On August 14 at Celebration V, George Lucas announced that a boxed set of all six Star Wars films would be released in the fall of 2011. The set will be the first high-definition home video release of Star Wars and will include many special features.
In an interview with the New York Times, Lucas explained that he had wanted to delay the Blu-ray release until the technology became more widespread. Star Wars had come out on VHS in the early 1980s, when the technology was still very new, and sold only 300,000 copies in the first year. The Star Wars Blu-ray edition should have better luck; ABI Research predicts that by 2011, 18 percent of households with TVs will also own Blu-ray players.
Years in the Making
Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations, first mentioned the Blu-ray set on April 17, 2010 at Comic Con. Sansweet stated that Lucasfilm had been working on a new Star Wars release for years, including deleted scenes and documentary footage that had only recently resurfaced -- although he hesitated to call it an "Ultimate Edition," just in case new material was discovered in the future.
While Lucasfilm is keeping mum on most of the details about the Blu-ray set, they did reveal one deleted scene at Celebration V. The scene takes place at the beginning of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and features Luke completing the construction of his new lightsaber, revealing how he has grown and matured as a Jedi since the previous film. Although the Return of the Jedi novelization and radio drama included the scene, it was cut from the film in post-production.
Remastering the Theatrical Versions: Too Expensive
As for the movies themselves, the Blu-ray set will feature the same remastered Special Edition versions of the films as the 2004 Original Trilogy DVD boxed set. While the original theatrical versions of the Original Trilogy have since been released on DVD, Lucas explained that digitally restoring the films to Blu-ray quality would be prohibitively expensive.
But even fans who would prefer the films' original versions should not be disappointed about this release. The documentaries, interviews, and never-before-seen footage alone sound like they'll make this set worth buying.