The Skywalker Saga 4K (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

I'm guessing this all in one collectors special packaging will be exclusive to Best Buy, while the individual 4K BD trilogy sets (4-6, 7-9 etc.)will be sold in all other retail stores.

Now if there are bonus features exclusive to the Best Buy set, that will be the way to go.

 

[Wayne_j]

If this set is around $200 I might get it since The Last Jedi is the only title that was previously released on 4K UHD disc.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Yup, along with Song of the South, Hitchcock's The Mountain Eagle, Orson Welles' original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, von Stroheim's edit of Greed, and The Day the Clown Cried.

No Snyder cut, no sale!!!!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I kind of doubt it, but 27 discs is an awful lot of content.

Not necessarily, if they follow their current release strategy.

27 discs for 9 films breaks down as three discs per film. Which could be as simple as:
Disc 1: Movie on UHD disc
Disc 2: Movie on BD disc
Disc 3: Bonus features

For the sequel trilogy, it could replicate the bonus discs included in the stand alone releases (i.e. the discs included with TLJ and TFA). For the original and sequel trilogies, they could simply port the bonus features to disc that are currently online exclusives to digital purchases.

Typically Lucasfilm doesn’t carry over a lot of bonus material from prior releases, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect this set to include all or even any the previously released material from the prior DVD or BD sets with the possible exceptions of the commentary tracks.

I predict a high disc count but not earth shattering bonus material.

 

[Wayne_j]

A $200 price tag would end up being $22.22 per movie, which isn't much less than you would pay for a single 4K movie on release day.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I predict that the internet will be filled with the usual griping about how people are refusing to buy because it includes versions they don’t like and movies they don’t want to buy, but that out in the real world, it’ll be the top selling UHD set of all time instantly upon release.

 

[Cranston37+]

The Digital Bits is guessing the box set is exclusive to Best Buy and single releases will be released everywhere.

 

[Sam Favate]

Not necessarily, if they follow their current release strategy.

27 discs for 9 films breaks down as three discs per film. Which could be as simple as:
Disc 1: Movie on UHD disc
Disc 2: Movie on BD disc
Disc 3: Bonus features

Agreed. I see only one disc per film of bonus material, and I bet we're going to need to keep our 2004 DVDs and 2011 blu-rays to have all the content.

But listen, since this is very likely the last physical media release of the Star Wars Saga, they really should pull out all the stops. Include all bonus materials from 2004, 2011 and the individual discs; including all the deleted scenes (especially the ones from the prequels that were finished with visual effects for DVD but upgrade to HD); include all the TV specials from 1977, 1980 and 1983 (don't forget the previously missing From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga); include all the trailers in HD (especially for the OT); include Empire of Dreams from 2004 in HD, and even the Star Wars Holiday Special in HD because why not?

This deserves to literally be definitive.

PS I don't care for the cardboard sleeves that no one was a fan of for the 2011 release.

 

[Mark Booth]

Episode 1: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 2: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 3: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 4: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 5: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 6: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 7: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 8: I already own it on 4K Blu-ray and it will be available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+ in the near future

Disney+ is $6.99/mo (even less by the year) and you get a lot more than just Star Wars. You could activate Disney+ and see all of these films in one month for $7. Then deactivate your subscription until you are ready to see them again.

Mark

 

[Patrick McCart]

While the majority of the OT looks amazing in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+, all the 1997/2004 revisions look like they dropped them in from the old masters. Completely different black levels and soft. No idea why they didn't re-render anything for 4K.

 

[joshEH]

Will definitely be getting this Day One, but yeah -- Disney REALLY needs to include as much supplemental bonus-material from the 2004 DVDs as possible (including the 3-hour Empire of Dreams documentary), all deleted scenes and accompanying docos from the OT and prequel trilogy DVD and BDs, etc. If this is gonna be the saga's final physical release, they need to go all-freaking-out, here, and not skimp on a single detail.

 

[Arthur Powell]

No Star Wars Holiday Special means no sale!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

When Lucas created the SE in 1997, he dropped the new bits into the original negative. It’s unknown if the non-SE negative trims were kept. The cost of the SE production in 1997 dollars was $10 million.

To redo that material and have it match the quality of the rest of the film, they’d have to find, restore and reincorporate those trims and/or pull those shots from an IP or IN and digitally massage them to match the rest of the negative. And if those effects were $10 million more than two decades ago, they’d cost more now.

I don’t think Disney feels the need to make that investment. There’s no upside for them. Right now they can say they’re presenting what they are because that’s George’s cut. If they had to redo it all, then you have a company spending millions on a cut that won’t appease anyone - George fans wont be thrilled because George didn’t do it, OT fans won’t be happy because it’s not OT, and the general public will mostly be indifferent.

Disney didn’t spend $4 billion on Lucasfilm for the sake of reissuing the library. They bought it to make new properties.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I am getting this set one way or the other and can not wait to see it on my Panasonic 4K Blu-ray with my Sony A9F OLED TV. For me what is important is to have good solid 4K transfers and because Lucas sold for me it doesn't matter that he has nothing to do with it. Because it is the movies that matter not George Lucas! It is Lucas that put out the sub par DVD's ported from Laser Disc because of his distain for the original trilogy. Lucas acts like the original theatricals do not exist and Lucas not putting the new set out is fine with me!

 

[Dave MJ]

When Lucas created the SE in 1997, he dropped the new bits into the original negative. It’s unknown if the non-SE negative trims were kept. The cost of the SE production in 1997 dollars was $10 million.

To redo that material and have it match the quality of the rest of the film, they’d have to find, restore and reincorporate those trims and/or pull those shots from an IP or IN and digitally massage them to match the rest of the negative. And if those effects were $10 million more than two decades ago, they’d cost more now.

The original negative was kept because many of the 1997 SE shots were redone from scratch for the 2004 DVD and then again for the 2011 blu-ray release. Even the 2019 Disney+ versions had some shots redone (such as the 4th version of Han and Greedo). Lucas keeps everything, despite what he may claim. If they re-did them 2-4 times already, what's one more pass for 4K.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

They don’t all look redone from scratch to me. A lot of them look like new work drawn over old work. Again, it has been 100% confirmed that the negatives were recut in 97, that Lowry did a digital restoration in 2004 and that fixes were made on top of the existing changes, and that the 2011 Blu-rays were also sourced from the Lowry 2004 masters with a new round of touch ups done on top of the previous work.

 

[Bryan^H]

Typically Lucasfilm doesn’t carry over a lot of bonus material from prior releases, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect this set to include all or even any the previously released material from the prior DVD or BD sets with the possible exceptions of the commentary tracks.

I predict a high disc count but not earth shattering bonus material.

I''m especially interested in new bonus features of the OT, and the prequel trilogy. New audio commentary tracks from different cast members, or crew would be most welcome.

I keep thinking back to the documentary "Elstree 1976" and what a quietly wonderful look at Star Wars from some of the minor actors that starred in it. Some special feature along the lines of that would be great.

 

[battlebeast]

Episode 1: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 2: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 3: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 4: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 5: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 6: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 7: Available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+
Episode 8: I already own it on 4K Blu-ray and it will be available in 4K Dolby Vision on Disney+ in the near future

Disney+ is $6.99/mo (even less by the year) and you get a lot more than just Star Wars. You could activate Disney+ and see all of these films in one month for $7. Then deactivate your subscription until you are ready to see them again.

Mark

Some people PREFER physical media.

 

[Dave MJ]

They don’t all look redone from scratch to me. A lot of them look like new work drawn over old work. Again, it has been 100% confirmed that the negatives were recut in 97, that Lowry did a digital restoration in 2004 and that fixes were made on top of the existing changes, and that the 2011 Blu-rays were also sourced from the Lowry 2004 masters with a new round of touch ups done on top of the previous work.

This is not new work drawn over old work. It's an entirely new render and composite with a completely new version of Jabba.

In 1997 the negatives were reconfirmed with new shots featuring the revised effects. However, the original version of Star Wars was completely restored on film prior to any of the SE shots being created. That was the original intention of the project because the SW negative was in very poor shape. Those restored original negatives (or dupes) were used as the plates for the CG effects over the various iterations since 1997. There is no reason to think Lucas would actually trash those original shots, if only to preserve them for future alterations.

 

[battlebeast]

I doubt that George Lucas sold THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL to Disney.