Star Wars OT unaltered potential DVD release news...

Please God!

Just for giggles, if Fox didn't want to transfer the rights to distribute, could Disney theoretically work around this by reverting to the ORIGINAL screen title and crawl for what later became Episode IV, and simply call it "Star Wars"?
 
...Just for giggles, if Fox didn't want to transfer the rights to distribute, could Disney theoretically work around this by reverting to the ORIGINAL screen title and crawl for what later became Episode IV, and simply call it "Star Wars"?
Theoretically, sure. Legally, I doubt it.

Realistically, I'm guessing it will all come down to how much Fox wants to relinquish the rights to Star Wars. If Disney thinks they'll make enough of a profit after the deal is done, it'll probably happen; the fact that it's been mentioned at all leads me to believe they're already in negotiations.

I sincerely hope it does happen so that we nitwits will finally be able to own a decent version of the movies we all love.
 
I'd be up to getting a copy and i'm not huge into it anymore. Disney does this and they'll have the love of SW fans globally lol.
 
I would be very surprised if they can and do make it happen but here is the latest.

TheForce.net: Rumor: Disney Mulling New Release Of Unaltered Original Trilogy

I wanted to touch on this. While we don't actually know all the legal details, but I don't see any reason why Disney would be prohibited or restricted from doing so.

I mean, if you think about it, legally speaking they stepped into the shoes of LucasFilm after the purchase. So the real question would be "Could LucasFilm have done this if they still existed?" And the answer to that seems to be "Why not?" The pressing and distro may be done by 20th Century Fox (or whoever has the rights to that at the moment), but the property itself ultimately belongs to Disney.


I think the real questions are as follow:

- Is it financially FEASIBLE to do so, given the restoration work that would need to be done? As we know, the OOT doesn't exist in a digital master at this point. The SEs do, at 1080p, but that's the ONLY restoration we have right now. They can play with those files and maybe mix and match, but they're again capped at a 1080p master, and then only for portions of the visuals that have already been scanned. That'd mean that, at the very least, the portions not originally done (e.g. "Han shoots.....period.") would need to be rescanned. There's also the question of whether to scan at 4K or 8K, or just stick with 1080p? It'd be (I would expect) less expensive to scan missing bits in at 1080p and then edit them with the existing scanned material into a new master at 1080p...but that caps you at the current technology level and leaves you no room for future digital releases. So, that means a TOTAL rescan and restoration at 4K or 8K. Ultimately, I think it's financially feasible for Disney to do this -- by which I mean they have the money to do it and do it right (or pay Lowry to do it right this time). However....

- Is it financially WORTHWHILE to do so, given what they'd expect to net in return? This is where I think it's anyone's guess. There are certainly plenty of hardcore OOT fans out there who want nothing more than their archival version of the OOT. BUT are there enough fans BEYOND that hard core who'll buy the blu-rays, given that they may have already bought the SEs previously? Will THEY think it's worthwhile to shell out the cash for yet another -- and this time older -- version of Star Wars? And if not, can you put the restored OOT discs at a price point that'll still net you the kind of profit you want and have the market bear it? Would you have to include them in some kind of "mega set" and charge something like $200 for three movies (albeit, possibly in four different versions)?

I don't know the answer to the second question and, to my way of thinking, that's the more important one from a business perspective.
 
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That has always been my thinking on this topic when it first came up post Disney acquisition, Dan. Although vocal and here in the RPF, I have always felt there is a limited market for this content.
 
I wouldn't think the basis for deciding would be soley the market for the OT unaltered at 1080p (not sure what 1024 is unless it's someting industry specific to the 2.35 ration).

As noted, there are NO masters at all for the movies any higher than 1080p. In order to do 2, 4 or 8K, you'd have to rescan from scratch, no? Seems to me the two of those could be combined to rescan the original at a much higher res and in turn use that to do an unaltered release.

But I tend to agree with the idea that the market for these isn't as huge as some think. But it is something you could do to justify a new master and then kick out a product to help offset - or pay for - that cost.
 
That has always been my thinking on this topic when it first came up post Disney acquisition, Dan. Although vocal and here in the RPF, I have always felt there is a limited market for this content.

I honestly can't say one way or the other about the market. Is the market only the hardcore "Screw the SEs, I want the OOT" fans? Or is the market both the fans of the SEs and the fans of only the OOT? I'd figure that SE fans would be happy to get these, too, if not necessarily holding out for them like the OOT fans. And then there's the market that buys anything with the Star Wars logo on it.

This is why I just can't tell WHAT "the market" really is here. I'd agree that hardcore "Screw the SEs" fans are a smaller portion of Star Wars fandom than they may think. But I'm not sure that the market for such a release is limited to them.

Even if it was, though, that raises the question of price point. Could you anticipate the size of that limited market and offset its smaller size by increasing the cost of the discs? Or would the market refuse to bear that price, even being hardcore fans? That's also something I can't tell. For all the fans out there who say "Man, I'd pay $200 JUST for the OOT if it was properly restored!" you have to wonder how many would turn around and pillory Disney for "greedily gouging the most loyal fans!!" or somesuch.

I wouldn't think the basis for deciding would be soley the market for the OT unaltered at 1080p (not sure what 1024 is unless it's someting industry specific to the 2.35 ration).

That was me still coming off a weekend where I got about 3 hours sleep on Saturday night. :) I'll edit to revise, but yeah, I meant 1080p. I think I got 1024 in my head from old computer screen resolutions. Go figure...

As noted, there are NO masters at all for the movies any higher than 1080p. In order to do 2, 4 or 8K, you'd have to rescan from scratch, no? Seems to me the two of those could be combined to rescan the original at a much higher res and in turn use that to do an unaltered release.

But I tend to agree with the idea that the market for these isn't as huge as some think. But it is something you could do to justify a new master and then kick out a product to help offset - or pay for - that cost.

Right, that's been the counter-argument about "The market's too small." You could use rescans as the basis for 2/4/8K SE releases, too, although you'd need to update the edited scenes.

Of course, that calls into question things like the upper end of resolutions for displays. Some have argued that display size would make home video 4/8K displays impractical both from a size and power consumption standpoint. I think what we'd be more likely to see isn't display size, but rather resolution improvements within existing display sizes, kinda like Apple's Retina display. Instead of increasing the size of the display device, you shrink the size of the pixels. (Or so I understand it, anyway -- I'm probably not describing that accurately.)



It's tough to say, really, but I think it's worth considering the practical side of all of this, rather than just the film preservation side or from a perspective of blind fandom.
 
For all the fans out there who say "Man, I'd pay $200 JUST for the OOT if it was properly restored!" you have to wonder how many would turn around and pillory Disney for "greedily gouging the most loyal fans!!" or somesuch.

As one of those fans I see them restoring the OOT during the next resolution upgrade regardless. Why? Because they HAVE TO. You can't get any more resolution out of that HD digital copy of the SE, you need to go back to the source material. So while you're there why not spend the (comparatively) meagre funds to fix something that has become a pop culture joke? There would be great publicity around it even if the market is smaller than the general public.
 
Disney is known for doing restoration on their assets and Star Wars is a very valuable asset. They're going to do the work at some point regardless of how much money it would cost. As far as I know all the footage still exists it just may not be in a single work print but it's out there and I'm sure it will all be restored and reassembled so it would be foolish not to release it.

In my opinion just releasing it in a high definition format would be an amazing gesture towards many fans who lost their patience with Lucas and his constant tinkering and trying to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with. I for one feel far better about Star Wars now being in the hands of Disney and I am actually looking forward to what they do with it and it would be all the better being able to enjoy the original product in HD.
 
As one of those fans I see them restoring the OOT during the next resolution upgrade regardless. Why? Because they HAVE TO. You can't get any more resolution out of that HD digital copy of the SE, you need to go back to the source material. So while you're there why not spend the (comparatively) meagre funds to fix something that has become a pop culture joke? There would be great publicity around it even if the market is smaller than the general public.

Yeah, but there's a few other questions, too. What's the release strategy? Standalone of just the three restored films? Release of a 6-movie set, but along side the Blu-Ray SEs? A set of the OT only but with multiple versions of the SEs or branching versions that let you go with the '97, '04, or '12 editions? Do you package it with special goodies, or just sell a barebones box? How much do you charge for it?

One of the things they'll undoubtedly calculate is what their price point has to be to make a project like that sufficiently profitable, and things like the packaging and likelihood of purchase will really depend on that.

Don't get me wrong. I agree that, if you want to continue doing higher res versions of the OT/SEs, you need to go back to the original material (and re-do the digitally added stuff from '97/'04/'12). The question is when they do that, and whether they do it for blu-ray or wait for more of a proliferation of higher res displays and/or a new format first.



Disney is known for doing restoration on their assets and Star Wars is a very valuable asset. They're going to do the work at some point regardless of how much money it would cost. As far as I know all the footage still exists it just may not be in a single work print but it's out there and I'm sure it will all be restored and reassembled so it would be foolish not to release it.

In my opinion just releasing it in a high definition format would be an amazing gesture towards many fans who lost their patience with Lucas and his constant tinkering and trying to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with. I for one feel far better about Star Wars now being in the hands of Disney and I am actually looking forward to what they do with it and it would be all the better being able to enjoy the original product in HD.

I hope you're right. I agree that Lucas no longer having a hand in it is best for the franchise. Disney definitely does try to keep their older material circulating, too, what with their "vault" stuff. Presumably, that means they'll approach the Star Wars franchise in a way that the older material will still be circulated, and for the theatrical films (as opposed to the TV stuff), they'll want to preserve it in good condition.

But I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 
Disney is known for doing restoration on their assets and Star Wars is a very valuable asset. They're going to do the work at some point regardless of how much money it would cost. As far as I know all the footage still exists it just may not be in a single work print but it's out there and I'm sure it will all be restored and reassembled so it would be foolish not to release it.

In my opinion just releasing it in a high definition format would be an amazing gesture towards many fans who lost their patience with Lucas and his constant tinkering and trying to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with.

I agree whole heartedly with your first paragraph. I would suggest, though, that if Disney does this at some point, it won't be motivated by a desire to appease "fans who lost their patience" it will be based purely on economics.
 
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