Star Wars 3D - We may just be getting the Phantom Menace

Roar

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/939800/the_phantom_menace_may_be_the_only_star_wars_film_to_get_3d_rerelease.html

If nobody goes to go and see the big screen re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, then you ain’t getting the rest of them, it seems…

Published on Jun 14, 2011

You probably know the plan by now. Next February, LucasFilm will be releasing Episode I of the Star Wars franchise, The Phantom Menace, back into cinemas, complete with a 3D conversion. The plan, then, is to release the rest of the films in 3D, too, at a rate of one a year.

This was all announced before the tide really started to turn against 3D, though, and we're now at the stage where more choose to see big blockbusters in 2D than 3D.

There's a bigger problem here, though. The Phantom Menace is a film few people were campaigning to see again on the big screen, and that, combined with growing 3D apathy, has led many to wonder why it's being re-released at all. Cash is the answer, of course, but people are still wondering.

However, producer Rick McCallum has thrown a spanner in the works for those hoping to save their cash a few years until A New Hope comes around. For, talking to Czech Position, he confirmed that the plan may be abandoned if The Phantom Menace doesn't take off.

"One a year," he told the site, "if they work. If they don't, then there will be just one." And by that, he means just one film getting the 3D re-release.

Vote with your wallets, or otherwise, one way or another next February, friends...

To be honest I'd much rather watch the Plinkett Review of TPM in 3D than have to sit through the actual movie again, but at the same time I would like to see the original triology on the big screen, albeit in in 3flippinD.

Or is this just a scare tactic from Lucasfilm to get us to fork out to see the prequels AGAIN?

bonerm

Big Star Wars fan here and I certainly won't be going to this re-release. In fact I hope the venture falls flat on it's face.

If they had any sense they'd have released Ep4. At least that way people would have gone to see it guarenteed. Nobody wants to sit in a theatre watching The Phantom Shíte again.

Mr. Manager

bonerm wrote: »

Big Star Wars fan here and I certainly won't be going to this re-release. In fact I hope the venture falls flat on it's face.

If they had any sense they'd have released Ep4. At least that way people would have gone to see it guarenteed. Nobody wants to sit in a theatre watching The Phantom Shíte again.

+1 on the Star Wars fan, also, I liked The Phantom Menace but would much rather see the originals make an appearance in the cinemas.

Sad Professor

Makes sense. They are hardly going to go to trouble and expense of converting all 6 films only to have them all flop. The only mistake here is releasing TPM first. But it would probably look better in 3D than the original Star Wars.

krudler

I was only going to see Ep4 because I want to see the trench run in 3D, other than that cant be arsed, not sitting through the prequels again

TommyTippee

How many times are people willing to pay to see these godawful films again?

It's pure nostalgia and nothing else....the original film is muck.

KingEnda

3D only works when the format is used from the planning stage
The Hoblet will be the business

Re doing Star wars is just a money scam

Corkfeen

TommyTippee wrote: »

How many times are people willing to pay to see these godawful films again?

It's pure nostalgia and nothing else....the original film is muck.

I hope your not saying that the original Star Wars films are muck because that would be blasphemy.
Anyway can't see them not cashing in on the original films. If The Phantom Menace gets an awful reception I could see them trialing the original trilogy and if the first got on well. They might simply ignore the prequels. But this may be fools hope.

bonerm

The Star Wars movies are being released on BD this September for the first time with all six movies bundled together.

But that said they're also releasing seperate PT and OT sets at the same time. I think this indicates the powers that be fully realise that there is large a segment out there who do not want to ever revisit the PT.

Dman001

I'm guessing the films are only going to be re-released in the cinemas in 3D? I've never seen the franchise so this seems like a good time to catch up and see what I'm missing, but can't stand 3D films.

I see The Phantom Menace is being released first which is the first film of the Prequel Trilogy I believe. Will I understand the whole concept of the films if I watch this one first, or is it best to watch the original trilogy first?

Sad Professor

Watch the original trilogy and don't bother with the prequels would be my advice.

jaykhunter

bonerm wrote: »

But that said they're also releasing seperate PT and OT sets at the same time.

I'm absolutely shocked. I thought Lucas would 'make you' buy every film. Maybe in the split versions he'll include 1-2 extra deleted scenes etc to make hardcore SW fans by all three version

bonerm

Dman001 wrote: »

I see The Phantom Menace is being released first which is the first film of the Prequel Trilogy I believe. Will I understand the whole concept of the films if I watch this one first, or is it best to watch the original trilogy first?

It's a debate in itself. Most fans would tell you to watch the movies in the order they were released. It makes more sense that way (ie there's certain highs and lows in the OT that will be ruined if you watch the prequels first).

However, I think if I was a first time viewer I'd nearly like to watch them in story order (ie prequels first). That way you could get all the crap out of the way first. In fact you might actually enjoy the prequels for what they are rather than just spend two hours at a time comparing them to the OT wondering why they'e not as good as the movies you saw when you were a kid.

Hmmm, overall I think you should watch the OT first. Don't wait til next Feb either. Maybe you should pick up the BD set when they come out and then watch them with the lights off on a big tv screen at home.

jaykhunter

See if you're introducing someone new to the Star Wars saga, if you show 'em Penace first, they may never come back!

Hmmm........I've never watched them in Episode order so i'll probably do that. Plus the Prequels will look much better in HD....hopefully

johnny_ultimate

Only good thing about 3D conversions is that they get older films back in the cinema - was great to see Toy Story again, and may never have gotten to see Battle Royale in the cinema otherwise!

But both those examples were utterly pointless 3D conversions, and would have just preferred a straight up re-release. Star Wars will be no different - just more crappy post-production 3D. One can only (a new) hope it will be a failure and Star Wars are just re-released - again - in standard form. I'm not a huge fan of the series, but it deserves respect. Further Lucas tinkerings that cost millions of dollars that could be better spent elsewhere - like making Star Wars Kinect look anything other than an almighty piece of ****, for example.

Nervous Wreck

Roar wrote: »

Star Wars 3D - We may just be getting the Phantom Menace

Thank goodness for small mercies.

Ridley

That Yoda puppet being replaced with the AotC/RotS CGI (like on the Empire of Dreams documentary) could be a good thing, I guess.

And if it's helping fund the live-action TV series that's "like 'The Godfather'", which should bring a fresh perspective to the franchise.

Galvasean

I prefer when Yoda is a puppet...

Ridley

Galvasean wrote: »

I prefer when Yoda is a puppet...

If it was the original trilogy puppet, I would agree. I'm not suggesting that the CGI version should get into ESB and RotJ, but I don't think the TPM puppet looks much like a younger version of the one everyone likes.

bonerm

There's more problems with PT Yoda than just whether it's a puppet or CG. He is the archtypical example of Star Wars movies being ruined by the creators being given free reign to do whatever they want. His dialogue is cringeworthy (just compare the amount 'backward speak' in the PT to the OT's) and his physical performance is a joke. When people rave on about how cool those lightsabre fights were in Ep2 and 3 I'm always left thinking "you're a moron".

Lucas and to a large degree Rob Coleman (clearly a frustrated actor) destroyed that character with their tinkering. Even Frank Oz seemed to have been frozen out of the performance. By the end Oz was literally just "phoning it in". If you look at the Ep3 extras he's merely just reading the lines in a remote studio over a videoconferencing line. Compare it to the making of ESB where Oz pretty much created and developed the character in a practical surrounding.

Sad sad stuff.

Roar

Ridley wrote: »

If it was the original trilogy puppet, I would agree. I'm not suggesting that the CGI version should get into ESB and RotJ, but I don't think the TPM puppet looks much like a younger version of the one everyone likes.

this always bothered me.. yoda said he was 800 years old in return of the jedi.. surely he shouldn't have looked too much younger (or indeed, younger at all) in the prequels?

mikhail

Roar wrote: »

this always bothered me.. yoda said he was 800 years old in return of the jedi.. surely he shouldn't have looked too much younger (or indeed, younger at all) in the prequels?

He's dying when Luke meets him, so it's also conceivable that he'd look stronger and more vital in the prequels for that reason.

jaykhunter

But even at a pinch; Yoda shouldn't be so vivacious (lol) in the prequels; considering he's in a bad way in the classic trilogy. But sure, who cares lol; when he whipped out the lightsabre in II the crowd went wild, and that's all that matters really!

Galvasean

jaykhunter wrote: »

But even at a pinch; Yoda shouldn't be so vivacious (lol) in the prequels; considering he's in a bad way in the classic trilogy. But sure, who cares lol; when he whipped out the lightsabre in II the crowd went wild, and that's all that matters really!

There wasn't a dry eye in the house when that happened in the screen I was at. unintentional comedy moment of the year.

jaykhunter

u must've seen it with a load of diehards; i heard cheers but not derisive laughter/jeers.

Do any film(s) get dissected as much as the Star Wars films?

Sad Professor

Yoda fighting in the prequels bothered me enormously. Makes me wonder whether Lucas ever really understood the character. My favourite moment in the original trilogy is when Luke throws away his lightsaber and refuses to fight anymore. It was the culmination of everything Yoda had thought him. I love the fact that it's really only in that moment that Luke becomes a Jedi. As a child I always found the message of this scene to be rather profound. There's no point in destroying evil if you end up becoming it in the process.

faceman

Very surprised by the Bank Of Lucas at this move. Surely they know that people would much rather go with the OT than the crapquels. I guess not.

JAR JAR FTW!!!

Overheal

It would be a 3D horror film:

Meesa Jar Jar Binks! o/

AAAAAAAAGGGH!