Q & As About 'Star Wars': Would audiences be interested if Disney-Lucasfilm remade Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI with modern film-making techniques?

© 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Would audiences be interested if Disney-Lucasfilm remade Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI with modern film-making techniques?

Judging from the reaction of many Star Wars fans to the changes that franchise creator and founder/retired CEO of Lucasfilm, George Lucas, made when he decided to improve 1970s-era special effects shots that he felt fell short of his vision with late 1990s-era CGI effects for the 20th Anniversary Special Editions, I’d say…”No.”
The Star Wars Trilogy is already one of the most “tinkered with” movie series in the history of the industry. Since 1977, Star Wars alone has undergone many adjustments, ranging from necessary fixes to its audio track, accidental deletion of scenes and re-insertion of said scenes, a 1981 title change from Star Wars to Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, a tweak that was first previewed in 1979 when Ballantine Books published Carol Titleman’s The Art of Star Wars and officially retconned into the movie itself for its Summer 1981 theatrical re-release.

I’m not going to get into a debate over whether Lucas should have limited the changes to a few cosmetic retouches here and there that don’t change how the characters behave (the infamous “Han Shot First” issue); suffice it to say that many fans are still unhappy with the Special Edition re-edits 22 years after Lucas said that they were the definitive version of the Original Trilogy.

Another reason why Lucasfilm and its corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, are not interested in remaking the Classic Trilogy is its status as a culturally-significant contribution to cinema.
I mean, seriously. Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy would probably rather be tossed into the Death Star’s trash compactor before greenlighting remakes of the franchise’s Crown Jewels, especially the first film (Star Wars). That movie was selected as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” film in 1989 for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry upon its creation.
So, no. Considering that there are millions of moviegoers who love the Original Trilogy 42 years after the premiere of Star Wars, I can assure you that audiences are not interested in such a remake.

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