Lucasfilm has put a halt to their plans to theatrically release all six Star Wars films visually remastered for 3D.
In a statement, the Disney subsidiary stated that it was cancelling the 3D releases of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith in order to “focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans.”
The 3D rerelease of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace hit theaters last February and the remaining two prequel films were scheduled for release this coming October and November. The Phantom Menace‘s $43 million box office was only a tenth of what the film pulled in when it was first released in 1999. I would not be surprised if that might have played a part in the decision. In fact, I guessed that something like this could happen back in June 2011 if the box office receipts weren’t up to snuff. (I also wasn’t thrilled that the conversions were being handled by the same production house that did the post-conversion for the Clash Of The Titans remake.)
Although the original Star Wars trilogy was covered in Disney’s original announcement, no release date had been announced for them.
It’s not known how much conversion work has already been done on Episode II and III, though I would suspect that it will be quietly completed, if only so Disney has the conversions ready for an eventual home video release if 3D television manages to take off.
I’m surprised – Australia was supposed to get the 3D versions of Episode II and Episode III this fall.
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