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A 4K version of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ might be released soon

Published Jan 2nd, 2017 9:19PM EST
Star Wars: A New Hope 4K Release

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Star Wars: A New Hope

is the movie that started it all, and this summer fans will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Disney and Lucasfilm may have a special treat in store for Star Wars fans, a new 4K version of A New Hope that could be shown in select theaters. In fact, Rogue One director Gareth Edwards revealed in an interview that he has already seen a 4K cut of the movie, which apparently existed while he was preparing for the first Star Wars spinoff movie.

“On day one, we were in Lucasfilm in San Francisco with Industrial Light and Magic and John Knoll, our supervisor, he said that they’ve got a brand new 4K restoration print of A New Hope – it had literally just been finished,” Edwards said in an interview with Little White Lies while explaining how he prepared for the work ahead in Rogue One.

“He suggested we sit and watch it. Obviously, I was up for that. Me, the writer, lots of the story people and John all sat down, we all had our little notepads, we were all ready for this. I’ll add that I’ve seen A New Hope hundreds of times,” the director said. “So I was sat there, ready to take notes and really delve under the surface of the film. You have the Fox fanfare, then scrolling text with ‘A long time ago…’, and then the main music begins. Next thing we knew it had ended, and we looked around to one another and just thought – shit, we didn’t take any notes. You can’t watch it without getting carried away. It’s really hard to get into an analytical filmmaker headspace with this film. It just turns you into a child.”

As exciting as watching the original movie in 4K may sound, Edwards did not say anything about the film actually being prepared for a summer 2017 limited release. That’s just speculation, for the time being.

Even if Disney doesn’t end up releasing a 4K version of A New Hope this summer, 2017 is still going to be a very exciting year for the Force. Episode VIII is set to debut this December, which means we’re going to see plenty of trailers in the months ahead.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.