Disney in talks to buy Fox studio assets..

@Bryancd @SethS
I wholly reject the idea that this is a niche number of people. And it doesn't actually have to be cinephiles or purists, just people who are SW fans that want the original OT.

In America there are roughly 120 million people who are 30-60, the prime age for someone to love the original versions. Who saw them as an adult or as a kid in the theaters. That's a lot of potential customers. And, no, I am not saying they would all buy it, but even a small percentage...say 5%. That's 6 million customers. And they would have to pay roughly $85 over the course of the OT for Disney to make about $500mil. And this is just the US.

What amount of 6.5 billion total on Earth might want this?

You reject it because you frequent boards like this, which likely means that you're surrounded by people in your offline and online life who are generally enthusiastic about an archival version of the OT.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I am, too. I'd LOVE an archival OOT. Despecialized, whatever you want to call it.


But I do recognize that we're in the minority compared to the vast population out there. A few years ago, just as an anecdotal thing, I asked my two closest friends from college about it. They didn't really care all that much. They were fine with the special edition changes. They recognize that "Han shot first" is kind of a dumb change, but they really didn't care much about the rest or mind them.

Now, personally, even aside from the story changes, I think a lot of the edits were technically poor -- problems with color timing and such -- but I doubt those would be changed.

Your real point of hope is that display panels increase in resolution, prompting more and more re-issues of films at higher and higher resolutions. With the OT, this is possible. With the PT and the SE changes done in CG, not so much. Those are locked at 1080p, or you have to upscale them or redo them entirely.


I think it could still happen, but it would likely be a limited release at a premium price. Like, a 12 disc set as an option over the 9-disc mega-set containing all three trilogies. But we'll see. First they have to get the rights back.
 
You reject it because you frequent boards like this, which likely means that you're surrounded by people in your offline and online life who are generally enthusiastic about an archival version of the OT.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I am, too. I'd LOVE an archival OOT. Despecialized, whatever you want to call it.


But I do recognize that we're in the minority compared to the vast population out there. A few years ago, just as an anecdotal thing, I asked my two closest friends from college about it. They didn't really care all that much. They were fine with the special edition changes. They recognize that "Han shot first" is kind of a dumb change, but they really didn't care much about the rest or mind them.

Now, personally, even aside from the story changes, I think a lot of the edits were technically poor -- problems with color timing and such -- but I doubt those would be changed.

Your real point of hope is that display panels increase in resolution, prompting more and more re-issues of films at higher and higher resolutions. With the OT, this is possible. With the PT and the SE changes done in CG, not so much. Those are locked at 1080p, or you have to upscale them or redo them entirely.


I think it could still happen, but it would likely be a limited release at a premium price. Like, a 12 disc set as an option over the 9-disc mega-set containing all three trilogies. But we'll see. First they have to get the rights back.

They could do it on the cheap. Take the laser disc version and just release it digitally. Clean it up a bit. But thats the problem, no one can agree which version of the OOT is the definitive one, how much restoration work makes it too much like the SE, etc. It's a fools errand to try and satisfy a small number of purists who will complain no matter how the release is done. Do it for little initial cost and then it makes more sense.
 
They could do it on the cheap. Take the laser disc version and just release it digitally. Clean it up a bit. But thats the problem, no one can agree which version of the OOT is the definitive one, how much restoration work makes it too much like the SE, etc. It's a fools errand to try and satisfy a small number of purists who will complain no matter how the release is done. Do it for little initial cost and then it makes more sense.

I'd be happy with a standard remaster along with removal of matte lines, fixing light sabers, etc. Basically just a clean up of the pre-SE version of the movie and no added or heavily altered footage.
 
But I do recognize that we're in the minority compared to the vast population out there. A few years ago, just as an anecdotal thing, I asked my two closest friends from college about it. They didn't really care all that much. They were fine with the special edition changes. They recognize that "Han shot first" is kind of a dumb change, but they really didn't care much about the rest or mind them.

Yeah, I am a first generation fan and I'm in the same boat as your buddies. I don't mind the special edition changes. In addition to the Han thing, the Jabba scene in ANH looks wonky. But all in all, I am ok with the changes and probably wouldn't rebuy unaltered versions.
 
Was 9 in ‘77, I’m ambivalent about a OOT release. Have the DVD they did of the laser disc.
 
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You reject it because you frequent boards like this, which likely means that you're surrounded by people in your offline and online life who are generally enthusiastic about an archival version of the OT.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I am, too. I'd LOVE an archival OOT. Despecialized, whatever you want to call it.


But I do recognize that we're in the minority compared to the vast population out there. A few years ago, just as an anecdotal thing, I asked my two closest friends from college about it. They didn't really care all that much. They were fine with the special edition changes. They recognize that "Han shot first" is kind of a dumb change, but they really didn't care much about the rest or mind them.

Now, personally, even aside from the story changes, I think a lot of the edits were technically poor -- problems with color timing and such -- but I doubt those would be changed.

Your real point of hope is that display panels increase in resolution, prompting more and more re-issues of films at higher and higher resolutions. With the OT, this is possible. With the PT and the SE changes done in CG, not so much. Those are locked at 1080p, or you have to upscale them or redo them entirely.


I think it could still happen, but it would likely be a limited release at a premium price. Like, a 12 disc set as an option over the 9-disc mega-set containing all three trilogies. But we'll see. First they have to get the rights back.

I reject it because of the numbers involved. Those figures I laid out. "My college friends didn't want it." is not at all persuasive and a lot closer to an argument made because of social ties.

@Jaitea has stated that the rescans have already been done. And looking into it. Gareth Edwards stated that Lucasfilm has already done a 4k version of ANH. He watched it.

http://lwlies.com/interviews/gareth-edwards-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/

So they're willing to spend the money on a 4k version of ANH so a few production people can watch it for notes, but not to release it to Star Wars fans? I find that very hard to believe. In fact I'll go one step further and opine that they probably have all three ready to go. And, yes, they just gotta get the rights back.
 
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Your math assumes the average person is a big Star Wars fan. That's just not the case.
 
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I was 8, and I am not ambivalent about wanting to see a clean copy of what I watched in ‘77. It is mental. Every time I watch a modified copy my brain goes into selective permeable membrane mode to filter out what wasn’t in my original experience. The version where Marcia got it right enough to win a Best Editing Oscar. That one.
 
I remember seeing an article several months ago confirming that the 4k scan was of the later special editions, and not the OOT. So, have these articles been debunked?

EDIT.
Actually, BryanCD posted these two links early this year:
http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/022417-0100#.WK_gSm5QL20.facebook

http://furiousfanboys.com/2017/02/23/latest-unaltered-original-trilogy-rumor-possibly-debunked/

and then there's Pablo Hidalgo's tweet (take from it what you will):
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/834881055819632644
 
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I was 8, and I am not ambivalent about wanting to see a clean copy of what I watched in ‘77. It is mental. Every time I watch a modified copy my brain goes into selective permeable membrane mode to filter out what wasn’t in my original experience. The version where Marcia got it right enough to win a Best Editing Oscar. That one.

Now *this* is a high SWIQ comment, if I ever saw one.

The Wook
 
I predict the 9 movie saga box set with 4k resolution released in 2020 will have an restored/unaltered versions of the OT on Bluray as bonus features (warning: all bonus material may not be in 4k) and then everyone will complain about it only being 2k resolution.
 
I predict the 9 movie saga box set with 4k resolution released in 2020 will have an restored/unaltered versions of the OT on Bluray as bonus features (warning: all bonus material may not be in 4k) and then everyone will complain about it only being 2k resolution.

Episodes 2 & 3 were shot in 2K also

J
 
No, the assumption is only 5% of the age group 30-60. That's hardly the "average person".

Most of that demographic likely already own a copy of the film. So now your addressable market isn’t that age group, it’s specifically people in that age group willing to spend money to buy something for all intents and purposes they already have.
 
I predict the 9 movie saga box set with 4k resolution released in 2020 will have an restored/unaltered versions of the OT on Bluray as bonus features (warning: all bonus material may not be in 4k) and then everyone will complain about it only being 2k resolution.

I'd be happy with 1080p. I'm not greedy.
 
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