Okay that doesn't sound so bad. Well in the bigger picture anyways. I would love to see them before I die or something. At 43 I figure it won't be till I am 50 till they are finally released and by the time I will be busy like the rest of us hiding in underground shelters from the killer robots that we though were going to be servants and it seems they didn't like that idea. Jason
That's pretty much how I feel, I like most of the changes and additions, and the few I don't aren't enough to ruin the good ones for me.
There was a DVD release of the unaltered original trilogy a few years back. They were non-anamorphic copies of the laserdisc release though. I got all three of them just to have a copy. A blu-ray or 4k blu-ray would be nice but I doubt we'll be getting them. Still I'll probably get a complete series set when it comes out.
Weren't AOTC and ROTS shot digitally at 1080p? So we might get the best looking HDR'd and HD version from a 4K box-set but not a lot of resolution difference (even with upscaling).
Live action stuff was shot in 1080p. CGI can still be updated (all the wireframes are probably archived somewhere), and digital matte paintings were all originally drawn in super-high resolutions, then scaled down.
About fifteen, wasn't it? (Not nitpicking, just blowing my mind that it's been that long already since a legit release of the real films came out.)
While this is accurate, you are not taking into account the improvement of technology. If (and I will admit it's a big IF), they do release the movies, they would likely utilize seamless branching and multiple audio tracks in order to make this doable. I imagine the release for ANH would look something like this: Disc One - A New Hope - Special Edition Sourced from 2020 Restoration, Dolby Vision English Dolby Atmos,English Dolby TrueHD 7.1,French Dolby Digital 5.1,Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 2011 Blu-Ray Cut 2004 DVD Cut (with 2004 audio in English Dolby Atmos) 1997 Special Edition (with 1997 audio in English Dolby Atmos) Disc Two - Star Wars Sourced from 2020 Restoration, Dolby Vision 1977 - 70mm print 1977 - 35mm print 1981 Re-Release print (with Episode IV - A New Hope added to opening crawl) Audio Tracks 1977 35mm Dolby Stereo (Remastered) 1977 70mm 6-track audio (Remastered) 1977 35mm mono track (Remastered) 1985 VHS/Laserdisc track (Remastered) 1993 The Definitive Collection Laserdisc/1995 THX release track (Remastered) Discs Three and Four - Bonus Features Galore Really, lots of possibilities here, but don't need to go into them. The visual changes between the Special Editions post-1997 are rather minimal. (Yes, it might make more sense to put the 1997 Special Edition on its own disc as there are some significant changes between 1997 and 2004. But the audio changes are minimal at best and even with bigger tracks, they're not going to take up too much space on a 4K disc. As for the potential of doing these different cuts for pre-1997, the changes from the 70mm to 35mm aren't too substantial and the 1981 release simply does the crawl change. Again, the audio tracks wouldn't be too big. Particularly, if they're going to want to keep them as archival editions, they may want to clean up the audio and the video, but if they kept them at a decent stereo, 6-track or mono level, I think that's awesome. No need to go Atmos on these (as nice as that might be). The point is, this is totally doable. I don't care if they push the Special Editions more and charge me an arm and a leg for these "Archival Editions." I'd pay it to have something like this. But as much as I can dream this up, it doesn't mean its going to happen. And I'm certainly not holding my breath. (My fingers may be crossed though. ) If anyone is interested in an obsessive list of the changes made over the years... Linky
Older CG isn't always (or, honestly, ever) just drag-and-drop compatible with current systems. Assuming they have all the working files, it's entirely possible they'd also have to recreate the systems they ran on, either through some sort of emulation or compatibility layer, or actually finding vintage computers to run them on. It's not impossible, especially with ILM's resources, but it's not as easy as you'd hope, and it might not be straightforward to make a system that can access the old files as they were made and also take advantage of modern computer power to quadruple the output area. I am curious about the model work. A good amount of spaceships, city buildings, and landscapes were physical models, but I have no idea if they were shot on digital cameras or film for AOTC and ROTS.
Now that'd be a kick in the teeth - redone from scratch with present equipment, at 4K the CGI would look more real than the actors!!
Your certainty that this will never happen is giving me hope for the first time in years. That said, GL wouldn't even give an intact copy of the original film to the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS so you may continue to be correct.
They should do what Warner did with Blade Runner years back, release every version ever of each film in a single (limited edition) box set(s). If a film like Blade Runner can manage it why not Star Wars? If Lucasfilm/Disney prepared similar releases for each of the original films I have no doubt that fans would eat them up like no tomorrow.
I don't understand it either because it's such an obvious money maker. If Disney announced tomorrow " Star Wars: The Theatrical Versions coming soon to home video" they would probably set a record for preorders as people have been waiting decades now for it. The demand is there. Disney would be essentially turning down money which would be a first.
There has to be a middle-ground between the 1977 (no Episode IV) version and the full special edition. I have no fondness for matte-lines, for instance, and I like seeing Biggs show up in the hangar.
Sadly, I doubt they'll make the fully customizable "Choose Your Own A New Hope Cut" version available this go-around.