But when Disney bought Lucasfilm, fans wondered if that meant that the Original Trilogy might see the light of day on a format that doesn't require borrowing your parents' LaserDisc player. Originally that wasn't the case, since the home video rights to the series remained with 20th Century Fox. But now that Disney owns Fox, rumors surfaced that they were planning to release a new 4K box set with the OT included. Plus, there was a recent screening of an original 70mm print of A New Hope, featuring no CGI creatures whatsoever, which was approved by Lucas. Surely a home media release isn't far behind?
Well, probably not. Even though no rights issues prevent Disney from releasing the unaltered movies, they likely won't. Why? Because of George Lucas. The recent Blu-Ray release is considered to be the official canonical version of the Star Wars trilogy, at least according to Lucas. And Lucasfilm is adhering to "Lucas' wishes" on this matter. There have even been rumors that part of the deal when Disney purchased Lucasfilm was that Disney couldn't "retcon anything George Lucas was involved in" -- which would include pretending that all the changes in the Special Editions were, say, some dream Lobot had. And Kathleen Kennedy has gone on the record that she "wouldn't touch" the originals, which will "always remain" Lucas'. So get used to hearing that goddamn "Jedi Rocks" song for all eternity. And speaking of George Lucas ...
98 Comments