Actual Star Wars Blu-ray news...

[DigitalfreakNYC]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2...Wars-on-Bluray

I might be more excited about the documentaries and deleted footage.

After seeing how badly Lucasfilm screwed up the DVD release with their color correction and sound mixes (not to mention additional footage), I'm only excited about this to see how fans can undo their changes.

Star Wars Blu-ray

[jasonicus]

About time. At least we know they are working on something. Hopefully it will be jam packed. Seeing what they are doing with the Clone Wars box set gives me hope that a box set for all 6 movies would be epic.

[Moefiz]

Basically translate to.. we have all the masters ready for Blu...just waiting to cash in when the time is right.

[P@t_Mtl]

Its going to be a long wait but the fun we will have once this set is available on BD

[shrieker]

Personally i think we will never see an ultimate boxset of the Star Wars saga on dvd, blu-ray or whatever format . Once Lucasfilm release an Ultimate boxset they won't be able to milk the franchise anymore and re-release them every year .

[Stephan.klose]

"In the next couple of years".. That didn't sound very promising. I mean the should have nice masters from their previous releases. Wouldn't take a lot to make a great BD Set out of it. And if you consider the sales of a movie like "The Dark Knight", you know there's money in it. I am pretty sure there isn't a single Blu Ray Player owner that wouldn't buy that box set. (If they included cleaned up (and by cleaned up I just my dirt and stuff) versions of the 3 Originals before they got messed up)..

Still I myself would buy them even if they just contained the new versions.

I myself own two box-sets of the first 3 Star Wars on VHS, The Laserdisc Box of the new versions and then all the DVD's..

On while you are brooting about Star Wars release the First 3 Indiana Jones Movies. With no freaking CGI additions!

[bhampton]

To me this stood out..

"...and these days, will there be a market penetration before everything goes streaming?"

everything goes streaming sounds like a nightmare to me. YouTube quality video for all... at least it looks good on a cell phone.

Currently I can get discs in the mail from Netflix and I can stream stuff online... One of those options is watch-able the other isn't worth doing. I hate to think that the Crap-O-Vision streaming model will be inevitable. Reminds me of the format war.


=Brian

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by bhampton

To me this stood out..

"...and these days, will there be a market penetration before everything goes streaming?"

everything goes streaming sounds like a nightmare to me. YouTube quality video for all... at least it looks good on a cell phone.


=Brian

Completely.

I have a fear that, like music, quality movies will become a rarity.

[jasonicus]

It would be nice to have a set with the multiple versions of the films, like the more recent DVD sets. To see this in Blu-Ray with that sound would be wonderful.

[Blu-Benny]

great, in the next couple of years IF it's going to be profitable!!!

u would think after getting so much money out of these that they would do something for the fans once.

if it's going to be a couple year wait, the box set better be stellar, multiple versions of the original trilogy, all of the extras you can think of, commentary by every major player involved. if they are gonna take that long, there's no reason they can't pack it full.

[Chordata]

Called it. It'll be released when the live show comes out.

[SpaceDog]

I feel like I've bought Star Wars more times than I've watched it.
I'm in no rush, but if the original trilogy can be presented in high def in archive version form, I'd be first in line.

[Rhoq]

This is a reitteration of what Rick McCallum said about a year ago. McCallum also said that one of the big hold-ups with the Blu-ray release was going through the Lucasfilm archives for bonus materials. He hinted that his team had unearthed a lot of new, previously unseen stuff for the Blu-rays and they were about halfway done putting everything together for the Blu-ray boxset. I've always been under the impression - based on Mccallum's comments last year that Fall 2010 is their target.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by bhampton

To me this stood out..

"...and these days, will there be a market penetration before everything goes streaming?"

everything goes streaming sounds like a nightmare to me. YouTube quality video for all... at least it looks good on a cell phone.

Currently I can get discs in the mail from Netflix and I can stream stuff online... One of those options is watch-able the other isn't worth doing. I hate to think that the Crap-O-Vision streaming model will be inevitable. Reminds me of the format war.


=Brian

Agree Brian.

This part was interesting to me as well:

But we've been looking at an ultimate box set of the Star Wars movies, all six of the movies. And what special features would be. And clearly these days, if you did an ultimate box set and didn't do it in HD, Blu-ray, it just wouldn't make any sense. So now it's a matter of thinking okay, we've been thinking about this for a while, we know what kind of assets we want to use, we've done some work in cleaning up things, it's really a matter of making that decision of when's the best time to release it.

But in the next few years there will be an ultimate box set and certainly a Blu-ray set.

Streaming? Not going to happen in the near term, infrastructure is not there yet and these PR people should know that.

I didn't see anything about the unaltered trilogy being released in this ultimate box set. Shame on the interview person for not asking. It looks like Lucas is sticking to his word from 2004.

If they put out an ultimate box set like they claim they will, it better be as well done as the Matrix one and it better be Ultimate.

[raskal66]

Originally Posted by shrieker

Once Lucasfilm release an Ultimate boxset they won't be able to milk the franchise anymore and re-release them every year .

I wouldn't underestimate LucasFilm when it comes to re-releasing movie. I can't see why Blu Ray would be the format that changes an established 20 year old pattern. If anyone knows how to make nothing new yet charge more for it, it's LucasFilm.

They need not look any further for validation of that strategy then this website. How many people claim Day 1 purchases for absolute garbage, or admit to double buying something while proclaiming they "hate that they have to do it." I'm not trying to condemn users of this site because users of this site are also very knowledgeable, but it is a fact.

When a sizeable portion of your intended market purchases movies like crack cocaine instead of like art, it's hard not to make money. In fact, I bet if Lucas released all 6 movies in one set, the original trilogy in another, and the newest 3 in yet another, some people on this site would buy all 3 sets out of some maniacal obsession with "completeness" or being a "completionist." These people, like you and me make the world go round and their money is just as good to Georgie Luke as anybody elses, regardless of how wisely spent it is.

[BluOgre]

Next several years? lol, so basically I look forward to this around the time Iron Man 3 and Transformers 4 comes out?

[MCT]

unless the three original movies (not the updated versions) are included in this set, I will not be purchasing. No reason to not give us both. Thats what Blu Ray is for. There's more than enough space on the discs, and I'm sure Lucas has the resources to properly restore them.

[RiseDarthVader]

The only way for George Lucas to release the unaltered original trilogy without having his ex wife take a huge chunk of the profits is by releasing it as a special feature so I dont know if he will ever release it in HD or on their own.

[MCT]

as if he hasnt made enough money. Marsha deserves that money anyways. She's a major reason the movies turned out good.

[raskal66]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

Completely.

I have a fear that, like music, quality movies will become a rarity.

That fear is real.
Have you been to the movies this past summer? How much total garbage is out there is scary. To know just how much mediocrity can be bought for $200M?

Apologists for this kind of crap refer to it being "summer popcorn" which is really a cop out and an exquisite amount of self denial of not wanting to admit having been ripped off or not knowing what quality film making actually is.

Cheesy escapism works for excusing a $25M Jason Statham vacant plot, but abominations and their subsequent excusing of big budget tripe like Transformers 2 indicate a sickness of culture even if it does make its negative cost back or turn a profit. Crack Cocaine and pron makes profits too, that doesn't make it good. Any friend of mine who tells me TF2 was good because it's "just a popcorn movie" or "has robots beating each other up" won't cease to be my friend, but their judgment probably won't be sought on issues of real consequence, either.

Self deceit on the part of the consumer will destroy the quality of major motion pictures faster than streaming video will.