In 2027, Disney and, depending on how TheMandalorian and Grogu goes, movie fans will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars. To ring in 50 great years of arguing over what a parsec is, Disney is bringing 1977’s Star Wars to IMAX. However, it’s unclear which version of the film will screen, and both Disney and IMAX are playing coy about it. In August, Disney told Polygon that it was “not confirming the format of the film at this time.” More recently, in IMAX’s October investor presentation, the company also Force waved around the question, stating that Star Wars: A New Hope 50th Anniversary was coming to screens in 2027, but did not specify which one.
The state of Star Wars has been in flux since the Empire struck back. In 1981, Director George Lucas added the subtitle, Episode IV: A New Hope, to align with his first sequel for Star Wars‘ re-release, and in 1997, he overhauled the entire trilogy, adding digital effects, deleted scenes, and Greedo shooting first. The 1997 special edition has been the basis for all subsequent re-releases. Still, the pre-“Special Edition” version, which would be some form of the 1981 re-release cut, hasn’t been restored since the 1995 home video release, which Lucasfilm advertised as the “last time” those cuts would be available. However, the 1993 LaserDisc restorations appeared as bonus features on the 2006 DVD release, and then nothing.
Obviously, some would love to see a cleaned-up version of a pre-digital Jabba the Hutt reintroduced into circulation. Over the summer, the British Film Institute screened an IB Technicolor British release print of the film made for the initial 1977 run—a print so old it doesn’t even include the A New Hope subtitle. Though one critic for The Telegraph said the unaltered version “looks terrible,” others were happy to see Han shoot first again. Maybe, in 2027, we’ll be allowed to make up our minds about it.
