Originally published December 23, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
During an interview with Little White Lies, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards has revealed that Lucasfilm has a completed a shiny new 4K restoration of George Lucas’ first foray to the galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: Epsiode IV – A New Hope.
“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,” said Edwards.
Although Disney now control Star Wars, 20th Century Fox retains the distribution rights A New Hope in perpetuity (the studio also holds the rights to Episodes I, II, III, V and VI through to 2020). And, with 2017 marking the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, it would seem the perfect opportunity for a re-release of the original movie in 4K.
But of course the real question is, which version will we be getting – the original theatrical cut, or George Lucas’ Special Edition?
