Star Wars on Digital HD/Disney Movies Anywhere in May? (1 Viewer)

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/01/rumor-hasbro-boxed-sets-star-wars-digital-release-new-lego-sets-force-awakens-merchandise-street-date/

A while ago there where rumors that the 6 Star Wars episodes would be making their Digital HD debut in Q4 of 2014. Obviously that didn't happen, but this seems to strongly indicate that they will be coming this May. My assumption is that the delay has to do with The Force Awakens debuting in Dec instead of May. The interesting thing is that this release seems to be coming from Disney rather than Fox, so they have obviously worked out some kind of deal at least where streaming rights are concerned.

Stephen Brooks said:

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/01/rumor-hasbro-boxed-sets-star-wars-digital-release-new-lego-sets-force-awakens-merchandise-street-date/
The interesting thing is that this release seems to be coming from Disney rather than Fox, so they have obviously worked out some kind of deal at least where streaming rights are concerned.

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I don't see anything in that article that mentions Disney...

Patrick Donahue said:

I don't see anything in that article that mentions Disney...

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Or the US, for that matter.


(I'm sure I wasn't the only one who had to read past the first paragraph, thinking, "....HAS-bro?? "

http://makingstarwars.net/2015/01/rumor-star-wars-detours-get-digital-release-may/

This one mentions a "massive Star Wars digital library"..... such a thing won't be coming from Fox.

Stephen Brooks said:

This one mentions a "massive Star Wars digital library"..... such a thing won't be coming from Fox.

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Why not?

Fox selling the rights to 6 Star Wars films to Disney would be huge news to the shareholders of both companies. I don't think it would be a secret.

They don't have to "sell" the rights outright, some sort of sharing agreement could be worked out. And nobody had any idea that Lucasfilm was being sold to Disney until the day it happened, so yes, it absolutely COULD be a secret until they were good and ready to announce it.

C'mon guys, this should be GOOD news! Why all the hostility?

No intention of being hostile, I assure you. Just trying to make sure accurate information is out there.

It certainly would be great news when Star Wars is available on Digital HD, whether it be UV or DMA.

Cheers!

On a related note, is anyone else as tired as I am of Star Wars ALWAYS being the last major holdout on every single new format? It's getting a bit old. They're special movies certainly, but not THAT special. The fact that there's still no legal way to own them digitally is both odd and frustrating.

Stephen Brooks said:

They don't have to "sell" the rights outright, some sort of sharing agreement could be worked out.

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Yeah and that's what will or has happened. Since Disney owns Star Wars, Fox can't do anything with it without Disney's cooperation (and vice versa basically). One could hold out but what sense would there be in that? Especially in the case of Fox who is looking at one of their last chances to make money from SW.

Exactly Travis. I don't know why so many people act as if Fox's distribution rights are some sort of insurmountable obstacle to ever seeing Star Wars released under the Disney label. Studios work out rights sharing all the time....New Line and MGM found a way to cooperate on The Hobbit, and Warner and Fox found a way to cooperate on the Batman TV show, just to name a couple recent examples. Fox's distribution rights mean very little if Lucasfilm doesn't give them anything to distribute, so either they work with Disney, or nobody makes money off the original films ever again. Does anyone seriously think that will happen?

TravisR said:

Since Disney owns Star Wars, Fox can't do anything with it without Disney's cooperation

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But that just isn't true. Fox owns 1-6, Disney owns anything they make in the future. That will change in 2020, but until then that's how it is. Why do you NEED them to be released under the Disney label anyway? Wouldn't Fox releasing them in UV be just as good?

No cooperation is needed between the studios for them to be released digitally. No deal needs to be worked out. They are Twentieth Century Fox films, period. There's nothing they need to ask Disney for. The only reason they haven't been released up to this point is probably so they can be tied into the new film, not because some kind of corporate agreement hasn't been reached. There is no need for one.

Please remember though that that should not dampen your enthusiasm for seeing Star Wars digitally. None of what I said is bad news for that happening. Fox owning them doesn't mean there is any less chance of seeing them this year, and I certainly hope we do as well!

Patrick Donahue said:

No cooperation is needed for them to be released digitally. No deal needs to be worked out. They are Twentieth Century Fox films, period.

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No they're not. Lucasfilm (now Disney) owns the films outright. Fox only holds distribution rights to the films until 2020, with the exception of the first film, for which they own distribution rights in perpetuity.

I just need to say

1) I could be completely wrong and if I am I'll be the first one to say it

and

2) Whoever owns them I hope that we can add them to our digital collections this year

Only the first movie was made under the traditional studio financing model. Instead of a big paycheck, Lucas asked for sequel and merchandise rights, which Fox gladly gave, assuming they were worthless. All the movies since then are essentially the biggest budget independent films ever, simply distributed by Fox (hence why their deal had to be renegotiated every so often, and will expire for good in 2020 with full rights reverting to Lucasfilm and Disney). So in less than 5 years, Fox loses 5 out of the 6 films, meaning they will never be in a better negotiating position than they are right now. If anyone at Fox has any brains, they would meet Disney at the negotiating table and see what they could get in exchange for signing over the rights now. I personally think it is likely that this has already happened. And no, the lack of a giant press release doesn't prove anything. They will announce when they are ready, but little bits of info are starting to leak out, along with it just being plain common sense that we will see some sort of new release of the old films prior to The Force Awakens.

There you go!

Vudu would be good! UV would be great! D2D asking too much?

[email protected] said:

Vudu would be good! UV would be great! D2D asking too much?

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Let's not get greedy now

Patrick Donahue said:

There you go!

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And only for $43,302,339!

(Told ya the prices would go up once the studios started getting overconfident. )


Seriously, think we'll get another Disney dip of the existing SE trilogies with DigitalHD included in time for the movie, now that the digital masters exist.

I'm just dying to see if it's Fox or Disney

Patrick Donahue said:

I'm just dying to see if it's Fox or Disney

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Me too but what would be the purpose of people purchasing this title that has already been released time and time again in other formats that are still being used in 2015? I would think that most fans would already have these?? I can see some use of this for some but I dont see earth shaking sales figures for the titles even if they are Star Wars.