Whether you are one of the few clinging to the hopes that STAR WARS: EPISODE VII will not be in 3D, this latest news may be one of the final nails in that coffin. Last year when Disney acquired Lucasfilm for four billion dollars, they cancelled the impending release of both ATTACK OF THE CLONES and REVENGE OF THE SITH after THE PHANTOM MENACE underwhelmed at the box office. It seemed like those would never see the theatrical light of day, but it appears that may be changing.
JediNews reports that a fan in the Netherlands found a listing for both films to hit theaters on December 31, 2014. Now, I know from my days working in retail that having a release date at the end of a future year like that typically is a placeholder when no other date is known is common practice. However, this sounds like a new listing which could mean a 2014 release is pending. Why would Disney do this?
Well, it makes logical sense since the post-conversion is completed on the two remaining prequels and you have to assume they want all of the new films to use the upcharge format as well. J.J. Abrams was against doing the conversion for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS but he may not be able to fight it from happening with STAR WARS: EPISODE VII. Disney has way too much money invested in Lucasfilm to not milk it for every penny. It sucks, but it is a business reality.
While the 3D re-releases may or may not happen, I would expect that they would hit screens sometime in 2014 and possibly early 2015 to lead up to the release of STAR WARS: EPISODE VII.
J.J. Abrams spoke to MTV about the new release date for his foray into George Lucas‘ universe and he had this to say about it.
“I will say that it is an infinitely better situation now than when they were saying they wanted it in the summer. Before I even came onto the project, before I was brought on — they were talking about 2015 and they made this announcement very early on. Which I understand, and I understand why they’d want that — but it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the reality of where anyone was creatively. So I think that it’s a hugely important thing that that come first, and a release date is great, but you have to release something great. So to me, the new release date is a huge improvement.”
That still doesn’t sound like an ideal scenario for Abrams, but I doubt he is going to argue his way out of this directing gig. Hopefully it all works out as we have been theorizing, but I doubt any of us will know for sure until the first production photos and trailers are released.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII hits screens on December 18, 2015.