George Lucas’ constant tinkering with the original Star Wars trilogy has become a real pet peeve for longtime fans of the franchise. Whether it’s blinking Ewoks, additional CGI or Darth Vader screaming “Noooo!” as he takes down the Emperor, the director has left everyone with a lot to debate over the years.
Since he sold Lucasfilm and moved away from Star Wars, it’s become clear that he would no longer have any sort of role in what happens to A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but we’ve still yet to see a re-release of the original, unaltered trilogy. That’s for a few reasons, one of which is that the distribution rights to those films lie with Fox. However, now that we know Disney is looking to buy their rival studio, could things change?
Fans are certainly hopeful, as at the moment, there’s really no way to watch the original version of A New Hope, Empire and Return in high-definition. The best you can get right now is a laserdisc transfer, which looks rough, to say the least. If the Mouse House ends up taking over Fox, though, along with throwing characters like the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the things they may do is re-visit the trilogy that started it all.
Whether that be through a theatrical re-release, a home video release or something else entirely, is hard to say, but we imagine that Disney would surely address this in some way were they to go through with the deal. Then again, they may not believe it’s worth the money to restore the films at this point.
Regardless, having them purchase Fox would be great for Star Wars fans, as the studio being able to control the entirety of the franchise would surely be for the best, especially since the rights to A New Hope are contractually retained by Fox in perpetuity at the moment. Which is to say that if the Mouse House doesn’t buy them, they’ll never get their hands on those.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, though. From what we understand, the two studios are no longer actively discussing the deal. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s off the table, merely that the acquisition is a long, long way from being signed, sealed and delivered.
Still, if Disney were to buy Fox, tell us, would you like to see them re-release the original, unaltered Star Wars trilogy? Let us know in the usual place!