On Saturday at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Lucasfilm Star Wars ambassador Steve Sansweet announced the biggest Blu-ray news since the format’s inception several years ago. The Force is strong with this one.
“We have been at work for a couple of years working on — I won’t call it the Ultimate Set because we keep finding stuff—but, a very full set of all six [Star Wars] movies on Blu-ray with lots of extra material,” Steve boasted. “We’re finding all kinds of scenes from dailies that have never been seen before. Beyond all of those things that you know about there are some real treasures.”
That means an elaborate Star Wars Blu-ray box set with The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi has been in development since roughly 2008. If some of the promised “treasures” are exclusive to Blu-ray then this set could usher in a new wave of high-def adopters.
The big question now is when will Star Wars make its Blu-ray debut? Sansweet would only offer “the too distant future” which in Lucasfilm terms could be another 2-3 years. This holiday season seems unlikely given Fox Home Entertainment, the eventual distributor, will be focusing their marketing efforts on their 75th anniversary celebration and the Alien Anthology Blu-ray set. A 2011 release might make more sense, especially with a theatrical re-release of Star Wars in 3D rumored to be coming as early as 2012 that will necessitate a Star Wars Blu-ray 3D release.
We should find out more about Star Wars on Blu-ray and possibly the exact release date between August 12-15 as the official Lucasfilm Star Wars Celebration V kicks off in Orlando, Florida.
Source: IGN
