UPDATED: August 24 2006

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#082406

Also today... a follow-up on something we've been telling you to expect for quite while now. 2007, as you may well be aware, is the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars' debut in theaters. You'd have to be stupid not to know that Lucasfilm is going to have big DVD release plans with which to celebrate the anniversary, and we've been telling you that was the case for many months now.

Indeed, during our last visit to the Ranch for the DVD release of Episode III, producer Rick McCallum confirmed that a box set of all six films was going to happen eventually, and animation director Rob Coleman even let it slip that the puppet Yoda from Episode I had already been replaced with a new CG Yoda to match Episodes II & III for the "future" release. T-Bone over at Star Wars Universe recently speculated about this box set, and we've been quietly checking in with our industry sources on it as well.

Well, we've confirmed it: There IS a big, ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary DVD box set planned for 2007. There will be more changes to the films, and there will be LOTS of new, never-before-seen special features - all the good stuff that was held back by Lucasfilm from the original Trilogy DVD release a few years ago. Think deleted scenes and more.

We don't know if good, genuinely-REMASTERED versions of the original theatrical editions of the films will be included or not (though how you could call the set "ultimate" without them, we don't know).

We don't expect high-definition versions yet, as those formats are just too new. We don't have ANY other details for you yet, so please don't ask. But as you consider whether or not to purchase the "limited edition" DVDs due on 9/12... we thought you should know that more IS absolutely on the way next year.

You know I have to admit I have had this feeling that a box set for all 6 scores will be released next year to promote the Saga DVD box set. IF this turns out to be true I for one will be very happy and would buy the set as I said in a heart beat. Only time will tell for sure though.

"...every other John Williams 'muffled' release.”"



The person who said that is a fucking idiot. They probably mean it won't be SACD or some format that hasn't lasted that long anyway.

ha I'm not sure if I am that qualified to say if Tbo's source is to believed but he wouldn't post it if the source didn't come through before or wasn't in the business.

The box set in 2007 rumor would be great news if true, even including more changes to the DVDs. Especially since the only thing fans are getting for the 30th Anniversary is some video game and "Celebration IV".

Obviously, if rumor is to be believed, the Prequel Trilogy would probably get the most work done this time round, at least I hope.

T-bone's been hit and miss lately. I can't believe he's still going on with that ridiculous ILM is being moved to Asia BS after Pablo oh-so-very-publically slapped his ass down.

I agree with you on this one. I really hope that for the scores Episodes I-III are infact their original intended editions and not just the UE for Ep I repacked and AOTC and ROTS "Ultimate Editions" as well. Only time will tell I suppose.

I for one would be intrested in seeing what else Lucas will be changing for the Saga.

Well we know that Yoda in TPM will be giving a new digital puppet and hopefully the movie itself will be given a new digital transfer to. As far as the Original Trilogy goes as I said I'm intrested in seeing what more chances Lucas has in store for it. I at least hope though for ANH they fix the audio problem and the color problems that existed through out that film.

Only 9 months left until the 30th Anniversary for Star Wars. I hope the Saga DVD set and the supposed complete box set will be released on May 25th, 2007.

Edit:



Ha no shit. The person who said that obviously is not that great of an audiophile. I'm really not one myself however most of the Williams scores I've heard sound just fine to me.

Aren't we also lucky enough to be getting a 'special' 3D version of the OT as well...

I thought they said that wasn't on for a few years due to not enough 3D logistics in theatres to justify it?

Also, for the umpteenth "changes speculation" round, about a year ago I managed to talk to one of the people who worked on the Dorling Kindersley line of SW books. The reasons they had more types of walkers and an Imperial dropship in the Hoth-section of Inside The Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy, was because ILM was going to add some things to that battle. That obviously didn't happen for the 2004 DVDs, but I wouldn't be surprised if this next-gen set has some touched-up battles.

Aside from removing a few garbage mattes and adding CG Yoda to TPM, what's left to do? Maybe by "changes" T-Bone's source meant the remastering job would be completed.

I don't think the source would mention the changes like that if they were just improvements in sounds or lighting or whatever.

updated with thedigitalbits.com stuffs

Nice to finally get confirmation on that. Which means now since the DVD box set is true that must mean the complete score box set is also true.

And it sort of makes the September 12th release even more irrelevant than it already was....unless they don't intend to release the unaltered films within the boxset, which I'm sure is the case.

Either way, I'm good. I'm a Special Edition guy anyway so this boxset news is music to my ears. More changes, I say.

I myself perfer the S.E.'s for the most part. There are a few things here and there as far as changes go that I don't like but I ignore them and just enjoy the movies. I really doubt the unaltered OT will be re-released with next years Saga box set.

Call it an embarassment of riches: the once DVD-elusive flicks that spawned a thousand write in and petition campaigns will now see it's fourth official release on the format within a year.



I'm probably more excited about the complete soundtrack release than the 30th DVD box, myself.

I'll buy the set no matter what, but I have to wonder if some people are even going to bother unless the OT is properly remastered, some deleted scenes are thrown in (wtf is up with everyone's obsession with these anyway?) or there's some other significant value added. A CG Yoda in TPM just ain't gonna cut it.

Maybe all the OT space battles will be redone in CGI. That'd be 1.21 jigowatts of awesome. And hey it'd be nice to have Yoda's little meeting with Qui-Gon reinstated for ROTS...

Well it's been rumored that ILM has been wanting to add more stuff for the Battle Of Hoth...basically more AT-AT's and AT-ST's. I think they also might be adding a few more things to the other battles as well, not entirely sure we'd have to wait until we get more info on the set leaked out.

I to will be buying the Saga DVD set no matter what, I'm also gonna buy my brother Mike a copy of it to.

Great more things done to the OT to further rape my childhood.

Something like this would be nice:

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Yeah, that's familiar. I wish that had come out here in the US. There's a Predator head coming to various regions next year.

I am all about revision (unless it involves musical numbers). This is good news, me thinks.

DP is on to something with that Alien set. It would be awesome if they teamed with Sideshow or whoever and gave us some really awesome stuff with that box set!

HD Saga on Cinemax > Saga on DVD

I won't pass judgement on the "Saga Box Set" until I see some worthwhile new bonus features or something, though.

And some other stuff in there as well. I heard this from a guy who worked on the guide books for Dorling Kindersley a few years back. That's why they added blurbs on Imperial dropships and some different types of walkers in those books, they were planning on adding to that particular battle. Sadly, it didn't happen for the 2004 set. Got my fingers crossed now.

Just DVD? Not HD-DVD/Blu-ray

It'll be probably a few years before they release the Star Wars Saga on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray since that market is fairly new. Steve Sansweet even said this at Comic Con.

More awful PT tinkering.

Great.

I'm not going to buy the Box Set. I would like to see the changes he makes to the films, but I'm not going to pay a lot of money for another copy of the Prequal movies. The unaltered OT coming out in a couple weeks are the last Star Wars movies I plan on buying for a long, long time.

I wouldn't mind seeing the digital Yoda on TPM. Would make the continuity better in the PT

Any chance that they will even tweak ep 2-3?

I hope we get the full saber fight b/w Obi, Ani, & Dooku in II

I hope we get Qui-Gon & Yoda in III


Actually, now that I think about it... I wouldn't mind a complete re-editing of I & II to cut out stupid parts (i.e. "Let's try spinning, that's a good trick !!")

Has anyone heard if they're going to replace the ESB and ROTJ Yoda with digital Yoda? If that happens I may have to pay a little visit to Skywalker Ranch.

They're not, at least according to Rob Coleman.

They'll never do that. Every source has said no.

Hey everyone, I kind of am just posting this to ask the question but does anyone have any 30th anniversary news or rumors to report?

I'm wondering what kind of marketing/promotional stuff might be in the works for early 07, Lucas is grand-marshalling the Rose-parade and there is a 30th anniversary float so I'm wondering if any announcements will follow on the heels of that.

If there is going to be a big box set or something like that for May 25, 07 one would think that the packaging/etc would have to be printed in March-April.

I guess I'm really just asking to see if anyone else has heard anything along the lines of more movie changes, etc. or a new theatrical release? It just seems awfully quiet.

The fall seems to be the release window. There may be an announcement soon but probably not much more in terms of confirmed details.

A Saga DVD box set for all 6 films is pretty much confirmed. Thecolorsblend is right that such a release would be a fall release. Probably the usual September or October dates which seem to be the normal release time now for anything regarding the films and games.

We'll most likely get more information on the set during Celebration IV in May.

I'm sorta hoping for a box set on Bluray or HDDVD. I'd imagine they won't do the original un-altered versions. I think it'll be the prequels as we've seen them, and the special editions of 4-6.

Don't count on the OUT's being with the Saga DVD box set. As far as a Blu-Ray or HD DVD set don't count on that either. At the latest convention they said that they're not thinking about releasing the set on either format at this time because that market is still too young and new. Plus we all know there's a "battle" going on between the two formats.

Edit: Also too Yoda for TPM is giving a CG replacement, it's been pretty much confirmed for that and no doubt that they'll probably give TPM a proper digital restoration for the film.

Hope no one minds that this thread was merged with the two other ones. At this time we have no news or rumors to report but the good news is that DarthFirst and HB have been lurking about recently and perhaps they may come across something.

Next year looks great for fans. This year started out bleak however in retrospect there was a suprising amount of content:

The Original Star Wars Theatrical DVD news hit in May, then the hilarious nerd rage against LucasFilm started when it was found out the discs would be in 4:3 letterbox format then occured. We were thwarted this summer by LucasFilm when they chose not to send out advance discs and review copies so we couldn't "preview" them like we did the 2004 DVDS. (LFL not sending out advance discs obviously prevented First from getting the DVDs early.)

When the DVDs did leak, Mentasm cut some nice videos from the OUT DVDs which caused a bunch of the "no way in hell I'm gonna buy them" crowd at the HomeTheaterForum and other places to change their minds and get them.

During the summer High Definition Revenge of the Sith was shown on Cinemax in which PerfectCr and Duke were able to cut some hi-resolution screencaps for those without Hi-Def. This November the Original Trilogy was shown in Hi-Defintion which was again screen-captured again for those without courtesy of Duke.

For collectors, we seen the re-release of the (Dagobah) X-Wing and SnowSpeeder in awesome packaging, along wth the re-release of the massive (Endor) AT-AT and Imperial Shuttle.


The 30th anniversary of the first Star Wars movie next year looks packed: the new Ultimate Box Set coming up, Celebration IV, and hopefully the premiere of one of the two new Star Wars television shows: Clone Wars 3D

I just got the HD-DVD player the Xbox 360, man those disks look sweet. We need these movies on HD-DVD!

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if the release of the Ultimate Box Set (UBS) is going to coincide with the week of C4. I also wouldn't be shocked to learn that if this was true, that there'd be a bonus disc or two, that'd come along with the UBS if it was bought there. But then again, I'd hold off on buying it for a few months because I know that the C4 exclusives would just show up sometime later at the StarWarsStore.

There is a possibilty of the Saga DVD set being available for purchase during Celebration IV. Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see.

I wish I could believe a release date set during the during C4. I see them giving us a sneak peak or an announcement of the saga set instad, but thats just my own speculation on the matter.

I guess now that I read everyone's responses a Celebration IV announcement sounds like the most likely thing to do. I was just assuming/hoping there would be some kind of "thing" attached to the 30th anniversary on May 25 besides packaging for toys and TV show rumors. But I suppose that if Lucasfilm waits until C4 in May to commit to anything then that buys them a little bit of time to see what HiDef DVD format gets approved, whether its BluRay or HDDVD.

I may be beating a dead horse but it looks like at the moment Fox is committed to BluRay and Lucas is really noncommital on either.

I guess we all know the drill, if we have to wait until C4 to get a glimpse of anything I hope that the gossip is true and Lucas has continued to tweak Episodes 4-6 and maybe refine Ep 1-3 and I guess if the past has been any indication in May we get the big announcement of a new DVD box set of Ep 1-6 with new scenes, new features and everything else for the 2007 holiday season.

If it was up to me, I'd rather see Ep 4-6 in the theaters again all cleaned up and with the obligatory new footage and changes added in. Even if they did it like the Special Editions and released them once a month or so from December 2007 to February 2008 or something like that. It worked last time. If anything can get butts in movie seats it would be those 3 movies to the kids who have seen Ep 1,2,3.

With Lucas it's anyones guess I suppose.
If anyone has any news let us know!

I have indeed been lurking...

I think its safe to say there will be no Blu-Ray UBS in 2007. While the coming year is going to see major pushes on both Hi-Def disc formats, STAR WARS won't be part of it.

I think we'll see some sort of anouncement at C4 - if there was a box set coming in May 2007 it would be delivering to compression and authoring in the next few weeks and there hasn't been any sign of that. But its been awful quiet up in Lucas Valley...we might just get a surprise.

Lucasfilm has been working on the Saga DVD box set since ROTS was released last year. I'm sure they don't want to fuck this one up and that's probably why we haven't heard anything about it lately.

I personally think this is going to be the last time we see the Star Wars movies on DVD for a while. At least until they pick either the HD or Blu-Ray format and release it on that. Though that most likely won't be for quite a few years given what Steve Sansweet said at one of the Comic Con's when they presented the OUT DVD set. He is right both formats are at a "young" stage right now and I don't blame Lucasfilm for holding off to see which one becomes the dinominator and they pick that version to release it on.

For anyone who here is going to Celebration IV when they do the Q&A's please make sure to ask if there will be a 12-CD soundtrack box set along with the DVD release. Who knows if they'll mention it or not.

But yes I agree with HB Lucasfilm has been pretty kind of quiet in regards of Star Wars releases next year. Usually we'd hear something about it by now. Ah well it's only 5 months until May anyways so the time will fly by fast like the rest of this year has.

This is my first post here and so please forgive my ignorance.

Wouldn't the plan be to release the eventual 30th Anniversary box set in DVD, Blu-Ray & HD DVD?

Steve Sansweet from LucasFilm has confirmed that there are not any plans for Blu-Ray or HD DVD release until the "format war" is over.

Thanks for your reply Duke.

This is the same reason I am not buying into either one of the formats until one of them bites the dust. I had a beta when the war of farmats was still on back in the 80s and I don't want to be on the losing end of another war again.

That would be the smart thing to do. I'm also holding off on both formats until the format war is over, especially since the AACS has been cracked somewhat.

I can appreciate both formats but DVD has barely been around ten years yet. It seems a waste to upgrade after so little time has passed, esp since DVD didn't *really* take off as a format until 2001 or so.