George Lucas loves re-releasing his Star Wars films and has settled on the next format for the Jedi to return on.
Beginning in 2012 per a leaked press release expected to hit the wire any day, all six Star Wars live-action theatrical films will be released theatrically in 3D. The first will be Star Wars Episode 1: The Phanton Menace with Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi following sequentially at as-of-yet publicized intervals.
The conversion process to 3D is being handled by vendors outside LucasFilm but is being overseen by Industrial Light and Magic including Star Wars special effects guru John Knoll. Their goal is to convert the films in a way that make them seem as if they were originally shot with 3D cameras ala James Cameron’s Avatar or Resident Evil: Afterlife.
This news comes less than two months after LucasFilm confirmed the Star Wars trilogy would debut on Blu-ray Disc in the fourth quarter of 2011. It was noted during the announcement time frame that George Lucas chose not to include the original theatrical versions versus the special editions on Blu-ray due to the added costs of creating new high-def transfers. Now we know where those dollars went, and we also know a Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray 3D is an inevitable release sometime after 2012.
Will you go see the Star Wars films in 3D? Or how about Titanic in 3D which is expected in theaters the same year? I’m personally on the fence about yet another version of Star Wars, but this news provides the opportunity for my kids to see these films theatrically. That’s the silver lining that I’m clinging to right now.
