He offered to do the restoration for a fairly minimal cost, but I certainly don't think he was willing to foot the bill. Lucas of course, has no interest in working on the versions which "no longer existed."

Ah, I was pretty sure I remembered something along the lines of him offering to cover part of the costs or help with the restoration or something.

Kinda silly to even offer. The money involved in restoring it would be pennies on the dollar for Lucas.

I kind of took it as just trying to show Lucas that there is a demand for the original trilogy and people willing to make it happen. It also may have been him trying to get a jab in about it supposedly being too costly to restore.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd cue the ugly Steelbooks.

http://www.starwars.com/news/the-sta...inkId=16077042

I like them other than they should have skipped the Stormtrooper, Grieveus, and Palpentine for R2, C3PO, and Luke. Even Boba Fett would have been a better choice for ESB.

But no way I double dip on the Star Wars saga on BD without the actual OT.

Disney isn't likely to release any new "bonus material" for these films until they have the distribution rights to the majority of them. Meanwhile, FOX is going to milk this films as best they can while they have it. New "limited edition" packaging to coincide with the new film is really the best they can do.

Odd that they're using all Sith/Dark Side characters other than Yoda for those steelbooks. I don't really care for the way they look and won't pick them up until the original Original Trilogy is released.

I know. Basically saying I'll wait til then and still only if Disney does right by the OT.

At least they could have done 2 6 pack releases. 6 dark, 6 light.

Maul, Dooku, Grevious, Vader, Boba, Sidious/Palpentine

Padme, Kenobi, Yoda, Luke, Solo, Leia

I'm really beginning to get aggravated at the lack of a UOT announcement. I really thought the regime change would have been the thing to make it happen.

Since this is the Christmas release, the next time we could see it would be Spring alongside the Bluray release of The Force Awakens.

I'm a steelbook addict but the choices for these covers is a head scratcher - if you're going villains, just go ALL villains - put Dooku or Jango Fett on Clones.... I have no problem with Vader on A New Hope but having a stormtrooper and the emperor on 5 & 6 makes no goddamn sense, they are not even remotely the stars of either flick...should have been Han and Luke on 5 & 6.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that with the characters they have chosen, most (maybe all?) can be used without paying any likeness royalties to the actors.

With as much as they love to milk this series, I'm shocked that they didn't come up with this idea. Then they'd provide two double dips (triple, if you already bought the Blu-Ray saga) at once!

"Why wait til next year for another double dip when you can buy both today!"

That's a missed opportunity for the Star Wars money machine...

I hate to say it, but this is brilliant and exactly what I would have expected.

I thought of that too, but then the releases they have done in the past would have needed the same kind of payout.

Did any of the previous releases us original art, or was it just movie posters and stills photoshopped together? I just have trouble imagining a scenario where you put a giant image of Harrison Ford's face on the front of a steelbook, and he doesn't get anything.

Those rights are usually signed away for any actor when they appear in a film.

I would have preferred they used the painted Star Wars movie posters for the steelbooks.

I get that. But there are plenty of previously created images of Ford (and the others) that could be used if that is the issue.

Unless they were archived pictures I haven't seen before, each new DVD/BD release has used at least some "new" art somewhere. The worst example being the art used on the OT DVD's created to match those used on the DVD's of the PT.

But which ones? There are so many for each film. I've seen a batch of three that seem to gel well together, but somewhere I thought I have read that they were actually created after the movies were released.

Personally I prefer the posters that are rather stylized. Light saber for Jedi, Vader helmet for Empire, etc.

I know the rights are typically signed away for merchandising, but is it possible at the time the OT was done, home video rights weren't included? After all, home video wasn't even really a thing when the OT was being made.

The "faces" VHS release that many of us have also didn't include any actual actor faces. Empire was also represented by a Stormtrooper in that set.

It's doubtful, given that if that were the case, it would've affected many, many films long before now.

I could possibly see them being owed a royalty if their face is used, so it could be a cost-saving measure.

However, it's much more likely that an actor's face, in and of itself, isn't clearly "Star Wars." I mean, Harrison Ford is known for far more than just Star Wars. For the home video covers that use the actors likenesses, they've been more montages, including actors in costume and other more visibly Star Wars objects.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KTCF1H4QL.jpg

"Own the ruined Incomplete Star Wars Saga all over again, but in uglier packaging." should be the ad campaign.

No, No, Nooooooooo!

No trilogy steelbook? Only individual movies and the six-movie set?

Why don't studios / distributors simply put the original theatrical posters on each case and disc?