The theatrical version of Star Wars: A New Hope, released as just Star Wars back in 1977, is seemingly being restored in 4k by Disney for a future release, according to new leaks. This version of George Lucas’ sci-fi blockbuster hasn’t been officially released by Lucasfilm since 2006, and that was a crappy transfer from a Laserdisc.
Over the last few months, rumors and leaks have been circulating online about Disney working on a remastered and fully restored version of Star Wars. Then, recently, video clips surfaced of this not-yet-officially-announced 4K restoration of the theatrical version of Star Wars. Those clips were promptly deleted, but leaked screenshots are still floating around and show new, highly detailed scans of A New Hope, and also The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, implying the entire OG trilogy is being restored. And the best part? The leaked information claims that these restorations are being done properly, using original film negatives and with an effort to preserve grain and color grading. This doesn’t appear to be a quick 4K AI upscale like we’ve seen in recent years.
This is a big deal because the last time Lucasfilm officially released the original theatrical version of the films, without all of Lucas’ special edition tweaks and changes, was way back in 2006. The DVD versions of Star Wars released back then included the original theatrical cuts as a bonus feature. Sadly, these were poorly transferred copies from the Laserdisc versions of the Star Wars movies. And the transfers on Laserdisc weren’t great either.
And while fans have done incredible work restoring the original cuts of Star Wars via projects like 4K77, these efforts have always been limited by having to work with old film stock and not having access to the original negatives or higher-quality prints. So it’s very exciting that Lucasfilm and Disney are properly restoring the OG cuts of the original trilogy, as they alone have access to the best source material around and the resources to pull this off.
We already know that Disney plans to bring back A New Hope to theaters in 2027, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise. In the announcement of those plans, Disney didn’t specify which version would be shown. But it looks like it might actually be the long-awaited theatrical cut. If that’s the case, I’ll be there for sure. I also hope these versions get proper 4K UHD releases and are made available on Disney+.
Star Wars is one of the most influential films in history, and it deserves to be seen in its original form in the best quality possible. I’m happy that Disney, possibly looking to win back old fans, is finally doing this after decades of Lucas not caring. Now, let’s just hope this is all real and the company doesn’t fuck this up between now and release.
