Holy Crap, The Original Star Wars Is Returning To Cinemas

Star Wars marks its 50th anniversary next year, and the long-unseen original version of the film is finally seeing the light of day.

Well, frankly, we never thought it’d happen. And certainly ol’ George Lucas was deadset against the very notion, the beardy legend having put a lot of time and effort in over the years to absolutely bury the original release cut of 1977’s Star Wars. But George, doesn’t own Star Wars anymore – Disney does, for good or ill, having bought Lucasfilm lock, stock, and barrel from its founder. And on the “Good” side of the ledger we have the breaking news that Lucasfilm will finally rerelease the original Star Wars in theatres to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary.

But don’t listen to me; listen to Lucasfilm, who made the announcement today on their official site.

“On February 19, 2027, we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars with a re-release of the 1977 original back for a limited time, in theaters everywhere,” the statement reads.

“Part of Lucasfilm’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebration, a newly restored version of the classic Star Wars (1977) theatrical release — later renamed Star Wars: A New Hope — will play in theaters for a limited time.”

As all good Star Wars geeks know, the subtitle “A New Hope” was added to the title for the 1981 rerelease following The Empire Strikes Back, and has been there ever since.

Now, a theatrical run for Star Wars on its 50th anniversary is hardly a shocking revelation – in fact, it was first reported back in August. But which version would we be getting? That’s new information. The entire original trilogy has been tinkered with repeatedly over the years, most notably when the heavily reworked Special Editions were released in 1997 for the 20th anniversary. And those have more or less been the canonical versions ever since, although a few tweaks have been made here and there (the Han vs Greedo scene is the obvious example).

The newly restored original cut was screened once at the British Film Institute in July of this year, but this will be the first time general audiences will have the chance to see this version in the cinema since it was last rereleased in 1979.

But while we’re waiting, check out the original Star Wars trailer, which hails from a time when they really had no idea how to market this thing…