XWing4492

https://drafthouse.com/news/original-star-wars-trilogy-2016

The Alamo Drafthouse site has a press release which states that it is, in fact, the 1997 version. I feel mixed about this as the 1997 is probably the least bad of the Special Editions, but it’s still not the OUT. I imagine it’s the best they can do at the moment, since a complete film reel in decent condition with the OUT probably does not exist at this point (don’t quote me on this, I’m nowhere near an expert). In some ways, maybe we can view this as a “step in the right direction,” since they’re willing to look backwards, as each successive display of the Original Star Wars Trilogy has had further changes, but now they are finally going back. I’m probably reading too much into this though.

Regardless, I think I’m in for this. I never got to see the original trilogy in theaters and I do have fond memories of renting the '97SE on VHS and watching it repeatedly (before I knew better).

I'm hopeful, mostly because like many have said, it would be a huge promotion for the new movie coming out.

I also think we would have heard definitively by now if they weren't ever putting it out. Lucas was always super vocal about wanting the originals to be unavailable. From "the special editions, those are the versions I want out there" to "grow up, they're my movies, not yours," Lucas (nor Lucasfilm) never hid the fact that they weren't putting out the originals in any acceptable form.

Disney, on the other hand, haven't said a word. At this point, I feel we would have heard, whether it was as simple "we are not putting out the original versions" or as complicated as a contractual agreement with Lucas to never put out the originals. Clearly Fox is not a real barrier here (as many have speculated), as they were able to work together for the stupid digital release, so as far as I am aware, there is literally nothing stopping them.

I'm hoping we will know something by the end of this weekend. It might be weird announcing something basically a week after the digital release, but I imagine any physical OOT release would be targeting a crowd that mostly had no interest in the digital release. Who knows though.

I saw that thread, he says to "call it an intuitive hunch," which could mean anything, and he states that his "hunches are never wrong." Would be very happy if this was true. It's odd though because 9/21/2015 is a Monday, and I'm under the impression new releases come out on Tuesdays, though there's no reason they couldn't come out on a Monday...

DominicCobb said:

That's from September 2011, the month the blu-rays actually come out. So we'll probably know about a new release before we know the old blu-rays are out. Until an announcement, it's all speculation.

Yes it is from September 2011. But you're probably right. My line of thinking was that maybe they were letting them fall out of print, but I see that they went out of print when the Blu-Rays were announced.

Regardless, I am probably reading too much into this, but I thought it was interesting that Amazon made no claim that they would be getting more in stock, which they generally do when they expect it.

This is what I found about the 2006 DVD's going out of print from savestarwars.com

September 11th, 2011: 2006 DVD Conatining Original Theatrical Versions Now Out of Print

According to retailers, the 2006 DVDs of the original trilogy, which contained a second bonus disc for each film featuring the original theatrical versions, are no longer being manufactured. Amazon lists it as out-of-print, and no new shipments have been received by retailers for some time now, which has led to their rapidly dwindling numbers in stores. Chances are if you go to your big chain store like Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and the like, you won't be able to find them.

This means that it is no longer possible to officially purchase in any format, in any quality, the original versions of the films. The 2006 2-disc DVD sets were always marked as "Limited Edition", but now that has become true in the very real sense of the word. In short, the one thing the original versions clung to life on is now gone.

According to an employee at Barnes and Nobles, they were told by the manufacturer that it had gone out of print in April of this year--just when Blu-ray pre-orders went live. Coincidence? I think not. Lucasfilm deliberately orchestrated this in advance so that those people who are now rejecting the Blu-ray have no alternative. The Special Edition will be the only version offered.

As it happens, those 2-disc 2006 editions were the only original trilogy DVDs being sold, period; the "trilogy packs" you saw on sale contained those editions. Those trilogy packs are also now out of print. This means the 2004 Special Edition is also no longer available now--nor is any DVD version of any version of the film. In a calculated move, Lucasfilm has made it impossible to officially buy anything other than the 2011 Blu-ray. Sneaky buggers.

Of course, the DVDs thrive in second hand stores, used online retailers and e-bay. If you want any of these, better get them now! Even though the release was very heavily criticized because of the poor treatment of the originals (see here to find out why), it is very sad to see them fade away if only because of the symbolic victory of having the original versions technically available to consumers.

It could very well be that a lot of people got the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack for Christmas. However, according to savestarwars.com, the GOUT fell out of print months before the announcement was made that it was actually out of print. Again, I'm just speculating here, but I found it odd that all of the big box stores ran out of stock online at the same time, especially given Amazon seeming to state that there's no guarantee of it coming back in stock. But if there was any time for that to happen, it would be Christmas.

Hello all, newbie here, starting my first thread!

Anyway, I've been anxiously awaiting some sort of news regarding an OOT Blu-Ray/DVD release (as I'm sure most of you are) and constantly scouring the web for any updates on this happening. However, one thing I just noticed is that many of the big-box DVD retailers (FYE, Best Buy (online only), Wal-Mart (online only), Amazon) seem to be out of stock on the most recent Blu-Ray set of the OT. This could very well be a coincidence, but on the Amazon page, it says "Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item." Usually when Amazon is expecting more stock they will just say something like "Temporarily out of stock (more on the way)" or something of that nature.

So am I reading too much into this, or is the current Blu-Ray set going out of print to make room for some new set? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!