The Original Star Wars Trilogy is made up of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  These movies are often hailed as the greatest trilogy of all time and have been enjoyed by millions. They have spawned some of the most famous characters in movie history: Darth Vader, Luke, Leah, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Yoda, Obi One Kenobi and so many more.  And how about those memorable movie quotes? “Luke, I am your father”, the most misquoted movie quote of all time which is really “No, I am your father”. Everyone knows Star Wars, even if they don’t know Star Wars. It’s part of our pop culture. When I was 5, I watched A New Hope for the first time and I instantly became the Star Wars nerd that I am today. Years later, I found out that the movie I watched was actually a re-edited version of the original. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, altered the originals 4 times! In 1995, Lucas released the uncut versions of the original trilogy on VHS, as they were released in 1977, 1980 and 1983. These were only on the market for a short time before they were taken off to create hype for the new “Special” Editions released in 1997. There were some good changes on the “special editions”, like changing Palpatine’s look for continuity in all films, and some bad ones, like the CGI Singing Aliens and Hayden Christensen’s ghost, and of course, who shot first Han or Greedo...It was always Han.  Ever since 1997, the movies kept getting changed every 4-6 years and they got worse and worse each time. These movies are classics and according to the readers of Empire magazine and many other lists, The Empire Strikes Back is frequently rated the greatest film of all time. Disney has taken it upon themselves to generate new interest and introduce Star Wars to a whole new generation through new movies, TV shows and theme parks. They also have the rights, money and talent to remaster the original films for re-release. Lastly, Disney is in the business of making money and Star Wars is the gift that keeps on giving, generation after generation. If Disney wants to make their fans happy, and make themselves even more money, they must remaster the originals and release them, uncut in their original form.

Firstly, the renewed interest. Star Wars was released 4 times in theatres between 1977-1981 making only minor changes like adding a capital letter to a word or adding “A New Hope” to the start of the crawl. Then, from 1981-1995, the touch ups focused on better picture and audio quality. In 1997, George Lucas released what he thought was the “definitive edition” and decided to add CGI (computer generated imagery) in the most useless spots. This angered fans. With the acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, fans were hopeful that Disney would do something with the working copies of the original films, but nothing happened.  In 2013, Harmy’s Despecialized Version was a fan made restoration of all 3 films and these became instant hits in the Star Wars community, but they were technically illegal. The only way to watch the original movies is with the 1995 VHS tapes, but these are hard to come by. When the older, original generation watches Star Wars today, they are disappointed to find new scenes added. They fell in love with the original movies and would love to see them again, in that format, and to be able to share that with their kids and grandkids. There is a certain magic to watching great filmmaking in its original, timeless glory. When you add these scenes, it tarnishes the once phenomenal reputation of this movie trilogy and sends the message that the movies released in 70’s and 80’s, don’t hold up to today’s standards.  This is false. Disney owes it to fans, old and new, to keep these masterpieces in their original form. No one is painting over the great works of Da Vinci or Van Gogh…art should be left in its original form, to be appreciated as the artist originally intended.

Secondly, when Disney announced the acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, fans were clamoring for the original cut of the film.  Fox owned the distribution rights to the original theatrical releases and now Disney had them. Now, there were no more excuses! This process can be expensive but Disney is one of the most profitable brands in the world.  They have the money, the talent and the branding power to remaster these films and release them to the public in a way that will generate interest and excitement for lots of people, not just die-hard fans. Everything that Disney does is a success, there is no reason to believe that this will be any different.  Disney has remastered films such as the 1937 version of Snow White. That film had fewer working copies than Star Wars but new versions in 4K or 8K seem to be getting released every year. Disney can do it as they have with other older films in their vaults. At this point, all Disney can say is “I don’t want to”. I say, “Do or do not.  There is no try”. Classic Yoda. 

Finally, and maybe most importantly for Disney, it will be profitable. Fans have been clamoring for this for 22 years.  Disney could make a boatload of money! Just think about the renewed interest in figurines, video games, DVD’s and soundtracks…and that’s just the beginning. There will be lines in the stores and lines in the theme parks.  Dollar signs everywhere!! If this was released in 4K, it would be like the hot new Christmas toy every year, sold out everywhere! These are the original, critically acclaimed films that are embedded into pop culture. Fans can relive that movie theatre experience from years and years ago. In addition, they could do a promotion where the trilogy could only be seen on the new Disney+ channel for 6 months before releasing on Blu-Ray or Digital.  They could earn more subscribers this way as they will be facing stiff competition against Netflix. This could be a HUGE advantage at the start. Disney has to know this will work. In the famous words of Darth Vader, “I find your lack of faith disturbing”. Come on Disney, you should have done this a long time ago.

In conclusion, Disney has no good reasons for not releasing these digitally remastered films and 3 good reasons why they should. They have the power to do it.  They will make their loyal fans happy and they could make a crap ton of money. They could help make the original trilogy popular again (as if it’s not huge already) and set the stage for a whole new generation of Star Wars nerds. They have no excuses and it could redeem Lucasfilm for some of their past sins (*cough* Jar Jar *cough*). Please, Lucasfilm…release them.  Only you can do it. May the Force be with you!