George Lucas needs a few more million, as it was revealed today (via THR) he will be re-releasing the entire Star Wars saga in chronological order and converted to 3D starting in early 2012.
The Phantom Menace will kick things off and we will have one release a year around the same time, so we can all effectively ignore this message until 2015. The reason for the wait is due to Lucas waiting for more 3D screens to be added in theaters. Lynne Hale, a spokeswoman for LucasFilm told USA Today we may see a different release pattern:
“The process is really extensive, and we want to make sure each of the films gets the attention it needs, so we’re not ready to talk about the release patterns of the other films.”
He can thank James Cameron as the Avatar director convinced him that his series was ready for 3D conversion. Each conversion will take over a year, so it will be interested to see if it will be an improvement over quick jobs like The Last Airbender and Clash of the Titans. With John Knoll, visual effects supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic and co-creator Adobe Photoshop overseeing, I hope we get excellent results.
This will also be timed with 3D home releases at the end of the theatrical run. It all seems like a quick money grab. I’d be content with just Blu-ray releases of the earlier films, but it looks like it will be stretched out beyond comprehension.
Are you ready to wait 8 years to experience 3-D Ewoks?