By Chris Seekell
The website ComicBook.com is reporting that Disney is planning to release an unaltered theatrical cut of the Original Trilogy.
For a long time Star Wars fans have been clamoring for Disney/Lucasfilm to re-release the original, unaltered cut of the first Star Wars trilogy, and Comicbook.com has now confirmed with two independent reliable sources that just such a plan is under way.
According to our sources, Disney has plans to release the original cut of the Star Wars trilogy on Blu-ray. Our sources indicate that the project has been under way for quite some time, but it’s been challenging because of some damage to the original negatives they are utilizing. The goal is to release A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of Jedi in their complete, unaltered, original form without the redone special edition SFX.
Our sources did not have an exact date as to when the original cut of the Star Wars Trilogy would be released on Blu-ray, due to the challenges Disney has encountered in pulling everything together. However, our sources indicated the goal is to have it ready and released before Star Wars Episode VII is released in theaters.
Now this report should definitely be taken with a grain of salt until any official announcements are made, but who is excited?!
Source: ComicBook.com
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I was just watching the original cuts today on those 2006 bonus DVD's of the 1993 LaserDisc versions today as a matter of fact. Interesting rumor if The UOT is coming to blu-ray disc. I would though take this rumor with a grain of salt. Keep in mind 20th Century Fox still owns the home video distribution to the 1st 6 Star Wars films. So unless a deal with Disney for home video rights is made I can't see this happening anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteKen gets everywhere :-D I hope this story is true, it's something I've campaigned for since before the botched DVD release (GOUT). My hope is that the theatrical cuts get a theatrical run in the near future (not in 3D please).
ReplyDelete20th Century Fox has distribution rights for all six films through 2020. Supposedly they have permanent rights to Episode IV. I don't know for sure, I read it on the internet so I guess I could be way wrong and be buying such a set next year.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is: Will Han shoot first?
ReplyDeleteWhen??!!
ReplyDeleteWhich original cut? Will Star Wars still have "Episode IV: A New Hope" inserted in it? What about the mouse bot?
ReplyDeleteIn the original theatrical cut it said Episode IV : A New Hope. Nothing ever changed with that.
DeleteThe original release did not have the Ep4 ANH chapter and subtitle, that only appeared after the rerelease. The DVD bonus discs with the original cut only says "Star Was" and then the crawl —no chapter # or subtitle. In addition there are differences between the 70mm release and the 35mm release, mostly in the form of alternate dialogue and sound effects. More info about different versioning here:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_changes_in_Star_Wars_re-releases
Not true, David: The original theatrical cut was just "Star Wars". It wasn't yet Episode IV.
ReplyDeleteStevie is right, David-- the first released theater cut had no Episode IV : A New Hope title. That started with the re-release in... I think 1979?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering... What would you keep from the Specia Edition? What could be saved and what erradicated for ever?, in my humble opinion:
ReplyDeleteOUT:
-I would definitely eliminate in Episode IV the appearance of Jabba the Hutt, especially when Han steps on his tail, it is degrading an Jabba loses importance. Jabba is scary, he is Al Capone, a sadist and a murderer, very powerful and everybody should be scared of him. He should keep a mysterious and sinister character only appearing at the end, in ROTJ.
-Also the Greedo shooting first. It totally spoils the arc of transformation of Han character. Han becomes a hero only later on, before he is just a survivor that only thinks of himself.
-The new wampa scenes in ESB. It is said that monsters are more scary when you don't show everything. Things in the dark are scarier than those that we see completely, because we imagine them always more terrifying.
- The musical number at Jabbas's palace... it was better the decadent ambiance of the previous uncut version.
IN:
- The Emperor speech in Empire Strikes Back. That is the only thing that makes sense and improves the original.
- Some of the improved space battles with CGI.
your thoughts?
NOOOOOOOOOOO, brilliant news.....................when
ReplyDeleteThe sound from the special edition is AWFUL. You cannot hear ANY of the dialog and the explosions are so loud they wake up your neighbors...just like all of todays movies. You can't watch them without blasting them because you can't hear any dialog.
ReplyDeleteI forgot one importan thing I would supress or modify from the original versions, Hayden Christensen as a Force Ghost at the end of ROTJ. As a half-way of fixing it, I would suggest that the three ghosts did a bit of a "morphing" process and would return to their younger versions: Yoda as in Episode I (DVD version, not the blu-ray CGI), Guiness to McGregor and Shaw to Christensen. Some specialists in the supernatural suggest that when we die, we return to our happiest age of our lives, that would make sense, ... from a spiritual point of view.
ReplyDeleteBesides, in this way, they could always use Ewan to play Obi-wan again as a Force Ghost in the new trilogies without worrying about Luke recognising him.
DJ what are you going on about? Are you deaf? I've heard a lot of stupid criticisms of the Special Edition's over the years, but yours by far takes the cake as the dumbest.
ReplyDeleteI like my Sarlac Pit to be a giant vadge in the desert. No Audrey IIs, thank you very much indeed!!
ReplyDeleteI hope this is true. It is my understanding that 20th century fox has the distribution rights, but I have also heard that everyone involved at Lucasfilm and Fox wanted to release these all along, make some money, except for Lucas himself.
ReplyDeleteIf Disney is putting in the time and effort to get the originals to Blu Ray quality I bet they are able to work something out with Fox that makes it beneficial to both companies.
I can dream at least. I tried watching the special editions a few months ago to see if they were as bad as I remembered, and yeah, they are. So many distracting changes and cartoon characters running across the screen. I was all for them when I thought they truly were going to be "special" editions and not replace the movies I grew up watching.