StarWars.com has confirmed that the 3-D releases of Episodes II and III have been “postponed.” The entire statement is:
Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall’s scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date.
While fans saw some of the scenes from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 3D at Celebration VI, so far no work on converting the original trilogy to 3D had been announced. Will the focus on the sequel trilogy mean that plans for their 3D release are also “postponed” or do they factor into the hype for the sequels?
The story was first broken by Nikki Finke at Deadline.
I’d have a hard time getting worked up about this one. Sure, the scenes from AOTC at Celebration were neat, but just as a curiosity. I certainly would have liked to see the Original Trilogy in 3D next year, but perhaps Lucasfilm being cautious about flooding the market – and with a new movie in the pipeline, there’ll be more than enough press and interest in the franchise to go around.
Or, in other words: Congratulations, Spike TV! You enjoy the rights to those movies as long as Lucasfilm (and/or 20th Century Fox?) is contractually obligated to let you have them.
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13 responses so far ↓
1 Andrew Liptak // Jan 28, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I’d be very surprised if this were the case: Two 3D films in 2013 could have meant that we’d see the entire OT in 3D in 2014, nice publicity for the new films to be released in 2015.
That being said, The Phantom Menace 3D didn’t do so hot, and that can cut both ways. I guess we’ll see this fall.
2 Stooge // Jan 28, 2013 at 4:24 pm
I aint a big fan of 3D but this is a bummer.
3 Greg // Jan 28, 2013 at 4:53 pm
Disappointing to hear. I was looking forward to taking my kid to see these (seeing as how he was too young when Episode III came out and not yet born when Episode II premiered).
4 Aaron // Jan 28, 2013 at 5:00 pm
I’ m not too surprised. The 3D release would benefit Fox not Disney whereas the sequel hype is already creating a renewed interest in the first six films. Which means Disney would be subsidizing Fox, and why should they want to do that? My guess: They’ ll use the sequels to obtain all remaining distributing rights from Fox, offering them a 3D release in between the two sequel trilogies or something like that and using sequel earnings to buy off Fox. Everybody wins, the end.
5 Andrew Liptak // Jan 28, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Well, color me surprised.
6 Dunc // Jan 28, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Those are really good points/theories, Aaron.
7 jawajames // Jan 28, 2013 at 5:22 pm
I’m with Stooge – I’m not a big 3D fan, but getting to see Star Wars in the theaters is always a treat.
8 Jason Ward // Jan 28, 2013 at 5:45 pm
I am bummed. TPM made 100 million, it didn’t do poorly unless they spent too much on marketing.
But I do think less Star Wars in theaters will wet the appetite for Episode VII even more. I also don’t think we need them so badly now that we are getting a few Star Wars movies every decade.
That said, I was looking forward to see all six movies in 3D before I was a 100 year old.
9 Sean // Jan 28, 2013 at 7:38 pm
I went and watched Phantom Menace and fell asleep. I love Episode I, but I’m so familiar with it that seeing it on the big screen just wasn’t thrilling anymore. The only thing that would have sold it would have been a really nice, loud soundtrack, but has anyone noticed how low the sound in theaters is these days? All this to say, I’m not sad about the delay.
10 Greg // Jan 28, 2013 at 8:27 pm
You know what else I just noticed? In addition to the 3D rereleases being postponed and *The Clone Wars* being MIA, the Facebook page for *Detours* hasn’t been updated since November 14. Would love to know what’s happening with that.
11 LosDosMos // Jan 28, 2013 at 9:24 pm
I’m bummed about this. I went to see TPM with my co-worker and her SW-mad 12-year-old grandson, and we had a blast. I was really looking forward to seeing the rest of the PT on the big screen with him.
12 It’s time to get over the Star Wars prequels // Feb 27, 2013 at 12:28 pm
[...] are what they are: Accept it. They’re done. They might not all get released in 3D, but they’re not going to go away, either. No one is going to force you to watch them, or buy [...]
13 Reports: Are The Clone Wars over for good? // Mar 10, 2013 at 11:14 pm
[...] from the acquisition. The 3D rereleases of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were ‘postponed’ in January. Also in the “no news is bad news” department, Star Wars Detours [...]
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