Star Wars’ original theatrical cut returns to theaters in 2027

Agreed.

“Disney is bringing a “newly restored version” of the original, 1977 theatrical cut of Star Warsback to theaters on February 19th, 2027”

I’m betting this, at a minimum, means that color grading is fucked and brought into the modern trend of “let’s make everything blue, green, and orange” as well as “let’s not bother rescanning the negatives at a proper UHD resolution, let’s just upscale with AI so the image looks sharper but overall loses grain and fine detail” (though this second point doesn’t matter as much because they’re not preparing for home release)

Example of Blu-ray releases compared to scan of the 35mm version (which can vary wildly in quality but typically is done by someone who generally gives a shit)

Alien, the “sci fi” color regrading was a travesty and genuinely made the picture quality worse. Contrast is worse and fine definition is lost. This is one of those things where when people say “piracy can never be justified” you can spit in their dumb face. Archival is important and the studios insist on preventing archival of a properly graded version of the movie. The only way to get a 1080 or 2160p scan of this grading is piracy. And frankly the bluray is still probably better for the average person who doesn’t give a shit and just wants the sharpest image

Terminator 2 just for comparison bc it was an excellent bluray with a native 4k transfer and solid regrading. Just to point out it’s not always worse and they do take care for some films. It depends on the director and crew. But this is a cash in and Lucas gave up on Star Wars ages ago

Edit: another one: the scan of the original Toy Story, which looks very desaturated by today’s standards but if you saw it in theaters you may remember it looking more like this:

The bluray also, like many others, overly brightens scenes and loses contrast:

35mm scan, scene where a toy is exposed by a flashlight in darkness.

Same scene on bluray, contrast so high the reveal is ruined

This version essentially doesn’t exist anymore (legally). It was re-rendered after release for home video release then rendered once more for HD release, which was later upscaled. They’ve never rendered a proper 4k release (though an upscaled uhd bluray exists which amplifies distortion and imperfection seen in the original render)

4 comments

Han shoots first?
I suspect you’d still be better off watching the Despecialized Edition.
- Agreed.
  “Disney is bringing a “newly restored version” of the original, 1977 theatrical cut of Star Warsback to theaters on February 19th, 2027”
  I’m betting this, at a minimum, means that color grading is fucked and brought into the modern trend of “let’s make everything blue, green, and orange” as well as “let’s not bother rescanning the negatives at a proper UHD resolution, let’s just upscale with AI so the image looks sharper but overall loses grain and fine detail” (though this second point doesn’t matter as much because they’re not preparing for home release)
  Example of Blu-ray releases compared to scan of the 35mm version (which can vary wildly in quality but typically is done by someone who generally gives a shit)
  Alien, the “sci fi” color regrading was a travesty and genuinely made the picture quality worse. Contrast is worse and fine definition is lost. This is one of those things where when people say “piracy can never be justified” you can spit in their dumb face. Archival is important and the studios insist on preventing archival of a properly graded version of the movie. The only way to get a 1080 or 2160p scan of this grading is piracy. And frankly the bluray is still probably better for the average person who doesn’t give a shit and just wants the sharpest image
  
  Terminator 2 just for comparison bc it was an excellent bluray with a native 4k transfer and solid regrading. Just to point out it’s not always worse and they do take care for some films. It depends on the director and crew. But this is a cash in and Lucas gave up on Star Wars ages ago
  Edit: another one: the scan of the original Toy Story, which looks very desaturated by today’s standards but if you saw it in theaters you may remember it looking more like this:
  
  The bluray also, like many others, overly brightens scenes and loses contrast:
  
  35mm scan, scene where a toy is exposed by a flashlight in darkness.
  Same scene on bluray, contrast so high the reveal is ruined
  This version essentially doesn’t exist anymore (legally). It was re-rendered after release for home video release then rendered once more for HD release, which was later upscaled. They’ve never rendered a proper 4k release (though an upscaled uhd bluray exists which amplifies distortion and imperfection seen in the original render)