Fang Zei

I still haven’t gotten my tickets. Partially it’s because I might be getting a full-time job soon (it would only be temporary, but still 9 to 5) so I don’t want to get tickets right now for the 70mm on Saturday if it turns out I don’t get the job and end up with nothing to do on Friday. Then I would gladly avoid spoilers for half a day and just see it Friday afternoon in all its IMAX glory.

The Smithsonian also has a ridiculous surcharge just to reserve tickets online, and they don’t even do reserved seating.

I’m also considering meeting up with some out of town friends to go see it, so there’s that to consider as well.

Also, I might not be able to resist just going to see it Thursday night. My sister works just a couple blocks from a Regal with a 7:15 2D showtime that hasn’t sold out yet, and I still have a regal gift card that she gave me. The multiplex closest to where we live (an AMC) isn’t showing 2D until 10.

I’m still waiting to see if the theater that’s technically closest to our house is going to be showing the movie or not. They’re an independent (and technically non-profit) two-screen theater that mostly shows the lower budget and indie fare, but sometimes they show the bigger movies as well. Star Trek Into Darkness was actually the first thing they showed upon becoming DCI-compliant and it looked/sounded amazing.

During the ad campaign for Prometheus, I knew someone who thought it reminded him of Alien. My friend and I told him that it was indeed part of the same franchise and his excitement quotient jumped considerably.

Another one of my friends didn’t realize it until he was in the theater watching it with his girlfriend and the Weyland corporation was brought up.

Fox probably thinks they’d be throwing away money by not explicitly connecting the title this time around.

Based on the evidence, they’re probably right.

SilverWook said:

I think watching Harmy’s versions while in line for Episode 7 would be a great way to start a conversation.

I have to largely credit noticing the original version of Empire playing on a laptop several rows ahead of me in the theater during the hour or so before the midnight opening of RotS with leading me to these forums in the first place.

Reading this thread has reminded me I still have yet to read the Dark Lord paperback my friend let me borrow years ago. I might start with that before finally tackling the OT novelizations (first edition paperback copies I found at secondhand stores) and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the 90’s paperback copy with the GL intro).

As for the movies themselves, my sister just asked me the other day if we have them (I haven’t been able to shut up about TFA for the last several weeks). I explained to her that the highest quality copy I own is cowclops v2, which I acquired only a couple months before the out of the blue GOUT announcement. Don’t have the prequels, sold them off along with my '04 OT box years ago. Never got the GOUT or the blu-Ray as I considered either option to be sending the wrong message with my wallet. Gave away my '97 silver box VHS to goodwill collection when my parents sold their house just over three years ago, right before the Disney deal happened. Aside from that I’ve got the '95 faces/thx p&s VHS box which I got at a secondhand store only a few years ago pretty much just for the Maltin interviews (for some stupid reason). Also got the '86 p&s VHS of Jedi I found at my local video store’s sale shortly before ROTS came out. My p&s VHS of TPM might still be lying around unless I gave that away as well.

So yeah, if my sister wants to re-watch the OT over several nights then it’ll be cowclops v2, which looks surprisingly decent when upscaled and the PCM audio can’t be beat. Who am I kidding, I’ll probably re-watch these discs myself if she doesn’t want to. To be honest though, I’ve watched them so many countless times that it doesn’t make much difference to me. I’ve already got such a massive backlog of other stuff I want to watch anyway.

Interesting how we’re seeing that clip of Poe just days after seeing the book cover illustration of him meeting with Von Sydow’s character. The clip would appear to be from that scene, based on the lighting.

As for Billie Lourd, maybe she’s just a random Ensign in the Resistance?

I am still curious though as to whether this will be DCPs of the 2011 version (which is based off the now ancient 2004 master) or if it will be the newer 4K version we’ve been hearing about.

Attack of the Clones remains the longest Star Wars film so far, at 142 minutes.

I still remember when TF.N did a poll after Fellowship of the Ring was released asking how long AOTC should be, with one of the boxes saying “a three hour epic.” It’s probably just coincidence, but I can’t help but wonder if FOTR’s success made George a little more lax about the running time.

I guess that confirms she’s not playing Leia in flashback as was rumored?

I can kinda see a Gungan, but it could just as easily be something else.

Regarding the Disney XD UK thing, I’m assuming that TFA footage will air here in the States tonight at (I think) 8:30 on either Disney Channel proper or Disney XD.

If it makes any difference, you have exactly 1138 posts now.

canofhumdingers said:

Fang Zei said:

Speaking of which, I checked the Smithsonian’s ticketing site and noticed they’ve quietly added a 70mm showtime earlier in the day at 2:30 for Friday-Sunday. Previously they were all sold out until 10:45 on Saturday night.

Maybe I’ll be seeing this earlier than expected.

Aaaaand just this moment saw the special preview during the “Shondathon” on ABC.

LOTS of new shots.

Where are you seeing this? The website I can find only lets you see the schedule out to 21 days, can’t even see the listings for Star Wars on it yet.

https://www.imax.com/mobile/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-an-imax-3d-experience/

If it’s set for somewhere in the DC area then the Lockheed Martin theater should be listed.

Could this be the first bit of John Williams’ score that we’ve heard, or am I just crazy?

Also, is that stormtrooper using one of those electrostaffs from ROTS?

Speaking of which, I checked the Smithsonian’s ticketing site and noticed they’ve quietly added a 70mm showtime earlier in the day at 2:30 for Friday-Sunday. Previously they were all sold out until 10:45 on Saturday night.

Maybe I’ll be seeing this earlier than expected.

Aaaaand just this moment saw the special preview during the “Shondathon” on ABC.

LOTS of new shots.

JCM said:

Was kind of bummed to read this but I suppose I knew it would happen. Apparently Lawrence Kasdan is moving on after he finishes up with the Han Solo SW Anthology film (due in 2018). So he will have co-written TFA and the Han Solo movie and bow out. I hope Rian Johnson is really as good as they say to write the middle film. For that matter, Colin Trevorrow with the final film in the ST.

http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-writer-lawrence-kasdan/

Another thing this convinces me of is that Han Solo will absolutely die in TFA. Kasdan has written some of Harrison Ford’s most iconic moments in the cinema and him bowing out after TFA and the Solo Anthology film solidifies, for me, that Captain Solo is not long for this galaxy.

It’s also been confirmed that Abrams will not be overseeing VIII and IX like George did with Empire and Jedi.

It sounds like a lot of people are really not happy about Trevorrow directing IX. I still haven’t seen Jurassic World, mainly because the review I read wasn’t positive and I heard nothing but bad things from my friends. That and it didn’t appear to need my help at the box office.

I did see Safety Not Guaranteed and enjoyed it quite a bit, but as someone pointed out, Jurassic World probably shattered the record for the increase in budget from a director’s previous film.

This is probably more coincidence than anything else, but remember how George wanted Spielberg to direct Jedi?

celboy said:

I am seeing it in 4k DolbyVision 2D on thursday. I hope this is a really amazing experience that is better than the others. I hope it lives to its potential.
https://elcapitantheatre.com/event/1344/showtimes/2015-12-17
On Friday, I am seeing it in 2k Liemax 3d & sunday is regular 2D digital.

That should be amazing. I guess this means TFA was / is being graded for HDR? Disney owns the El Cap, so they’d be showing the movie there regardless. AVS Forum will most likely have a write up about this next month.

You should totally let us know your impressions of the three formats after you’ve seen them.

@ScorchMuffins might’ve put it best in that Twitter thread.

Lucasfilm is officially stirring the pot.

GlastoEls said:

darklordoftech said:

GlastoEls said:

SilverWook said:

And there are people inside Lucasfilm who want the OOT restored and released as much as we do.

Briefest of acknowledgments on the official site today that the Special Editons are controversial!

http://www.starwars.com/news/collectibles-from-the-outer-rim-star-wars-vhs-releases?cmp=smc|274674436&linkId=18658509

I love how that article is 100% revisionism-free. I love seeing the truth of how Star Wars has been throughout history.

The official site takes its first step into a larger, more open world.

Meanwhile the official Twitter posted:

https://twitter.com/starwars/status/664213076569407489
And immediately gets a ton of OOT requests. Maybe people do still care.

This is truly a new age if the words “No matter where you stand” and “for better or for worse” are being used regarding the special edition on the official website.

To his credit, Zombie did put up videos on his YouTube channel addressing the RMW 4K blurb and the rumor of an unaltered release.

TFA-related videos are simply gonna draw more views. I’m just glad he’s taking the time to discuss the OOT at all.

GlastoEls said:

SilverWook said:

darklordoftech said:

Is it just me or were the SEs hated far more before Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney? When Lucas owned Star Wars, everyone was saying “the evil Lucas is holding back the awesome OOT and shoving the awful SEs down our throats.” When Lucas sold to Disney, people switched to saying, “Disney wants to give us the awesome SEs but a small group of fans is trying to shove the awful OOT down our throats.”

There has always been a segment of the fandom that likes the SE’s. (Some have even gone out of their way to deride this site.) They don’t even want a world where both versions sit side by side and people can choose what to watch.

The general public is less aware of the situation, as the movies haven’t been referred to as Special Editions since 1997.

And this is why I slightly worry.

Who is actively - what’s the word - lobbying for this?

Save Star Wars has gone down - the general public know less and less - and nobody whatsoever mentions this at Lucasfilm any more.

Are we in danger that the quality of Harmy and other restorations is counter productive to Disney restoring it?

But then: look at the attention the recent Landis rumour got. The movie sites all picked it up, but so did some mainstream news sites, including Forbes…

I feel like the OUT is in a similar situation now to The Godfather and part II after Viacom quasi-bought DreamWorks. Coppola
asked his old friend Spielberg to put in a good word for restoring the first two films and Paramount gladly spent more than a million dollars on a state of the art cleanup job.

In a weirdly equal yet opposite way, it’s going to be the people creating new Star Wars content, people like Abrams and especially Johnson, who stand to make the biggest push in restoring the unaltered originals.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Kennedy cares just as much about it, but she’s a little too close to George for it to not be at least a little awkward for her whenever someone brings it up.

What she and George should really be talking about is not only restoring the unaltereds (which, as we’ve discussed at length, he wouldn’t really have a say in anymore) but also finishing the SE. Maybe she could even get him to reconsider some of the changes he’s made. If that rumor about Han shooting first again is true, he already has.

I can’t stop watching that gif.

They captured the motion blur of the OT’s miniature photography rather well.

Has that last part about no 35mm prints in North America actually been confirmed? A couple years ago Paramount became the first major studio to stop sending actual prints to theaters here. Maybe Disney announced something similar in the interval and it flew under my radar.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I’d be happy enough if the liemax screens simply threw in 2D screenings. That way, audiences could get the expanded ratio in those scenes without having to see it in post-converted 3D form. This goes double for the “w/laser” theaters since those are mostly full sized with the 1.44:1 screen. I’m just lucky I’m near one of the 70mm 2D locations.

Someone from the company said they were considering converting the liemax theaters to laser and I welcome the idea. The TCL Chinese is technically a liemax if I’m not mistaken, so they’ve kinda already done it there.

DominicCobb said:

I think the general attitude toward the powers that control Star Wars has turned the tide from angry to optimistic, but if anything the outrage against the SE is even more widespread now. Think how well known Harmy’s Despecialized edits are. Whenever the Star Wars Facebook posts about rereleasing the movies half the comments are either “won’t buy if they aren’t originals” or “I’d rather watch Harmy’s.”

That’s why I’m convinced we’ll see an official OOT release by 2019 (Or whenever Episode 9 is hitting theaters) at the absolute latest. Actually, 2018 would line up with the “every seven years” pattern we’ve seen so far and serve to hype up the final chapter of the currently-being-made trilogy just like the OT dvd in '04.

Mike O said:

I suppose it’s too much to hope that we might finally get remasters of the first six movies that actually look decent and maybe even the director’s cuts for the 50th anniversary? Yeah, it is.

I would say the chances are pretty good if for no other reason than the fact that the big FIVE-OH is coinciding with the debut of the new 4K blu-ray format.

Wrath of Khan has been ready to go in 4K ever since they restored it in '09, but they’ll actually need to redo the others.

The TNG movies need 4K remasters as well.

That Japanese trailer does a good job of revealing just a little bit more without making us feel like we’ve seen the whole movie.

Actually, even the new shots don’t really tell us much of anything about the story that we didn’t already know from the previous trailers.

We’ve got more than a month to go. Mystery Box or not, there’s still a lot they could let spill in the marketing deluge.

I might have to seriously consider going into spoiler lockdown mode.

Something I didn’t really notice until now, or maybe only noticed on a subconscious level, is how much Rey’s staff weapon thing resembles Darth Maul’s lightsaber.