Despite Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker making us feel every minute of our age, it’s hard to believe the franchise will turn 50 in 2027. And Lucasfilm isn’t taking this milestone, nor its latest theatrical release, for granted: The studio confirmed Tuesday that both George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977) and Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter will blast onto screens next summer in 70mm IMAX. The engagements will roll out as follows: Star Wars opens on February 19 (the first time any version of the film has been presented in the format), while Starfighter, filmed with IMAX-certified cameras and converted to IMAX 70mm film prints, arrives on May 28, the same weekend Star Wars premiered fifty years ago.
According to the statement, “The newly restored version of the original movie, later renamed Star Wars: A New Hope, will be shown across a select number of IMAX 70mm film locations as well as playing in select theaters for a limited time.” The language in this announcement invites speculation that this will be an IMAX release of the original theatrical version and not the Special Edition, which should come as a relief to fans who feared Lucas’ CGI-laden 1997 version had all but killed the chance of ever seeing an official rerelease of the original—a small mercy for those who’d rather not watch Han Solo stomp on Jabba The Hutt’s tail (or see Greedo shoot first) for the umpteenth time.
Lucasfilm’s announcement follows remarks Levy made at August’s D23, where he said that Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, would hit theaters “the exact same weekend” as Star Wars. “We didn’t even plan it that way, but I can’t imagine a bigger dream come true,” he said after screening exclusive footage of the film with his star. While it’s not clear whether Star Wars‘ IMAX engagement will stretch all the way to the end of May next year, perhaps sustained interest in seeing the original film in the 70mm IMAX format will encourage theaters to keep the reels spinning—it’s a strategy that’s worked out for The Odyssey, after all.
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