Disney might be releasing the unaltered Star Wars trilogy on Blu-ray, but probably isn’t

Against the wishes of the mysterious old man who originally brought it into the world, the original, unaltered Star Wars trilogy might actually be coming to Blu-ray. It’s not necessarily the way the movies were meant to be seen—Lucas claims the remastered versions are how he always intended them—but it’s still the way most people would prefer to see them. We’re talking Han shooting first, no elaborate Sy Snootles dance number, no Hayden Christensen ghost, and no beak on the Sarlacc. Presumably, it will also restore things that were cut from later editions of the movies, like the scene where a Rebel pilot talks to Luke about his father, Boba Fett’s original voice, the title line guy, and all of the times Luke and Leia grossly make out before discovering that they’re related.

This comes from ComicBook.com, which has it on good authority from “two independent reliable sources” that Disney plans to release the new old trilogy at some point before Episode VII is in theaters. But—and this is a but so large it could easily be confused for a moon, but it’s no moon, it’s a space station—there are some huge red flags on this story. For one, the report comes from a site called ComicBook.com, and while it may have some prime URL real estate with a name like that, it’s not exactly the most well-known source.

Also, and this is an even bigger issue, Disney doesn’t own the distribution rights to the Original Trilogy. That means it can’t release them without working out some kind of deal with Fox, which still controls all of the other Star Wars movies. A deal like that certainly isn’t impossible, but it’s very unlikely. Fox doesn’t have very much to gain from re-releasing the old Star Wars movies, especially since it would just help promote Disney’s sequel. So, as always, we’re going to remain cautiously optimistic about this, but it would be wise to take this rumor with a significant portion of salt.

[h/t Nerd Reactor]