Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[HeavyHitter]

I could go either way with the opening crawl. If they wanted to be really cool, it could be an option to select in the set-up menu along with the three different original audio options.

[StingingVelvet]

Everyone loves jumping to negative conclusions on the internet. I remember a bunch of "confirmed never coming to blu-ray" posts about X-Files in the months leading up to its announcement. People love being cynical on the interwebs.

I think Disney would be insane not to do a remaster of Star Wars from the original elements and releasing it to a greedy fanbase. It would make money, it would earn goodwill, and it would anger exactly one man, who is no longer relevant and just called them white slavers. It will happen, the only question is when.

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I think Disney would be insane not to do a remaster of Star Wars from the original elements and releasing it to a greedy fanbase. It would make money, it would earn goodwill, and it would anger exactly one man, who is no longer relevant and just called them white slavers. It will happen, the only question is when.

I think they should work out a deal with Criterion and release 3 stand alone BRs of the the theatrical cuts....

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I think Disney would be insane not to do a remaster of Star Wars from the original elements and releasing it to a greedy fanbase. It would make money, it would earn goodwill, and it would anger exactly one man, who is no longer relevant and just called them white slavers. It will happen, the only question is when.

I keep saying it: 40th Anniversary. Look for them in 2017.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

I think they should work out a deal with Criterion and release 3 stand alone BRs of the the theatrical cuts....

[Show spoiler]

Those are some pretty covers. Bland, but pretty. Also if they were the unaltered versions, I don't think we'd see A New Hope on the cover.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Everyone loves jumping to negative conclusions on the internet. I remember a bunch of "confirmed never coming to blu-ray" posts about X-Files in the months leading up to its announcement. People love being cynical on the interwebs.

I think Disney would be insane not to do a remaster of Star Wars from the original elements and releasing it to a greedy fanbase. It would make money, it would earn goodwill, and it would anger exactly one man, who is no longer relevant and just called them white slavers. It will happen, the only question is when.

Yeah, his hubris in saying that was probably not a good idea, though people are making a much bigger deal out of it than if somebody else had said it- so many people want to have more fuel for the fire against him, it's become a 'See, he ruined Star Wars and now he said this! What an #%%hole!"

The unfortunate thing about all of the Lucas/Disney dealings, to me, is how clear it makes it that that 'auteur/film-school' movement that began in the 70's that I treasure and of which Lucas was very much a part is now dead. The studio system is reborn and I don't think it's for the better. I think they'll release the unaltered trilogy and eventually Lucas will go the way of Stan Lee or Walt Disney himself- an entity nobody really acknowledges even while they celebrate the fruits of his labors.

And while Lucas has done a lot to incur his fans' wrath, and I totally get the anger, it's going to be a very short while before Spielberg is also on the 'irrelevant' list. I get the feeling from the casual 'more Indiana Jones is coming' comments that Spielberg's 'Ford is Indiana Jones' attitude will be dismissed as quickly as Lucas' story ideas were. Oh well, we're all getting older I suppose...

I'm really curious to see how Episode VIII pans out. That'll be the make or break chapter of the whole enterprise and we'll know if all the cards they set up stand or fall.

In the end- Lucas DID have something to say with the Prequels though there was plenty wrong with how he said it. He WAS still relevant in some regard. Episode VII, much as I like it, feels more like it doesn't have much to say, but sure does say it with style.

[RickDee]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

I think they should work out a deal with Criterion and release 3 stand alone BRs of the the theatrical cuts....

Nice but take the A New Hope off the first cover and put Star Wars then you would have it right!

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

I think they should work out a deal with Criterion and release 3 stand alone BRs of the the theatrical cuts....

[Show spoiler]

I would love to have the Criterion treatment on these.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by happydood

I think they'll release the unaltered trilogy and eventually Lucas will go the way of Stan Lee or Walt Disney himself- an entity nobody really acknowledges even while they celebrate the fruits of his labors.

And while Lucas has done a lot to incur his fans' wrath, and I totally get the anger, it's going to be a very short while before Spielberg is also on the 'irrelevant' list.

1) Stan Lee is keeping relevant by becoming an "Easter egg" in the Marvel movies. Spot the Stan

2) Spielberg has The BFG coming in 2016, and early reviews for the trailer are all positive. (and yes, I know you can't really judge a movie by the trailer)

[Galactus123]

If they don't release the original versions before Episode 9 they are really stupid. There isn't a better time to release them than when a new trilogy is in theaters.

[crissrudd4554]

I hope the theatrical cuts are released before 2020 when Fox loses the rights, aside from the first film. Hopefully, Disney and Fox will strike a deal to reissue the originals because i'd like to see the Fox logos preserved at the start of the films but considering this wasnt the case with the digital releases I wouldnt hold my breath.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

1) Stan Lee is keeping relevant by becoming an "Easter egg" in the Marvel movies. Spot the Stan

2) Spielberg has The BFG coming in 2016, and early reviews for the trailer are all positive. (and yes, I know you can't really judge a movie by the trailer)

Right. Spielberg is still making good movies, I meant specifically how Disney will toss even him aside when it comes to moving on a commodity like Indiana Jones. And while it's fun to see Stan Lee do those little cameos, I wouldn't exactly call them relevant. More like he's being tossed a bone.

[Galactus123]

After they release the originals I hope they forget the Special Editions and never release them again.

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by RickDee

Nice but take the A New Hope off the first cover and put Star Wars then you would have it right!

I found them on google images. There are others too but I think those looked the best...

[octagon]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Understood on the 20,000 units thing. The complete saga boxset moved nearly 2.5 million units. Of course, the individual sets of Episodes 1-3 and 4-6 sold in some numbers, as well, as the repackaged complete sets with DVDs, and digital...but let's just stick to the 2.5 million units. Now say this restored set would sell about 1/3 of the original boxset which I think is a realistic number still a little conservative, but we're talking nearly $50 million in sales if the set sold for $60.00 (with Disney I could see something around this price).

We'd be talking about nearly $50 million in sales if everybody paid MSRP and Disney got all the money but that's not how it works. I don't know what Disney's cut of that $60 might be but for the sake of illustrating the point let's say street price is more like $40 and Disney's cut of that is more like $25. That gives Disney total revenues of $25M and that before costs. Again, I'm just plucking numbers out of the air but after replication and storage/transport and distribution and legal expenses and royalties I wonder if Disney would even net ten bucks a unit from a set like this.

But who knows. Maybe they would net twenty bucks a unit and maybe the would move a million of them. Both of those sound extremely optimistic to me but who knows. Maybe profits in the (very low) tens of millions form a UOT BD release aren't completely out of the question. I still think that's very unlikely but I can't categorically rule it out.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

There would also surely be a DVD, digital download or streaming release too which would generate millions.

Well, sort of. A DVD release is a good point. That would be a natural outgrowth of a BD release and would be subject to similar assumptions.

Digital downloads, streaming and broadcast would be a little different though. In the case of a hypothetical physical media release we're pretty much take double-dipping for granted. We assume many people already some version of the movies and we're trying to guesstimate how many of those people will buy it again so we don't really have to account for cannibalization. With digital delivery I think that's a little trickier.

Would OT-related streaming revenues go up if the UOT were available or would they stay relatively the same with SE streaming revenues dropping.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

So, even after marketing, production costs, distribution, etc. I think they would make tens of millions with no problem at all. Seventy-five to 100 million dollars would be possible with all video sources. Then factor in worldwide sales.

Maybe. I suspect you're overestimating the commercial appeal of the UOT but who knows. Some people prefer the SEs and most people are content with them. Is there even the remotest chance of Disney losing money on any future UOT release(s)? Absolutely not. There's really no conceivable scenario under which a UOT release isn't profitable.

There's a pile of UOT money out there. I just think it's a lot smaller than a lot people think it is.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

The question becomes how much does the restoration cost for all three movies? It won't be cheap, but Disney will still come out well ahead at the end of the day and no doubt these assets have to be restored and preserved as has been mentioned.

Yeah, I wasn't even really factoring restoration costs into any of my musings. A lot of the necessary work is going to be done whether the UOT ever sees a BD release or not. As counterintuitive as it might seem, those costs don't really enter into this.

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

That only highlights this as a dire situation and shows the absolute need for the original films to be released in their original state on current and future home video formats.

For the sake of historical significance, if nothing else, they can't be allowed to fade into oblivion.

Preaching to the choir. Even if I never get to watch them again, they have to be preserved.

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

I'm not quite as pessimistic as some of you.

I'm actually fairly optimistic these days. I can't point to too many concrete reasons for optimism but over the past couple years I've gotten the sense that this is becoming more a question of when rather than of if.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I could go either way with the opening crawl. If they wanted to be really cool, it could be an option to select in the set-up menu along with the three different original audio options.

Put me down for 'Fox Fanfare: yes' and 'A New Hope: no'.

And then scrawl in the margin 'he'll still buy it though'.

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by octagon

Maybe. I suspect you're overestimating the commercial appeal of the UOT but who knows. Some people prefer the SEs and most people are content with them. Is there even the remotest chance of Disney losing money on any future UOT release(s)? Absolutely not. There's really no conceivable scenario under which a UOT release isn't profitable.

There's a pile of UOT money out there. I just think it's a lot smaller than a lot people think it is.

Preaching to the choir. Even if I never get to watch them again, they have to be preserved.

Put me down for 'Fox Fanfare: yes' and 'A New Hope: no'.

And then scrawl in the margin 'he'll still buy it though'.

1. Agreed. Are they gonna sell like an oblivion? No but I do predict they will sell enough units to please Disney and Lucasfilm. As you said and as Ive said as well as others theres definitely a market for them. The people who arent bothered by the changes I dont think will buy it. Even if the 2011 release had the OUT cuts they still wouldnt think either way and still buy it. But its because it didnt go that way thats brought us to today.

2. Agreed again. Preservation is important regardless of peoples tastes.

3. I think the best scenario would be the 1981 cut with 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the crawl and have the original 1977 crawl as an extra or vice versa. I think it would be too complex to choose between watching the whole film with either crawl.

[The Great Owl]

I've always liked this photo of Carrie Fisher and her stunt double chilling out.

[octagon]

Right click - save picture as - save

Thank you.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by happydood

Yeah, his hubris in saying that was probably not a good idea, though people are making a much bigger deal out of it than if somebody else had said it- so many people want to have more fuel for the fire against him, it's become a 'See, he ruined Star Wars and now he said this! What an #%%hole!"

The unfortunate thing about all of the Lucas/Disney dealings, to me, is how clear it makes it that that 'auteur/film-school' movement that began in the 70's that I treasure and of which Lucas was very much a part is now dead. The studio system is reborn and I don't think it's for the better. I think they'll release the unaltered trilogy and eventually Lucas will go the way of Stan Lee or Walt Disney himself- an entity nobody really acknowledges even while they celebrate the fruits of his labors.

Yes, a big corporation running the films and giving the audience whatever will get them to pay up is so against Lucas' mindset and goals it's kind of amazing he sold it to them. "White slavers" was a horrible term to use, but I get what he was trying to say, and it should surprise no one he feels that way.

[Geoff D]

To follow on from what happydood said about the studio system being reborn, it's deliciously ironic that 'Mr Independent Filmmaker' not only propped up the ailing system in the first place with the original Star Wars (following on from Señor Spielbergo with Jaws a couple years earlier) but has bolstered Disney for the foreseeable future thanks to him selling LFL to them (on top of Pixar and Marvel ). If it was that much of a wrench for Lucas then he shouldn't have bloody well done it, it's not like he needed the money!