HopToIt

It's a perfectly reasonable negotiation. After all, the carpet cleaners justly impose a 15% premium whenever this occurs:

milo bloom

Unless it's all pre-production artwork (like the McQuarrie teaser for ESB, which would be pretty cool), I don't see how they could have any kind of footage ready at this point.

Personally, I'd lean more towards an announcement of the original theatrical versions of the Holy Trilogy on Blu-ray. No inside information, but the teasers, to me, remind me of the tone they took with the ads for the 1995 VHS and LD release of the theatricals, "one last time" and all that jazz.

I'm not getting my hopes up or anything, but if they're intent on recapturing the feeling of the OT and smooth over the hard feelings from the PT, then a sparkly new release of the original versions would go a long way in that regards.

Dr. DVD

FWIW, I didn't mind some of the FX updates in the OT. What I didn't care for were the character altercations because of them (Han and Greedo, you know what it is). I think ESB had it best with a few background effects added here and there, but little else.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, the subtle fx changes are fine(it does kinda keep it from feeling totally dated). It's all the character stuff that ruins it dating back to the original SE with putting a shitty looking Jabba and Fett in SW. The comedy intro into most seedy place in the galaxy is baffling. Greedo vs Han is a given. Giving Boba Fett, Jango's voice... ugh. Hayden in ROTJ is inexcusable. Having Fett mug for the camera in Jabba's palace, also terrible. Vader shouting "Nooooo!" at the Emperor, groan. Pretty much every thing involving a character is for the worse. Removing "Laptinek" and "Yub Nub" is also weak.

Polishing up matte lines, fixing sabers, wampa arm, livening up Bespin, even making Wicket blink is okay by with me. That's all polish, IMO.

joe_b

A couple "insiders" on Twitter have claimed that Mark Hamill might have recorded something for a teaser that will be out before the end of the year. I guess it's a possibility (the first teaser for J.J.'s Star Trek used no footage from the film), but I'm still calling BS on that one. Prove me wrong, Disney.

Jason

Could just be generic narration for a BD/DVD re-release. I imagine Disney isn't getting any cheese from the current version.

Shannon Nutt

I love that clip above, because not only does it confirm that Ford is in the new Star Wars, but it confirms Cumberbatch is too.

Oliver Clothesoff

this is what I've been reading too. it would be strictly Hamill voiceover, and possibly revealing a title and/or specific release date.

though an unaltered OT blu ray release would make me just as happy.

milo bloom

They'd be getting the cut of the current Blu/DVD that would ordinarily be going to George/LFL, but I can see them wanting a bigger cut with their own release.

But yeah, a narration for the BD release would be pretty cool.

Obi-Wanma

Any release of the films thru 2020 has to be done thru Fox, so if they did another release, they would be getting the same cut of that release that they're getting now. Really no reason to do another release unless they're going to release the unaltered OT.

stvn1974

I still don't think we will ever get the unaltered OT again on any format officially. Disney's movies are going to be made to coincide with the shitty prequels and the even shittier special editions of the original trilogy.

Obi-Wanma

I'm not expecting it either, but that's the only way that Disney working on a new release (as some had postulated) makes any sense at all. They can only make new releases thru Fox at this time, so unless they've got a substantially different product to put out, it makes zero sense to do another release anytime soon, when Fox has just done a repackage in the last month.

Jay G.

The majority of changes made to the OT have little to no impact on the prequel trilogy, or to any sequel trilogy. Having Han shoot first doesn't affect the overall plot, nor does having Vader scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" when throwing the Emperor over the railing, or Jabba appearing in A New Hope, etc. The changes are mostly character or tone based, not plot points. So releasing the unaltered OT, especially as an extra feature to a re-release of the SE versions, isn't an issue for the sequel trilogy.

milo bloom

I don't think so. There seems to be an effort to rekindle the older fans' love of the OT, first bit of evidence being the sudden cancellation of Clone Wars and the starting up of Rebels (which takes place closer to ANH).

Disney is aware of the perception of the PT, and I think they're going to be pulling out all the stops to get on the good side of the OT fans.

Jay G.

I don't think the cancelling of Clone Wars has anything to do with distancing from the PT, and more with trying to move as much of Star Wars in-house to Disney as possible. Clone Wars was airing on Cartoon Network, while Star Wars Rebels is going to air on Disney XD. Likely, Cartoon Network had some sort of contract that would keep Clone Wars on their network as long as it ran, so Disney "cancelled" it, is going to burn off the remaining episodes some other way, and created a new series that they could place on one of their own networks.

mcnabb

This is an interesting point, and I am anxious to see the tone of Episode 7 and see who they are targeting.

What made me think about this was there was a PBS Documentary on the other night about the history of Superheroes and Comic Books. I have never read comic books, but I have always been interested in Superhero movies.

The big point they made was that in the 1990's, Comic Book market nosedived mostly because their audience was getting older, and their content was still geared to teenagers and little kids.

That is when many comic books made a concerted effort to start making material that geared toward an older audience, so it was alot more adult type storylines then your basic storylines of the past.

I always relate Star Wars to this same problem, as Lucas had to decide who he was marketing the PT to? Was he going to grow with the OT audience and gear it towards them? Or was going to gear towards kids/teenagers and go after a whole new audience, with the possibility of alienating the OT audience?

If Disney goes the PT route with the ST, I think most OT fans will bail at after Episode 7. Most of my friends aren't that excited for the ST the same way they were for the PT simply because they feel they got burned, and don't want to get burned again. But I know they will atleast give Episode 7 a shot since its a new director, writer, studio, but if it sucks, they wont come back for Episode 8 & 9 like they did Episode 1 & 2.

It will be interesting to see what happens....

Michael Corvin

Apparently he went for neither. The political intrigue was just to hard to pass up.

Don't be fooled, they'll all be in line... we all will.

Jay G.

I don't buy this, either for comic books or Star Wars. There's always new kids and teenagers to market to, witness toy companies or Disney cartoons. Sure, people eventually grow out of Legos, but then new kids come along to buy them, and when people grow up enough to have kids of their own, they start buying Legos for them. Same with Disney. So if a product is consistently good for a certain age group, there will always be a market to sell it to.

Secondly, the original Star Wars films were not kids films, they were family films; meaning that they had a level of appeal for all ages, although kids grabbed onto it more. For example, I'm in my 30's, but I still watch Pixar films because they provide a level of entertainment for my age group. In contrast, the PT failed appealing to all ages like the OT did; Lucas aimed a lot of it at kids with poop jokes and funny talking CGI characters, but he also put in political intrigue and dark character development for the adults; the problem was that it was executed so poorly across all levels that it was mostly only kids, who aren't as discriminatory, could find them enjoyable.

Jay G.

I wasn't in line for Ep 2 & 3, and if Ep 7 is crap, I likely won't be in line for Ep 8 & 9.

Hell, I'll probably wait for the reviews before seeing Ep 7. I'm willing to give it a shot, but Star Wars no longer engenders blind faith.

Guru Askew

I've been saying the same thing. A lot of people assumed Clone Wars would move to XD and a lot of people also figured the Season 5 DVD/Blu would be a Disney release, but that scenario is really the only one that makes sense. Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm doesn't just erase a deal Warner made before, though it does present an obvious conflict.

But your point is correct, and the official Star Wars machine will probably just avoid doing any televised Clone Wars stuff until that arrangement expires. Doing a new show is a double-edged sword and it frees them up from the Warner deal but they have to establish a bunch of new licensing agreements too.

It's kinda hilarious to think that there are legal documents somewhere that stipulate that Warner and Cartoon Network have television and video rights to events that take place during fake BBY Star Wars years.

pinata242

I don't disagree about judging 8 & 9 based on 7, but I couldn't disagree more about being wary of 7 by itself. Not only is there new talent behind it, but it's far easier to make satisfactory sequels than trying to shoe-horn prequels in. Completely different, at least on paper, than what happened 15 years ago.

Ky-Fi

That pretty much sums it up.

Supermallet

I don't think it's unfair to say one wants to wait for reviews before deciding to see episode 7.

Obi-Wanma

It's not unfair to say, and surely some will, but I think the majority of Star Wars diehards will turn out opening weekend regardless, if out of nothing else but curiosity. I, for one, am cautiously optimistic about the new films, but I can say I am excited to see what someone new will do with the Star Wars universe, in uncharted territory that doesn't have to wrap up neatly with what's gone before, and without the overbearing presence of Lucas.

It certainly won't be the same feeling as the day Episode One opened, but still, I don't think I can keep myself out of the theater for that entire first weekend, regardless of reviews.

Supermallet

If the reviews say it's as good or better than the new Star Trek films, I'll go.