Tag Archives: John Landis

Are the ‘Star Wars’ Theatrical Cuts Being Re-Released?

Posted on by Standard Reply

Star Wars Logo

by: S. Scott Stanikmas

It would seem the gods have finally opened their ears and heard the prayers of fans the world over.

Rumors are swirling that the theatrical (i.e. NON Special Edition) cuts of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are being prepped for release on Blu-ray for the first time ever.

Now, I know what you must be thinking. These kinds of rumors tend to kick up every couple of years so why get our hopes up. But there’s a good reason why this rumor has been making waves now.

Empire Magazine was recently at a Q&A with director John Landis, who happens to be buddies with George Lucas. Landis said that Lucas said Disney is looking to release the theatrical cuts sometime in the near future.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

While it’s not direct word from an exec at the House of Mouse, Landis wouldn’t have any reason to stir the pot on this one. So while I’m not totally inclined to say this is definite, it’s a little better than the average rumor.

It’s just that the timing on this one kind of stinks. The Star Wars saga has just been announced for getting standalone steelbook releases for mid-November, about a month before The Force Awakens hits theaters. If the theatrical cuts were going to be in the steelbooks I have a feeling it would have been announced as such to get as many pre-orders as possible.

So this means it may not be until 2016 that we get the theatrical releases on Blu-ray and HD download. That said, marketing -wise it would make sense to do it around the time of The Force Awakens hitting home media. I could definitely see a bunch of Star Wars fans walking out of their local retailer with a good stack of Blu-rays that day.

As soon as we get word on a release date we’ll post it here, so keep checking back as this story develops.