milo bloom

It’s not cost and at this point I doubt it’s because of some perceived “gentleman’s agreement” between George and Disney.

When he allowed the release of the laserdisc copies on DVD he showed he wasn’t interested in suppressing them, he just didn’t care enough to want to bother.

Disney would have no qualms about paying the money if they thought they could move a few extra copies. Like rocket1312 just said, other studios restore and release all kinds of c-list horror stuff all the time. Disney could do this with they change they fish out of the fountain at Disneyworld.

I’d bet even money we’ll see them next year with the home video release of TROS.

Gizmo

Yes, but there is already a perfectly acceptable print of all the Star Wars movies available. What does Disney gain by spending the money to restore the original unaltered trilogy? Physical sales are in the toilet and not it going up. We are already in Star Wars overload with movies seemingly every year and a dozen shows in development. It’s no longer an event.

Obi-Wanma

I had those, but I sold them a few years back. The fact that they are non-anamorphic is ridiculous and a deal breaker for me. I can't watch them letterboxed on all 4 sides or zoomed in. I was never going to watch and enjoy them that way, so I sold them.

Mike86

Dan

I just want Rogue One in 4K, so I'll wait until that happens.

rocket1312

I'll agree with you that the reason it hasn't been done already is because Disney is fine peddling the version they have (that and the fact that until this year the Fox situation was an impediment), but I'd argue that the current masters are hardly acceptable by 2019 standards. They were barely acceptable when they were originally released. And the fact that they are only 1080p means that in order to do 4k the whole deal needed to be rescanned anyways. Why not just go the extra mile and do the originals? Presumably the elements they'd scan for 4k are only configured to the 97 versions, so they'd have to do extra work anyways if they want to reproduce whatever the current versions are. And whatever lack of demand is still out there for physical media isn't preventing other studios from doing these sorts of restorations. If any film or films can hope to recoup the costs involved, I think it'd be Star Wars.

Shannon Nutt

It's just a repackaging to dump inventory before a complete saga set gets released in the near future, along with a 4K set. I wouldn't expect that set at the same time that The Rise of Skywalker hits home video, however. My guess is they'll release the final film in April or May of 2020, but hold off the new complete saga set until November.

melasnus

R1 is a decent movie, but the only Disney SW movie that really FEELS like a Star Wars movie is Solo and I already have it in 4K UHD.
The OT films are the movies I would be willing to upgrade from 2K to 4K in the future.

orangerunner

Hmmm... A lot more money? After spending 4 billion on the Star Wars franchise, I imagine as good capitalists they would want to wring-out every dime they possibly could.

When the Limited Edition DVDs came out with the non-anamorphic versions of the original Star Wars trilogy that was more of a response to the growing number of pirated versions of the Laserdisc transfer that were circulating on-line at the time.

True but there still seems to be financial incentives to release Gremlins, Red Heat and many more lower-tier titles in 4K. Given the influence and historical value of these films, don't the original versions deserve to be preserved correctly regardless of whatever format they exist on? Maybe they have been and were created with the understanding that they would never be made available to the public on a consumer video format.

George Lucas opposing the release of these original films is about the only plausible reason I can see as to why we haven't seen them yet. He sold the franchise but perhaps those are the cards he's keeping to himself.

fujishig

The people that are interested in the original unaltered trilogy will buy it in addition to whatever else they release. So I think at some point, when there's a lull (if there ever is one), it makes sense for them to do it. I mean, there's really no reason for them to re-release these now with new covers and I'm sure they will still sell a bunch.

Even if they do it as some massive collectors set as an extra it would sell a ton of copies, I'd think.

OldBoy

Disney has raped my adulthood...yet again.

rocket1312

Even beyond that, it behooves Disney to archive the original versions before it's too late so that they're not just lost to history. Even if that doesn't mean a physical release now or in the near future, it's all about asset protection. Who knows, 25 years from now Disney might be in a position to monetize the original trilogy in a way they never could have foreseen. The point is that no one knows, and it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd certainly feel a whole lot better if, say, Sony controlled the franchise, but hopefully Disney will step up to the plate.

JoeyOhhhh

Based on Disney's past efforts to acquire Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts that weren't in there possession, I cannot see Disney passing up opportunity to acquire prints of the UOT if they don't already have them. And I am sure at some point they will release them, original trilogy fans only getting older and only so much cash they can squeeze out of us.

milo bloom

I hope they think like that. Paramount is refusing to remaster DS9 and VOY in HD, even though it would make them easier to sell into syndication. But since it's only three films, Disney may see the benefit of doing the OT.

That's a sobering thought. We're not getting any younger, and even if we try to introduce our kids to the UOT, many of them will still be fine with the SE versions.

Mike86

Michael Corvin

At this point, I think the only people interested in the OOT are done buying endless rereleases.

fujishig

You don't think they'd buy 4k?

Mike86

Josh Z

DS9 and Voyager would actually require far more VFX replacement than TNG, because they had much more integration of primitive standard-def CGI that would need to be redone entirely. With TNG, most of the effects work was practical, models and optical composites that exist on film and could be recomposited at a higher resolution.

The restoration projects for DS9 and Voyager would be more work and more expensive, for two shows that are much less popular. Considering that even the more-popular TNG underperformed sales expectations, that investment is a hard sell for the company's shareholders.

slop101

LOL at that cover for Empire, making it look like Boba Fett is one of the leads, instead of how he has only 4 lines/20 words in the entire movie.

But yeah, I have that complete special edition blu-ray deluxe set, don't need anything else, that is, unless they release the original original versions.

DJariya

I'm pretty sure this is the 1st time episodes 1-6 are getting released via Disney. The last time they were released was via FOX.

So I'm not sure if you can just call it a re-packaging for that. New menus would need to be made and we don't know what extra content they are using.

I mean are the releases for episodes 1-3 going to get the 2 hour plus documentaries on the making of them that was on the original FOX DVDs? Disney usually doesn't release DVDs and BDs with long documentaries and now most studios stopped producing them due to budget cuts in home video departments.

Mike86

Mike86

fujishig

Why is that? You'd think with the properties Disney has, it would be easiest for them to make super ultra special editions with tons of extras, and they just don't. I thought it was because they wanted people double dipping but if so they're playing the long game on a lot of their stuff.

Mike86