Original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD

[anathema]

Originally posted by frogboy4
I still don't see why they don't make a boxed set for the enthusiast. Makes sense to me and it's money in the bank.

You mean, why don't they do one now? Lucas' stance has been that he doesn't have the time to devote to it right now, as he's busy with the prequels. The same argument was applied to the Indiana Jones trilogy (although that should now be out by the end of the year). There wasn't supposed to have been a DVD release of any of the six movies until Episode III had been through the cinemas. I think it was the bootlegs of Episode I that convinced Lucasfilm that it would be worth getting an official disc out...

I suspect the reason they're not worried so much about getting the original trilogy out is that bootlegs of that mainly stem from laserdiscs rather than screeners, and hence the quality isn't going to be as good.

 

[frogboy4]

I meant exactly what I said -

I still don't see why they don't make a boxed set for the enthusiast. -

I didn't say they'd have to release it tomorrow. Just when the DVD does come out, a boxed set including the original versions is in order.

I thought we were all on the same page already that there would be no release of the trilogy until Ep 3 came out. It's rather common knowlege and I mentioned it earlier in the thread. Heck, I live where they make the darn things. LOL!

 

[anathema]

Originally posted by frogboy4
I meant exactly what I said -

I still don't see why they don't make a boxed set for the enthusiast. -

I didn't say they'd have to release it tomorrow. Just when the DVD does come out, a boxed set including the original versions is in order.

And I'm sure there will be one Followed by a boxset of all six movies a year or so later...or possibly the other way around.

 

[frogboy4]

Yeah, but isn't that the point of this thread? That Lucas doesn't indend to ever release the original versions of the first trilogy?

 

[anathema]

Ahhhhh...sorry, I thought you were referring to the films in general My bad. Yeah, it sucks that there's not much chance of the originals ever making it out on DVD. And there's gotta be a reason why the laserdiscs sell on eBay for more than the SE discs ;-)

 

[frogboy4]

I still feel it will happen. There's certainly enough demand for them - Lucas' ego aside. Doesn't 20th Century Fox have a say in it?

 

[Chilly Down]

Originally posted by frogboy4
I still feel it will happen. There's certainly enough demand for them - Lucas' ego aside. Doesn't 20th Century Fox have a say in it?

Excellent question. If I understand right, Lucas owns the rights to all the Star Wars movies EXCEPT the original. Since he wasn't much of anybody in 1977, 20th Century Fox produced the original Star Wars. Since Lucas was sick of all the studio interference, he founded Lucasfilm with the money from Star Wars, and produced all the remaining films on his own, with Fox only distributing them. At least that's how I think I remember that it works.

I'm not sure how much leverage Fox has as just a distributor. Fox and Lucas have always worked hand in hand, but it would be interesting to see what might happen if customer demand is strong enough to make Fox willing to butt heads with him over this. Is it possible that Fox would release the original version of just the first Star Wars movie on DVD, since that's the one they produced?

Probably not, but it's interesting to think about.

 

[anathema]

Didn't Lucas buy the rights from them at some point?

 

[Chilly Down]

Maybe he did, but on the 1995 THX release of the Classic Trilogy (the last one), there was something different about the way the copyright was credited at the start of the movie than the other ones. Empire and Jedi both had the newer Lucasfilm logo, while the original Star Wars said "20th Century Fox presents a Lucasfilm production" or something like that. I don't have them handy, so I'm doing this from memory.

 

[anathema]

Originally posted by Chilly Down
Maybe he did, but on the 1995 THX release of the Classic Trilogy (the last one), there was something different about the way the copyright was credited at the start of the movie than the other ones. Empire and Jedi both had the newer Lucasfilm logo, while the original Star Wars said "20th Century Fox presents a Lucasfilm production" or something like that. I don't have them handy, so I'm doing this from memory.

Oh, Ok. That definitely changed by the SE, though - my copies of all three movies have the new Lucasfilm logo. Maybe Fox still owns the original cut, and Lucasfilm owns the SE?