about physical media. Highly unlikely it’ll happen this year or next, since they just released the UHD’s barely a month and a half ago, but Disney’s still got another Star Wars movie pencilled in for the end of 2022. Sounds like the perfect occasion for an expensive holiday-timed multi-disc collector’s set with the unaltered and ‘97 versions thrown in.

They could give the prequels the same treatment, maybe with the Imax cut of AotC although that’s a long shot. Even the Disney-era stuff had conspicuously absent stuff like, for example, any mention at all of Harrison Ford’s leg injury on TFA, and deleted scenes for Rogue One, Solo, and TRoS. They could always throw in the 3D version just to add an extra disc to all 11 films and up the price point.

Look, I’m not saying they’ll “need” to do any of this out of financial desperation. But what I am saying is that a barebones UHD with previously released extras (extras they couldn’t take the time to properly author, apparently) can’t possibly be the last disc-based release of Star Wars.

Post
#1345159
Topic
Is it Lucas, or Fox, who has prevented the restored OOT release?
Time

Broom Kid said:

Fang Zei said:
The consensus seems to be that the people currently in charge at Lucasfilm feel a sense of loyalty to George,

It’s this.

I happen to think it simply comes down to greed on Disney’s part and the desire to maximize profits.

Not this.

Either way - Fox never had anything to do with the original versions not being distributed. That was never at any point anything other than misguided fan speculation repeated so often on forums and comments sections that people just took it as read and repeated it themselves. There was never any inkling that theory had any basis in fact, it just sounded plausible-ish provided you didn’t look into it too closely, and nobody “winning” arguments on a messageboard was inclined to do that anyway.

It’s the same with the “Lucas built a clause into the contract” story that has since replaced the “Fox won’t let them” story that’s been mooted for almost 10 years. Lucas never built a clause into a contract, and Iger never agreed to such a clause. The entire notion of the clause even existing is a fan invention.

The holdup is Lucasfilm. Not Disney. And the people with the power to get it done at Lucasfilm don’t want to do it. If they did, it would be done already.

Maybe, but I’m not so sure just how much loyalty they’ll feel once they start feeling the pressure from the higher ups at Disney to make them as much money as possible by any means necessary.

As for George, half of that $4 billion he got paid in the sale was in Disney stock, not actual cash. It’s in his interest to see the company do well, and that might override his desire to withhold the “rough drafts” of his work from the public.

Post
#1345155
Topic
Is it Lucas, or Fox, who has prevented the restored OOT release?
Time

Disney owns all of what was 20th Century Fox now and everything Fox owned the rights to, so that ain’t the reason.

The consensus seems to be that the people currently in charge at Lucasfilm feel a sense of loyalty to George, and that Disney might have even made a gentlemens’ agreement with the man not to release anything other than his preferred versions.

I happen to think it simply comes down to greed on Disney’s part and the desire to maximize profits. For all we know, they might have been planning from the get-go to eventually give the unaltereds their due … after they’d reissued the 2011 blu-rays several times and then at least once on 4k UHD, of course. If that’s in fact the case (we have no way of knowing, but we can speculate) then it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the massive financial losses they’re about to incur this year, err, “accelerate” their plans just a little.

Post
#1342449
Topic
I'll never understand the attitude of people who oppose the release of the unaltered original trilogy.
Time

SilverWook said:

Just like everybody else who wants their favorite movie on the latest format? Golly, I’d love to have an early 2000’s anamorphic OOT DVD release I could bitch about being the only thing out there one could buy. Even the original cut of The Warriors got one.

It would be ironic if an official restoration happened and got released to blu-ray and uhd … but never got an official anamorphic dvd release.

For the record, I’d be okay with that if it meant the OOT was future-proofed in the highest possible quality physical media can provide.

Post
#1340784
Topic
I'll never understand the attitude of people who oppose the release of the unaltered original trilogy.
Time

darth-gary said:

Star Wars conversation with a friend a few months ago…

Me: “If you want to watch the original trilogy the way we saw it as kids I have the “Despecialized” versions without the cgi in HD…”

Friend: “Naw, man. When I want to watch the originals I’ve got my old VHS tapes, and they still work fine.”

(He points over at a shelf, I notice they’re the fullscreen Special Edition tapes, I scream internally.)

This right here begins and ends the argument for why all versions should be officially preserved in a future release.

For some people, the “original version” still ain’t the original.

Post
#1337515
Topic
There should be a proper release of the 1977 Star Wars at this point
Time

yotsuya said:

And if Disney doesn’t want to do such a release, let Criterion do it. They love things like that.

They’d probably put George’s preferred version on disc 1 (they’re all about preserving the artist’s vision) and then get people like Robert A Harris to consult on a restoration neither George nor Disney could be bothered with.

When was the last time Criterion put out anything owned by Disney? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is The Life Aquatic, which was released theatrically through Touchstone, but I feel like that was already several years ago.

It would be great if they did the same for Graffiti and THX, although I don’t know what their current relationship is with Universal and Warner.

Post
#1337026
Topic
There should be a proper release of the 1977 Star Wars at this point
Time

kujythrgefdw said:

If Disney won’t release every Star Wars movie without any changes, this is the least they can do. The 2006 DVD was released with no effort and missed the point entirely because it had 1993’s audio alterations. My idea is for a standalone release of Star Wars in its unaltered form in Ultra HD Blu-ray and digital. This would not only preserve an important piece of film history, but make them a damn good amount of money as well. George Lucas probably put something in the Disney contract so they can’t do this though, because any sane person in charge of Star Wars would definitely have done this already. I just can’t stand the CGI crap George Lucas put into Star Wars. What was he thinking?

The 1993 audio thing actually raises an interesting question, which is, just how original and unaltered should an original/unaltered release be before it’s considered definitive enough?

Wasn’t ESB only shown in 70mm for the first month or so, and had several differences from the “original” version we know now?

Post
#1332717
Topic
The Phantom Menace - Theatrical version scanned in 4K (a WIP)
Time

ZigZig said:

There is more changes thant those 4 known changes (ex: the invasion of Naboo was rerendered with different ships, the external view of Palpatine’s office was deleted, the sound was totally remixed) , but it is probably not the point of this discussion.

Ah, forgot about the Naboo invasion. After all these years my memory is a little blurry, but I want to say the view from the window of Theed Palace was re-done? Or are there other shots I’m forgetting about?

Re: Palpatine’s office exterior, yes that shot was deleted but since it was replaced by the air taxi sequence I don’t really think about it.

Post
#1332709
Topic
The Phantom Menace - Theatrical version scanned in 4K (a WIP)
Time

yotsuya said:

ZigZig is 100% correct. The DVD was made from the same master as the VHS and LD from 2000. The only difference are the 4 known changes. This was also aired in the EU in HD. It features a more cropped picture and a different color grade. The BR was a new scan (it might have been 4k since we are talking 2011) and features the CG Yoda to match the other two PT movies. But this new version is NOT a new scan and features no known changes. Same colors, same shots, nothing new. And no sign that it was a native 4k scan (not that it would make any difference in the FX shots which were 2k to start with).

When you say “the 4 known changes,” you mean:

  1. podrace
  2. air taxi
  3. that one senate interior shot
  4. that one shot of Theed at night

Do I have that right?

The blu-ray added a few more changes on top of that, and the only ones that come to mind are:

  1. re-done shot on Trade Federation bridge early in the movie

  2. re-rendered Bode and Feed in one shot during podrace

  3. digital Yoda

Anything I missed?