The Academy screened the ORIGINAL A New Hope approved by George Lucas

Blu-ray release or not, they should at the very least transfer it to digital to preserve it for posterity (And I believe 100% that a restored theatrical release WILL be released at some point, like for the 50th anaversary or something)

 

There are a lot of people in the industry who feel the same, so I have to think they probably did or have at least planned on doing it. Sounds like it's in really great condition, so it would be an excellent source.

Gareth Edwards also said he saw an official 4k restoration of Star Wars at Lucasfilm when he was there making Rogue One, which is how unused footage of Red Leader and Gold Leader ended up in the movie. Since they haven't released it, I have to think it was done mainly for the sake of preservation, so I'm betting they restored all the material, including anything that was removed for the special editions.

So I'm sure not only is a fully restored high quality version of the unaltered Original Trilogy possible, it most likely already exists in multiple instances. It sounds like Lucas still has a lot of influence, and he wants to suppress the Originals in favor of his special editions, so not sure how they will reach the general public.

I could fill up an entire thread on why preserving the unaltered Original Trilogy is important, don't get me started. It is important for so many reasons.

I was certain it was going to happen at Celebration in 2017 for the 40th anniversary, but when it came and went without even a mention, I pretty much lost hope and just resolved to appreciate my Harmy discs more and more.

Maybe it will happen one day, but I'm not going to waste energy building up any sort of anticipation again.

 

Lucas prefers the special edition versions, which are closer to his taste and original vision. (I, for one, like them although I dream to se the SE versions updated with contemporary cgi).

There might be some clause in Lucas' contract with Disney, or at least a verbal agreement, not to release restored theatrical versions while he's still around....

 

It seems that Lucas really likes Rogue One!

 

I own the original theatrical Star Wars on VHS (UK PAL). It was also released as a second disc in the 2006 Limited Edition DVD re-release.
Nothing would persuade me to sell either.

 

I’m alittle confused about this screening as I thought Lucas said that the Original Negatives were destroyed when they were re-cutting the SE in 1997? That was their reason for the 2006 DVD release that only featured the 1993 laserdisc master. I know Lucas twists the truth a lot but hopefully some could shed light on how the Original version was screened?

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 6, 2019, Original Post Date: Jul 6, 2019 ---

I have a purchased almost every VHS and DVD version of the Original OT on eBay in the past few years:

1980’s individual VHS release of SW, ESB, ROTJ

1992. OOT VHS boxset

1994. Final OOT VHS boxset

2006 DVD Boxset (Steel Case)

 

The recent Academy screening was an old 1977-era 70mm print that had survived all these years, it was not a newly-struck print... so Lucas' claims of messing with the original negatives could still be true. For what it's worth, I'm a professional cinematographer with contacts in many of the big post houses in Hollywood, and a couple years ago a friend of mine told me he personally saw some of the 4K restorations being done... and they were Lucas' final versions, NOT the originals. Now it has been a few years since I got that "insider" word, but still. I'm not holding my breath.

 

I've always found this to be a good source of information regarding the Originals and special editions:

https://savestarwars.com/gout.html