Disney just bought LucasFilm! - Will Disney release the Original Versions of Star Wars? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by TravisR /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/30#post_3996262
Selling the movies on video again and again would obviously be a moneymaker but the toys is where the real money is with Star Wars. The last I heard, they make somewhere in the neighborhood of about $500 million every year on toys and that's in a year without a movie to boost sales. In the years with a movie, it's far more than half a billion in toy sales.

They also have two upcoming TV shows (the Seth Green parody show and the live action show), Clone Wars TV show, various other unproduced film/tv show ideas from Lucasfilm, comics, ILM, Skywalker Sound, etc. It's far more than just three new movies, folks.

 

[Worth]

Why would Disney pay that much only to have their hands tied by not being able to do something with the original theatrical versions? That's what everyone wants, those are the crown jewels. Those are the only things that retain any of the aura which Lucas has so thoroughly tarnished with his tinkering, and the diminishing returns of the sequels.

I think you're seriously overestimating the potential market for the theatrical versions of the original trilogy. There's a base of devoted fans who would love to see this, and it would make a good marketing hook for re-selling the films, but the vast majority of casual viewers don't know or care about the differences.
And while the first three films will continue to sell steadily, they're not the cash cows they once were - they've already made most of the money they're going to make. The real money is in the new films, and mostly in the merchandising.

 

[cafink]

He's altered The Last of the Mohicans. Twice.

I haven't seen any version of that movie, but is it really as bad as Star Wars? He didn't add CGI cartoon characters, did he?

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by cafink /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/60#post_3996316
I haven't seen any version of that movie, but is it really as bad as Star Wars? He didn't add CGI cartoon characters, did he?

CGI, no. But the various changes have been enough to have fans draw lines in the sand against certain versions. The same goes with Chaplin and the 1942 recut version of The Gold Rush, or with Schlöndorff and the new cut of The Tin Drum, where he's replaced titles of time/place with stock footage.

My point is specific tools aside, Lucas' tinkering was hardly unprecedented, or the last instance.

 

[dpippel]

http://updates.gizmodo.com/post/34765919397/by-jesus-diaz-look-at-george-lucas-face-look-at

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Chaplin's Gold Rush is a perfect example - he recut the film down significantly and added a totally new soundtrack, I'd say that's a more extreme alteration than what Lucas did to Star Wars.

 

[dpippel]

Both versions of The Gold Rush are readily available.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

That wasn't what was asked, merely, did any other filmmaker drastically alter his work 20 years after the fact.
And in Chaplin's lifetime he most certainly did supress the original silent version which had to be cobbled together from other sources and is only "readily available" after his death

 

[Brandon Conway]

And Chaplin did the same for The Kid in 1971 upon its 50th Anniversary re-release.

In 1933 Chaplin actually burned the negative of his unreleased (but finished) production of the 1926 film A Woman of the Sea directed by Josef von Sternberg, resulting in it being a lost film.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10 /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/30#post_3996215
Man how effin' lame is it gonna be to see the next Star Wars film open not with a Fox logo, but with that goddamn Disneyland Castle and shooting star...not to mention how 'effin lame the next Star Wars will be, period.

No more lame than The Clone Wars movie opening with the Warner Bros. logo.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

The best example of revisionism over time would be Abel Gance's Napoleon, a film that was recut and rereleased by him no less than 17 times between 1927 and 1970. Kevin Brownlow began his restoration odyssey in 1980, and even he hasn't finished with it yet, releasing 9 different versions as he finds more footage and deals with three competing scores and rights issues around the world. Lucas is way behind Gance on the revisionism front.

 

[SilverWook]

Thanks everyone for those examples. It's very illuminating. The people who recalled the original releases must have wondered if their memories were playing tricks on them.
With all the home video releases the original trilogy has had since the 80's, it's hopefully a little harder for them to be completely forgotten.

 

[dpippel]

Originally Posted by Moe Dickstein /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/60#post_3996376
That wasn't what was asked, merely, did any other filmmaker drastically alter his work 20 years after the fact.
And in Chaplin's lifetime he most certainly did supress the original silent version which had to be cobbled together from other sources and is only "readily available" after his death

Point taken on the timeframe concerning the availability of the original Gold Rush. MY point was that the main problem people have with Lucas' constant tinkering with the Star Wars OT is that the theatrical versions haven't been properly released on home video and may never be. Let's face it, none of the other films given as examples here of directors/creators modifying their work had the sheer cultural impact that Star Wars had. It was a phenomenon that swept the globe, affected millions of people, and caused a paradigm shift in very fabric of the film and television industries. This isn't The Tin Drum.

But you know, the various aspects of this issue have been discussed, dissected, and argued over ad nauseum for years. Believe me, nothing new is going to come to light in this thread. It's like debating politics or religion. We all may as well move on, relax, and just go enjoy a great movie. That's my plan anyway.

 

[lukejosephchung]

Lucas just announced he's starting an education foundation/fund with ALL the money he got from the Disney sale...

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by dpippel /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/60#post_3996528
Point taken on the timeframe concerning the availability of the original Gold Rush. MY point was that the main problem people have with Lucas' constant tinkering with the Star Wars OT is that the theatrical versions haven't been properly released on home video and may never be. Let's face it, none of the other films given as examples here of directors/creators modifying their work had the sheer cultural impact that Star Wars had. It was a phenomenon that swept the globe, affected millions of people, and caused a paradigm shift in very fabric of the film and television industries. This isn't The Tin Drum.

But you know, the various aspects of this issue have been discussed, dissected, and argued over ad nauseum for years. Believe me, nothing new is going to come to light in this thread. It's like debating politics or religion. We all may as well move on, relax, and just go enjoy a great movie. That's my plan anyway.

Well, Chaplin in general was about as global as a filmmaker can get.

 

[dpippel]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/60#post_3996556
Well, Chaplin in general was about as global as a filmmaker can get.

For his time, but I believe my comments about Star Wars and its impact stand.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Man how effin' lame is it gonna be to see the next Star Wars film open not with a Fox logo, but with that goddamn Disneyland Castle and shooting star...not to mention how 'effin lame the next Star Wars will be, period.

OMG. Can you imagine Star Wars opening without the 20th Century Fox Fanfare? It's unspeakable. But you know, you *know*, that Disney's concern about branding will mean that that's how we'll see them from now on.

 

[oscar_merkx]

The best example of revisionism over time would be Abel Gance's Napoleon, a film that was recut and rereleased by him no less than 17 times between 1927 and 1970. Kevin Brownlow began his restoration odyssey in 1980, and even he hasn't finished with it yet, releasing 9 different versions as he finds more footage and deals with three competing scores and rights issues around the world. Lucas is way behind Gance on the revisionism front.

It would really be interesting to watch the 9 different versions on DVD.
Do we know if these have ever been released ?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Originally Posted by SilverWook /t/324824/disney-just-bought-lucasfilm-will-disney-release-the-original-versions-of-star-wars/30#post_3996129
What I really want to know is, who owns THX-1138 when the dust has settled?

American Zoetrope I presume.

 

[Ejanss]

I've said it in other threads but since George Lucas has gone to extremes to have only his preferred version available, I find it unthinkable that he didn't have some provision in the sale that still keeps the original versions out of circulation. I'd love to be wrong but it's not like he's going to hand everything over to Disney and just hope that they don't put out the originals.

Every time I hear George-hating fans discussing the Big Question--Did He, Or Didn't He?--you can never, ever quite get them to put their foot all the way over across that red line into He Did. It's that step they don't want to make.
That danged George!: He added new characters, he cuted up the prequels, he shuffled things around for the Blu-ray versions...But would he ever actually burn the originals? Oh, he'd never do that! He's an ARTIST! He RESPECTS his work, and he's too INTELLIGENT to make a decision like that!
(Uh, excuse me, maybe I haven't been following, but weren't we just discussing "He's just that stupid enough to", five minutes ago? )
Me, I don't need to see proof of the prints, or that fan-mythical Secret High-Tech Vault where he's got a hundred film and digital negatives of the Originals high-tech stored somewhere on Skywalker Ranch in case he someday ever changed his mind, to have my answer....I see it in his face. I hear it every time he opens his mouth.
I see it every time he plays martyr and lashes out for the fans for being "too demanding", "never satisfied", and "asking for things he can't give them". (Like the Originals.)
I see it in the way he defends that he DID give us the pre-SE laserdisk version on DVD, and "that's as good a print as we could dig up". (Like, that was the last known 90's video release before the SE's.) And then in the way he throws up his hands and says he's tired of being "picked on" by fans who can never be satisfied. Gee, seems almost like he's feeling bitter that he knows there's one more impossible thing he can't do for them...
I've seen OJ act less guilty on camera. They ain't comin', and Disney don't have Tinkerbell's magic wand to make them appear.