{"id":170663,"date":"2025-12-06T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T07:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170663\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T07:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T07:00:10","slug":"star-wars-returns-to-theaters-in-february-of-2027-in-its-original-1977-theatrical-release-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170663\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars Returns to Theaters in February of 2027 in Its Original 1977 Theatrical Release Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year<\/a>, Disney announced it would bring the original Star Wars film, later dubbed Episode IV: A New Hope, back to theaters for the film’s 50th anniversary in 2027. But it looks like we’ll be seeing it a little earlier than we originally thought, on February 19, 2027.<\/p>\n

This comes from an official announcement on the Star Wars website<\/a>, which also revealed another piece of pretty big news. The version of A New Hope that will show in theaters in 2027 will be a “newly restored” version of the original 1977 theatrical release. This is likely the same version that was shown earlier this year in London at the Film on Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The original version of the film features a number of differences from the Special Edition, which at the behest of George Lucas has replaced the original in just about every possible medium for watching it since 1981. The differences are the origin of the “Han shot first” controversy, which is probably the most-discussed aspect of the differences, but there are a number of other changes of varying levels of subtlety throughout.<\/p>\n

Lucas has been firm over the years that the Special Edition is his true vision for the film, speaking to the Associated Press in 2004 about his feelings<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Special Edition, that\u2019s the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it\u2019s on VHS, if anybody wants it. I\u2019m not going to spend the \u2014 we\u2019re talking millions of dollars here \u2014 the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn\u2019t really exist anymore. It\u2019s like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I\u2019m sorry you saw a half-completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I\u2019m the one who has to take responsibility for it. I\u2019m the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they\u2019re going to throw rocks at me, they\u2019re going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear if this 2027 showing and the London festival showing are indicators of Lucas relaxing his stance a bit, or if everyone has just sufficiently bullied him into letting it exist alongside the Special Edition. Probably Disney’s ownership of Lucasfilm has something to do with it. Or, as he told People Magazine<\/a> in October of this year, perhaps he’s simply managed to let go. \u201cOf course I\u2019ve moved past it,” he said. “I mean, I\u2019ve got a life.” <\/p>\n

The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope \u2013 The Manga Preview Gallery\"Click<\/p>\n

We also don’t know how long Star Wars will stay in theaters. The original announcement<\/a> suggested it would debut on April 30, 2027, with the intent of it showing at least through May the 4th, or Star Wars Day. It’s possible they’ll keep it in theaters long enough to still celebrate May the 4th, or perhaps Disney has other, even splashier plans for the big 50th. We only have to wait just over a whole year to find out.<\/p>\n

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this year, Disney announced it would bring the original Star Wars film, later dubbed Episode IV: A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-170663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}