Rumor: Original Star Wars Trilogy Re-Release Coming From Disney & Fox

If good friend to George Lucas John Landis’ words are anything to go by, Disney and Fox will be re-releasing the original movie versions of Star Wars, which means, yes, Han shot first.

As many Star Wars fans are aware of (and annoyed about), George Lucas re-mastered the original trilogy to enhance digital effects and change scenes.

The original version of the trilogy can only be found on old VHS tapes and laser disk, but that may change if Landis’ words hold true.

Empire Magazine tweeted out that Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Trading Places, Spies Like Us) stated Disney is going to finally re-release the original Star Wars trilogy.

At a Q&A tonight John Landis dropped that Disney are finally going to re-release the theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy.

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) September 19, 2015

Apparently George mentioned it when last they spoke. Somebody put Yub Nub on. Let the celebrations commence!

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) September 19, 2015

Now there seems to be some question regarding the truth to Landis’ comments as it’s known Fox Studios owns the distribution rights to the first 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope film; however, we can point to the fact that Landis is friends with Lucas as being evidence enough, and also the following tidibt.

In a report by the Wall Street Journal, it’s mentioned Disney and Fox have come to a deal with Tencent Holdings to release the six Star Wars movies online in China. Obviously this isn’t direct proof, but at the least it does show Star Wars is getting re-released (albeit not in its original form), and we can also beg the question if Disney does want an original re-release, why wouldn’t Fox hop on board as obviously they would benefit as well?

Disney aquired the rights to the five Star Wars films when it purchased LucasFilm for $4 billion back in 2012 from George Lucas. and has also recently licensed out their five Star Wars movies to Netflix in Latin America, with Fox not yet committing. Disney is also rumored to be releasing Star Wars in the U.S. on Netflix, but sources have stated Disney is withholding from doing so because the online and VOD versions have been lucarative.

In releasing Star Wars on Netflix for Latin America and China, the WSJ report mentions Disney is attempting to build brand recognition in preparation for Star Wars: The Force Awakens; it’s possible an original re-release some time down the road could be a part of that plan as well.