Could the original, unaltered STAR WARS be on its way to Blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

http://comicbook.com/starwars/2017/11/06/star-wars-disney-21st-century-fox-original-cut-new-hope/

#checkbackin2020

Shouldn't the Disney/20th Century Fox merger cancel out Disney wanting to wait until 2020 for the rights to the sequels and prequels to shift over? Would the successful conclusion of the said merger not give Disney immediate effective ownership of the six pre Disney Star Wars titles?

Edit: That article is out of date, and the Disney/20th Century Fox merger is official, assuming whatever higher courts allow the merger to stand.

CHEERS!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Unfortunately, the above link is from a site which is not a legitimate journalistic resource. They merely plagiarize material from other sources and/or provide their own unsourced speculation. There's absolutely no reason to accept anything they say as anything more than armchair speculation.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Unfortunately, the above link is from a site which is not a legitimate journalistic resource. They merely plagiarize material from other sources and/or provide their own unsourced speculation. There's absolutely no reason to accept anything they say as anything more than armchair speculation.

To be fair, I believe the plagarized information was true enough on the date of that article's emergence, as talks were widely reported to have stalled between Disney and Fox around that time.

CHEERS!

 

[Carlo_M]

More importantly, if Disney does buy out Fox (I think it still has to go through Federal regulatory approval, last I read), will they reinstate the original Fox Fanfare intro to the OOT if they're ever released? I mean, at that point, they'll own Fox so why not put the original opening that we're all used to?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Whenever they finally get released in good quality BDs, I hope Disney doesn't force us to repurchase all the movies (including Rogue One, upcoming Han Solo flick, etc) in one big boxset in order to get the unaltered original trilogy...

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Whenever they finally get released in good quality BDs, I hope Disney doesn't force us to repurchase all the movies (including Rogue One, upcoming Han Solo flick, etc) in one big boxset in order to get the unaltered original trilogy...

I'm not sure that they'd make you rebuy a dozen movies, but I would suspect that the original versons would be more likely to be included as "bonus features" in a release of the original trilogy, as they were on the 2006 DVDs. It seems unlikely to me that you'd be able to buy the 1977 version of Star Wars without the revised version being included.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It seems unlikely to me that you'd be able to buy the 1977 version of Star Wars without the revised version being included.

Which is fine with me. I still want the original, but I will accept the special edition being included if it means that I get the original. It helps that, as yet, I still haven't upgraded my 2004 DVDs to Blu-ray, so that would make it feel less like a double dip to me than if I had already bought Fox's existing Blu-rays of the special editions, too.

I think it is clear that there will be, at the very minimum, a nine-film boxed set containing the episodic films. However, I don't think Disney would restrict the original cuts to that box set because they know they will make more money selling them separately. People who have already bought the new films, in particular, would likely bulk at having to buy those again to get the original cuts, but if the original unaltered trilogy comes out in a a reasonably-priced boxed set on its own, I think most people would be willing to pay for that, whether or not they also had to accept the special editions as well. At least, I would.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

But I don't think it would be out of the question for Disney to first put it out in a mega box set, and then break out just the original trilogy movies and/or singles later on.

I just had a terrible thought. What if Disney wanted to use the original versions as an exclusive to their new streaming service?

 

[Dave H]

Shouldn't the Disney/20th Century Fox merger cancel out Disney wanting to wait until 2020 for the rights to the sequels and prequels to shift over? Would the successful conclusion of the said merger not give Disney immediate effective ownership of the six pre Disney Star Wars titles?

I would think so unless they continue to just operate as separate companies under Disney. But honestly, with 2020 just two years away and presumably the finale of the Star Wars "Episodes" (1-9) it would seem like the more likely timing.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just had a terrible thought. What if Disney wanted to use the original versions as an exclusive to their new streaming service?

If they did that, we'd still be better off than we are now. I hope they don't, but if they did, there would be a way to access good quality versions of the original cuts legally. As it is right now, you can't get them unless you support illegal bootlegging. If it was an exclusive to the streaming service, we could at least watch it.

But I don't think they will go that route. We hear all the time that disc sales are down as people switch to streaming. But Star Wars is still a reliable seller -- TFA was the #1 Blu-ray of 2016 by a wide margin, I think -- and Disney has to know that the unaltered original trilogy is one of the things that people want more than anything. There's too much money in it for them to leave it as a streaming exclusive.

Plus, would you actually continually subscribe to the streaming service just to be able to access those titles? I wouldn't keep renewing, if that was the only thing I wanted on the service.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Shouldn't the Disney/20th Century Fox merger cancel out Disney wanting to wait until 2020 for the rights to the sequels and prequels to shift over?

Yes...but the merger is going to take a while for the government to approve. At the earliest, it might be done by late 2018, or longer, and Disney doesn't officially own everything until that's finalized, so Fox won't let them release it until everything is done. If it takes into 2019 for the merger to be approved, then that's almost 2020 anyway.

With Episode IX coming in December 2019 anyway, we've got to imagine that film will be arriving on disc in April 2020. I think that would be a good target time to expect the original trilogy as well, should everything work out favorably with the Fox deal.

 

[Jake Lipson]

unless they continue to just operate as separate companies under Disney.

Even if that were to be the case, Lucasfilm will be granted control of A New Hope back. Similarly, everyone expects X-Men and Fantastic Four to return to Marvel oversight, even if Fox remains as a label in Disney's collection of brands.

 

[Allansfirebird]

My ideal version of ANH would include the theatrical version, the '97 special edition, and the legendary "lost cut" of the film, edited by John Jympson. But, with Disney's tendency to sanitize or willfully ignore portions of their cinematic history, I wouldn't be surprised if the negatives are left in the vault indefinitely.

 

[WillG]

Oh boy, look, I don't want to rain on a parade here, but it seems that you guys are talking about this as it's just a matter of time before it's released. Unless I missed some major news in the last 24 hours, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. Granted, I've leaned to never say never when it comes to this kind of stuff. The optical disc era has seen many releases that we never would have ever thought would ever materialize. However there are some reasons (I mentioned in another thread) that I have doubts on this. First is that I seriously doubt this would happen while Kennedy is running LFL. I don't see her going against Lucas's wishes. I think she's indicated this (I know there was an internet article that covered this question with her. I know that article "mis-contexted" her response. But I was still left with the impression that she had no intention of going against Lucas). I also am coming around to the belief that the demand for the UOT is, in reality, not what we think it is. People like us aren't getting younger and the younger fans are happy with the SEOT (they also seem to prefer the PT anyway). LFL also certainly knows about the existence of high quality bootlegs that almost perfectly replicate the UOT. So they may have an unofficial stance of "If they want them, they know where to get them."

 

[Carlo_M]

People like us aren't getting younger and the younger fans are happy with the SEOT (they also seem to prefer the PT anyway).

Wonder where you're getting this data? I work in a college campus and my department hires over 200 students annually. I've worked there for 20 years, since I was a student myself there. I've seen Gen X, Y and Millennials go through my org, including whatever they call the current gen of 18-21 year olds. It's funny, but starting with Ep 7, these kids are talking about Star Wars again (there was a lull post-PT because my theory is those films never took hold of the kids of their day, unlike the OOT did for kids in the 70s-80s).

Over the recent 2+ years I've asked those who saw the new movies how they felt about the PT. I tried to do this organically within their discussions of JJ's and now Rian's films. I tried my best not to introduce my own thoughts, just simply asked if these were the first films they saw, or if they saw any of the other SW films and what they thought of them. I knew from our threads here in HTF that many of us who intensely disliked the PT were accused of trying to relive/recapture our youth and unfairly criticizing the new movies since we were 'no longer the age demographic".

So from purely a scientific curiosity, I have asked these kids how they felt about the movies, wondering if perhaps the defenders of the PT were correct. To nearly 100% agreement, most expressed at best ambivalence at the PT, and many even said how bad or unmemorable they were, and that the new ones were better. Maybe it's because I work at a top academic university and these kids are "more movie-savvy" than perhaps the average kid walking in small-town America (I don't know this to be true, I'm just trying to guess as to why some people may discount my experience), but I couldn't find one of these mythical "they prefer the PT anyway" creatures in the dozens of our student workers who have talked about the films over the last 24+ months since Ep7 came out. In fact I haven't come across anyone in our student pool who actually professed admiration for the PTs, and these kids were born 1997 and later. I think the most most resounding compliment was "they were aiiiight, but these new ones are lit!" I think that's how that is spelled, I don't speak their jargon. #iamold

Sure there will always be younger gen folks who don't give a hoot about the UOT/OOT vs the SEs. But there will also be people of that generation who will care about it, because they're budding movie buffs, or inquisitive, or any number of reasons. Look, I wasn't born when the Beatles or Zeppelin were touring (okay that's a stretch, I was alive towards the end of Zep's touring days but I was an infant). But later on in high school and college I went on a deep dive of those bands, despite the fact that they'd stopped making music decades prior. Just like many other kids I went to school with.

Star Wars, especially the original movies, will spark interest like that for generations to come. Did Godfather 3 reduce the love and fan interest for 1 and 2? Not at all. Don't undersell future fans who will end up caring about getting an OOT/UOT version, it's not just going to be us old folks trying to recapture our youth, just as college kids today still listen to the grunge music I did when I was in college. In fact, in our work room right before our holiday break, the kids were playing...the Beatles.

Which brings us back to the question of if the UOT/OOT will ever be released. Sure Lucas (and by extension Kennedy, out of respect) don't want it released. But when you sell for $4B, you give up that right, and Disney is, at its heart, a money-making corporation. Full stop. And they know they won't make too much money re-releasing the SE OTs. Why? Because they're already available. People have bought them. What is the only thing Disney can sell of the OT that currently can't be purchased in HD/UHD? That's right, the UOT/OOT. And if Disney can make a buck, they will. I don't think they bought the company for $4B to pass on the chance to make sales out of the UOT/OOT, especially since it wouldn't even be cost-prohibitive to release those versions (as RAH has stated in past threads). If Criterion can do quality releases that sell in the low thousands, you can sure bet Disney can do it for the originals.

 

[TravisR]

Over the recent 2+ years I've asked those who saw the new movies how they felt about the PT. I tried to do this organically within their discussions of JJ's and now Rian's films. I tried my best not to introduce my own thoughts, just simply asked if these were the first films they saw, or if they saw any of the other SW films and what they thought of them. I knew from our threads here in HTF that many of us who intensely disliked the PT were accused of trying to relive/recapture our youth and unfairly criticizing the new movies since we were 'no longer the age demographic".

So from purely a scientific curiosity, I have asked these kids how they felt about the movies, wondering if perhaps the defenders of the PT were correct. To nearly 100% agreement, most expressed at best ambivalence at the PT, and many even said how bad or unmemorable they were, and that the new ones were better. Maybe it's because I work at a top academic university and these kids are "more movie-savvy" than perhaps the average kid walking in small-town America (I don't know this to be true, I'm just trying to guess as to why some people may discount my experience), but I couldn't find one of these mythical "they prefer the PT anyway" creatures in the dozens of our student workers who have talked about the films over the last 24+ months since Ep7 came out. In fact I haven't come across anyone in our student pool who actually professed admiration for the PTs, and these kids were born 1997 and later. I think the most most resounding compliment was "they were aiiiight, but these new ones are lit!" I think that's how that is spelled, I don't speak their jargon. #iamold

How you broach the topic of the prequels is irrelevant because the internet destroyed those movies' reputation long ago. People who never saw the prequels would tell you that they sucked thanks to the people who can't stop saying how much they hate them after nearly 19 years. And even if someone did like the prequels more, not many people are going to say that in a room of more or less strangers for fearing of being looked down on because of the movies' reputations.

For what it's worth, I see people on Star Wars boards that say they grew up on the prequels and they like them. I even occasionally see a person that prefer them to the OT and even as a fan of the PT, I find that odd but to each their own.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I said the other day to someone (just before TLJ opened), not to start an argument or to be controversial in any way, that I personally enjoy Revenge Of The Sith more than The Force Awakens or Rogue One, and that ROTS was actually my favorite Star Wars movie. The response was, "I can't even have a conversation with you then."

Before TFA opened, I watched (what was then) all six movies with a friend. Though my friend preferred the OT to the PT, she did say that parts of the PT were better than she remembered, particularly the climax to AOTC, the last hour of ROTS, the Darth Mail fight, and anything with Ewan McGregor or Liam Neeson. A year later, with Rogue One about to come out, I got ready for another rewatch. This time, my friend didn't want to watch the prequels because they were "terrible". My friend is a rational person. She seemed to enjoy watching the PT with me the year prior. But the reflexive urge to trash them has been ingrained in our culture for nearly two decades, to the point that people who can say they enjoy them as they're watching them can't admit that they did after the fact.

It is one of the most bizarre phenomenons I've ever witnessed. I am not claiming that the PT is the best set of films in the history of the universe. But I feel pretty confident in saying they're not as bad as the legend would suggest.

 

[Carlo_M]

Travis you made a slew of assumptions that aren't borne out by these students I've talked to.

1. They aren't "in a room full of strangers". They're college kids and many of them are friends (we get a lot of referrals for hires by our current student employees. So they're *very* comfortable sharing opinions around each other. They don't shy away from contrasting opinions, I've seen it first hand. It's not that they don't want to defend the PT, they simply don't care about them.
2. The Internet destroyed these movies...these kids are 18-21 now. Which means they saw the PT at a very young age and were not like us in HTF, joining message boards and discussing those movies. They're not joining message boards discussing them now either, these kids have so much social media in their lives, they don't frequent forums like HTF to talk movies.
3. Again, I want to be clear, no one that I've talked to in that age group over the last 24 months "trashed the PT". Most either thought they were "meh" or just didn't care, and most like the new movies. And that's what damning to me about the PT. The opposite of love isn't hate. It's apathy. Most of the kids I've talked to are apathetic about it, but enthusiastic about the new ones.

I didn't even bring up how people my age (early 40s) have talked about these movies, I just relayed conversations I'd overheard and been a part of (as mostly a listener, not a participant because I don't think these kids want to hear my opinions on this tired subject). These students are like our kids at work, I'd rather hear from them than they hear from me, with regards to personal stuff. They already have to listen to me and my staff enough when we give them duties and tasks. We don't enforce our views on their social opinions, we all enjoy hearing what they think and feel (about a variety of subjects, not just movies).

 

[Jake Lipson]

I liked The Phantom Menace reasonably well when I first saw it, but I saw it right after the original trilogy, and did not have the opportunity to build anticipation that would let me down. It was pre-existing by the time I got into the franchise.

The thing that the internet has built up for me is the logical loopholes in the prequels. There are situations where when you're in the midst of watching them, the action is such a whirlwind that you don't really pause to think about how illogical the characters are acting. But then reading the stuff online about it makes you go, "Wait, hmm, that doesn't work." One of the best examples of this is in Revenge of the Sith when Anakin tells Mace Windu that Palpatine must live because killing him is "not the Jedi way," and then nine minutes later, he's murdering the children at the Jedi temple without a second thought. Both of those scenes work individually when they're on screen, but then when you take a step back and think about them in relation to each other, it's like, "Hmm."

This isn't because the internet has taught me to hate the prequels -- it's because the logic doesn't work, but the special effects and action were effective in distracting me from that the first time I saw it.

The other thing that I think is unquestionably problematic is that the prequels don't hold with established canon from the original trilogy. Ex: how does Leia remember her mom's face if she popped out just as Padmé was dying? I think that if George made more of an attempt to have the prequels fit in with what he had already established, people might be more accepting of them. Instead, he's gone the route of adding unnecessary shit to the originals (like Hayden Christensen in Return of the Jedi) in order to tie in with the prequels, which breeds resentment.

 

[Carlo_M]

Interesting Josh that you mention your friend saying the PTs aged well for them. I had the opposite effect. They got worse over time so that I stopped watching them years ago. Last week I visited my parents, and got in late, to see my dad awake watching the last half hour of Sith. I had not seen it in maybe 5-6 years, maybe more. I thought "oh well at least it's the best of them". And then I realized how much I disliked the dialogue. "I have the high ground" (followed by comical attempt at somersault resulting in chopping off of legs). "You were supposed to bring balance! I loved you!" "I hate you!". If anything, time had dulled my anger at the PT. Now they're just bad movies to me. I don't hate them. I just don't have any urge to watch them ever again. If you, or anyone else, loves them, more power to you. I love The Fifth Element, to my last girlfriend's eternal chagrin.