Fang Zei

Since there were only a handful of additional changes in '04 and 2011, it would probably be a simple matter of using seamless branching to include them on the same disc as the '97 version. Then the “final” and unaltered versions could each get their own discs.* So, in other words, this would be very similar to the blade runner set.

I think the '97 SE should absolutely be included. It’s what started this whole mess in the first place, so it provides historical context for future viewers. Also, as stated above, it was the first/last time in 20 years the films got a wide re-release in theaters.

*This assumes of course that the 2011 version isn’t already the final version, which we don’t know for sure. Tack said the roadshow screening he went to over the summer looked very different from the lowry master, but was still the 2011 version in terms of content. The 04/11 changes he said looked different from the rest of the movie, suggesting they were simply copy-pasted into the new master. If this version is in fact the final version, I’d still like the '97 version included on its own disc for history’s sake. I would obviously inderstand, though, if the unaltered version was the only other thing included.

By “day one” I’m assuming he means right after he was hired in May of 2014.

This thread was started only two months later.

Did the Ewok movies have wipes?

My guess for a while now has been that the movie will have a cold open (maybe the flashback we see in the final trailer) ending with a cut to black with the title fading in, fading back out and then fading in to the first shot of the rest of the movie.

Though I do wonder if the Lucasfilm logo will appear with music, sound effects, both, or with no sound at all.

Do any of the official site clips overlap with the brief snippets from RMW’s showreel?

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

TV’s Frink said:

Didn’t this already happen before, and it turned out to be nothing exciting?

Someone had posted this a while back. 2011 rocks but 2004 krayt dragon call.

http://www.starwars.com/video/tusken-raider-attack

That video must have been added during the brief period after New Mexico became a state, but before Arizona did.

The plot thickens.

DrDre, have you tried comparing those clips with the blu-ray to see if the framing is different?

So I was thinking about the discussion from the previous page about aspect ratios.

It dawned on me that if you take 1.90:1 (the digital cinema AR) and multiply it by the 1.25 squeeze factor of the ultra panavision lenses you get, wait for it, 2.375:1.

So maybe it’s no accident that the final AR of Rogue One after you crop the sensor from 2.11:1 to 1.90:1 happens to basically be the same as the cinemascope AR.

Man, Disney is figuring out ways to cross-promote this stuff in ways Lucas never dreamed of.

Ronster,

I don’t think anyone is doubting that a restored unaltered would come packaged with the SE. That’s pretty much a certainty, so I don’t think there’s any danger of the unaltereds being released in single-disc editions and ending up in the bargain bin as you say.

I totally agree that the OOT packaged with a new SE is the way to go. It should be the bare minimum of how they approach such a release if they’re not going to throw in every version.

As for your argument about bootlegs, I think for every person out there who goes through the trouble of downloading Harmy’s DeED there are many more who would gladly fork over a few bucks for an official restoration straight from the source. You need look no further than what happened with the GOUT. They didn’t even need to remaster it and (I’m guessing) it still sold pretty well. I didn’t buy it on general principle alone but my point still stands.

Which brings me to your statements about “the kids today.” Look, if my highly-educated early millenial cousin and her husband with good-paying jobs who are several years older than me skipped upgrading their physical media to blu-ray in favor of a roku box streaming over dsl then that’s a bad sign. They’ve got a baby (and another on the way) who will probably grow up consuming all of their media over the internet and consider owning/renting optical discs a novelty.

We’re always hearing about how physical media is slowly dying and that downloads account for more than 50% of Hollywood’s home video revenue now. My nightmare scenario for the OOT continues to be Disney taking their sweet time (perhaps intentionally so) for another several years only to finally announce a restoration we can only legally purchase as a download/stream. The fact that there is a 2160p optical disc format following 1080p blu-ray is at least hopeful, and the copy-protection measures implemented on the new format tell me the studios are taking it seriously.

I love the irony here.

It’s the first digitally-shot Star Wars anything since RotS and also a prequel to ANH, yet Edwards is shooting it with a camera that’s not only at least 35mm-sized (unlike RotS), but several times bigger.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep it in their back pocket until the Star Wars money-making machine slows down a little after Episode IX. But I’d be equally unsurprised if they put it out next year packaged with the 3D versions, maybe charging a little extra in the process because they know how ravenous we’ll be for it.

Actually, now that I think about it, that might be the most likely scenario of all.

RotJ 3D would’ve been hitting theaters next year anyway if they’d kept to Rick McCallum’s original schedule. I could see them either just puting out the OT in theaters in 3D or (somehow) showing all six. RotS would look amazing in 3D, so I doubt they’d skip the PT.

They could include the unaltered version in multi-disc individual releases for each movie. I’d prefer the '97 version as well, but I’d gladly say “good enough” if the SE is properly revamped. Let’s be honest, I think we’ll all be happy enough if they just get the unaltered trilogy right.

It would make more sense to wait a while before releasing on 4k UHD. The technology ecosystem involved will take some time to fully mature (it’s called rec 2020 for a reason), and Disney will fully control the five non-ANH movies by then. Maybe that’s when they do the “all versions” edition.

emanswfan said:

The only point of having a 70mm showing would be to have the traditional wider 2.76:1 aspect ratio. If they wanted to do that though, they’d have to work out licensing with Weienstein Company who owns the necessary refurbished Cinerama projectors used for the Hateful 8 roadshow.

Not exactly.

Hateful 8 was both shot on film AND finished photochemically, necessitating the rollout of the cinerama projectors for people to see the movie as Tarantino intended.

Rogue One used the same lenses but was shot on the 65mm-sized model of Alexa, at 6.5k resolution. This would no doubt look impressive in cinerama if they filmed it out at its native resolution, but the DI is only being done at 4k, and either way it’s still a digital movie to begin with.

It’s also worth noting that the Alexa 65’s sensor is slightly bigger and slightly taller shaped than an actual 65mm film frame. The aspect ratio is something like 2.11:1, so with the ultra panavision lenses’ 1.25x squeeze factor you’d get a 2.64:1 AR. They might’ve simply cropped this to 2.40:1 across all exhibition formats, framing everything accordingly.

joefavs said:

According to Pablo Hidalgo, cutting on Rogue One isn’t locked yet and the 133 minute runtime is just a placeholder.

That’s what I thought. Any confirmation of the movie’s running time is meaningless when we’re still two months from the release date.

generalfrevious said:

I’m confused. Didn’t they already do a 4K release for the digital releases last year?

Nope, it was still same old same old.

Man, now we’re getting lp reissues of the original score albums?! Can the actual movies be far behind?

I think it’s worth noting that the Close Encounters and Blade Runner ultimate sets were both released on blu-ray fairly soon after that format’s debut. Lucasfilm took its sweet time puting the movies out on dvd, but they were speedier with blu-ray. If you count from the end of the format war with hd-dvd, they only waited a little over three years. If they put I-VI out on 4k UHD next year, they would only be accelerating things by a year or so.

Of course, I’ve long suspected that Disney will want to put out TFA and Rogue One on UHD first, kind of like how LFL released TPM on dvd first. The other parallel is that we’re once again in the middle of another trilogy of new movies being made. I could easily see them waiting until the year before Episode IX’s theatrical release to bow I-VI on the latest format. We could very well end up with a year and a half between new Star Wars movies if IX isn’t hitting until December of 2019. In today’s franchise landscape, that’s a pretty long stretch of time they’ll need to kill.

I feel like we would’ve heard something by now if Disney was prepping in earnest for a restored 40th anniversary OOT release. Mike Verta’s comments on his meeting with them certainly don’t inspire confidence. Maybe next year will be the 3D versions released in theaters and then on 3D blu, if only to get that out of the way.

darklordoftech said:

So far, we’ve gotten a new master every seven years (1997-2004-2011).

It would be more accurate to say we’ve gotten a new version of the SE every seven years, each time also being the movies’ hotly anticipated debut on the latest home video format. The 2011 version simply used the 2004 master and made the additional changes from there.

It’s also worth noting we’ve gotten a reissue of the 2011 discs every two years. This would make us due for something next year even if it wasn’t the 40th anniversary.

There’s also the possibility of 3D versions to consider.

The fact that they actually bothered to finish converting the PT makes me think they’ll eventually do the same for the OT, even if it’s not next year.

It’s the “how/when” of their release strategy that’s still anyone’s guess.

urpick18 said:

Frank your Majesty said:

urpick18 said:

At this time (while he’s alive), I don’t think that Disney would want to disrespect George and put out any versions of the movies he doesn’t consider cannon.

They threw out his ideas for Episode 7 and they let his last movie go completely unnoticed, if this isn’t a big “Fuck you, George”, then I don’t know what is. Would releasing the OOT really make things worse between Disney and Lucas after that?

True. Another reason to hope that they will indeed release a proper restoration of these films sooner rather than later. It would honestly feel wrong to me that, on the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest films of all time, they didn’t have something big planned. Maybe reaching a distribution deal w/FOX for ANH requires far more legal calculus than they’re currently willing to fool with - which would be sad.

Fox and Marvel hate each other, so there’s that.

urpick18 said:

joefavs said:

Honestly, I’d take a new transfer of the SE. I wouldn’t be thrilled about it if it wasn’t released alongside the OUT, but I’ll support anything that results in that awful Lowry master being retired.

I’d have to agree. At this time (while he’s alive), I don’t think that Disney would want to disrespect George and put out any versions of the movies he doesn’t consider cannon. Therefore, I would gladly settle for the SE’s in 4K, so long as they’re created actually respecting the original look of the films (i.e. without George) because DEAR GOD those Blu-rays got some funky looking transfers.

I honestly doubt an OOT restoration would bother George at this point.

timemeddler said:

anyone considered maybe fox is the problem, mind you Im not giving disney and kind of break, i’ve been boycotting them for other reasons for some time now but if alamo roadhouse advertises 97 special edition and then they show 2011 version, could it be that fox pushed their “distribution Rights” I mean unlike alot of disney films, star wars can’t even be screen by non-profits, yes I checked. I may be spit-balling, but I’m just wondering if it’s not just disney? Maybe?

Are you sure?

'97 prints of ANH and RotJ were still being shown at the AFI Silver as of just two years ago.

It would be pointless to put out a new transfer this late in the game unless it’s being released day and date on 4k UHD. Even then, they’d need to throw in the unaltereds for people to actually care.

I’d say the chances are 50/50. I’ll be unsurprised one way or the other.

He just recently shot After Earth for Shyamalan.

If they can bring back Kasdan to pen a Star War or two, they should totally get Peter behind the camera again.

canofhumdingers said:

I dunno if it’s just me, but something about the way it’s written made it feel more like some other lower budget 80’s scifi/fantasy films (Krull in particular kept coming to mind… As in I imagine the “look” and production value of this version of ESB to be very similar to what we got with Krull). Like, the sequence where Vader throws a fistful of stars at Luke and they rain down on him in a shower of sparks during the “force vision” part of their duel… I just see that looking SOOOO early-80’s-fantasy-movie. All dreamy and "gauze-over-the-lense"y…

It’s worth noting that Peter Suschitzky was cinematographer on both Krull and ESB.