Which company owns the Star Wars movies (all 6 of them)?

[mainman]

Which company owns the Star Wars movies (all 6 of them)?

I'm thinking Warner, but I think I am wrong.

[zombie]

Fox, a Blu-ray only supporter.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by nyg

Fox, a Blu-ray only supporter.

this will likely be the almighty trump card early-mid 2007

[no_wei]

actually, to the best of my knowledge, lucasfilm ltd. owns all six star wars films.

lucas financed every one but "a new hope" on his own, and fox only distributed the films. it seems to me that lucasfilm now has complete control of all the films, but fox might still own a piece of "a new hope." i'm not sure.

so, fox doesn't get to decide if and when the films are released on a high definition format. however, due to the longstanding relationship between lucasfilm and fox, i would suspect that fox would release them, so that would most likely mean a blu-ray release.

however, there are some things to consider when speculating on a star wars release.

1. star wars was a really late entry into the dvd arena. the original (extra special edition) trilogy didn't appear on dvd until about october 2004. furthermore, although dvd was already out when "the phantom menace" saw a home video release, it was initially released only on vhs. the dvd wasn't released until about a year later. episodes ii and iii, "attack of the clones" and "revenge of the sith," however, were released simultaneously with the vhs (actually i'm not even sure if iii saw a wide scale commercial vhs release, but we had a couple copies at my video store).

2. you may or may not care, but from what i've heard the only real version to expect in high definition would be the special edition, which means it's either the version that was on dvd, or some as of yet unseen new flavour of the special edition, which would almost seem to make the most sense at this point. apparently they were/are planning a dvd version of the original trilogy, but it's some huge set that comes bundled with the special edition, so you buy two copies of the "same" trilogy. furthermore, the original trilogy that you get is actually just a transfer from the old laserdiscs, so it probably wouldn't even look as good as the special edition dvd versions. of course, that might just be something they're throwing around for dvd, and maybe the reason they (read: george lucas) are doing all of this is to keep people from talking about the inevitable high definition release of star wars.

personally, unless someone has any specific information to the contrary, i wouldn't expect to see a high definition version of star wars anytime soon. which is sad, really.

/no

[zombie]

Lucasfilm owns the movies but Fox has always been the distributor. Unless George feels that Fox hasn't done a good enough job I don't know why he wouldn't continue to use them as his distributor. And really, hasn't Fox done exactly as George has wanted anyway?

[theknub]

Originally Posted by no_wei

...furthermore, the original trilogy that you get is actually just a transfer from the old laserdiscs...

for what it's worth, i believe i read something not long ago where lucas realised he screwed up by just doing a transfer from laserdisc. so, my understanding is that they are at least making it an anamorphic wide screen.

[no_wei]

Originally Posted by theknub

for what it's worth, i believe i read something not long ago where lucas realised he screwed up by just doing a transfer from laserdisc. so, my understanding is that they are at least making it an anamorphic wide screen.

excellent. i hadn't heard that.

also, do you know if this release is intended for an hd format, or is it intended for dvd? when i read the article on ain't it cool i just assumed it was for dvd. i don't think it mentioned specifically, or i forgot.

thanks

/no

[theknub]

Originally Posted by no_wei

excellent. i hadn't heard that.

also, do you know if this release is intended for an hd format, or is it intended for dvd? when i read the article on ain't it cool i just assumed it was for dvd. i don't think it mentioned specifically, or i forgot.

thanks

/no

i have only heard about a DVD release sadly. but, maybe george will surprise us.

[no_wei]

if george is still going for a rush job, i'd rather he do this one as a dvd release.

/no

[partridge]

The OT being released later this year is mastered from the digitally cleaned up versions that were released on VHS back in the early 90's.

According the to the SW website, these DVD's will look good, but not as good as the currently available special edition versions. This release is for completists only.

2007 marks the 30th anniversary of A New Hope, so we may well see the entire saga on blu ray...

[Psiweaver]

They were all mastered in HD when they were redone, or orginally mastered in the case of the newer ones. They are mostly ready to go just need menus etc.

[no_wei]

Originally Posted by Psiweaver

They were all mastered in HD when they were redone, or orginally mastered in the case of the newer ones. They are mostly ready to go just need menus etc.

does the "redone" refer to the late 90s special editions? or does it refer to the last vhs release of the honest-to-goodness original trilogy? because, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't they restore the print for that one?

why are there so many freaking versions of star wars!? just trying to keep what changes were made when and where, and then even trying to vaguely comprehend as to why they would have been done is going to make my head explode!

/no

[Psiweaver]

The new ones that they are about to release are being remastered supposedly in HD I know all the new ones episode 1,2,3 are all in HD and just awaiting release and I assume special editions are in the process of being made into HD versions.