George Lucas says the Star Wars movies have “never looked or sounded better” than they do on Blu-ray.
But it will be another year before all six live-action movies in the complete Star Wars Saga will be released worldwide on Blu-ray Disc as a box set in fall 2011, it was announced today by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando.
No pricing or other details were disclosed about the long-awaited release of the enormously popular franchise except that they will feature “the highest possible picture and audio presentation,” (presumably not in 3D, though there has been testing on the conversion of Star Wars from 2D to 3D), “along with extensive special features – including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.”
“Blu-ray is the absolute best way to experience Star Wars at home – in pristine high definition,” Lucas said.
Lucas was joined on stage by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher at the official Lucasfilm convention, Star Wars Celebration V, which bgean Thursday and ends tomorrow (Sunday). A post at starwars.com provided a few more details about the bonus features:
Star Wars fans were treated to a glimpse of bonus material, in the form of a long-lost deleted scene from Return of the Jedi (click here for YouTube clip of scene from SWCV today). The scene has long been talked about online — a sequence that depicts Luke Skywalker assembling his new, green-bladed lightsaber prior to infiltrating Jabba the Hutt’s palace. After completing the Jedi weapon, Luke stashes it in R2-D2’s dome. What makes the Jedi deleted clip so remarkable is that it made it all the way to postproduction before it was cut, so it is a rare example of a cut scene with completed visual effects and music.
Actor Mark Hamill came out to describe the scene, remarking that once again his original introduction in a Star Wars film was cut out (his Anchorhead introduction was, of course, cut from A New Hope). Luke’s intro is purposely played as ominous, with his face cowled in shadows and his intentions unclear.”I had the black cloak, the glove, and I thought, wow, this time around I get to be the antagonist. Little did I know I was predicting the path of the prequels,” said Hamill, noting the similarities to Luke in this scene and Anakin Skywalker’s appearance.
Take two seconds to mark poll at right side of this page to indicate which 3 movies you are most anxious to see on Blu-ray now that Star Wars is finally coming to Blu-ray.
— By Scott Hettrick