The original Star Wars – now known as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope – is flying back into theaters in 2027. The film that kicked off one of the most successful franchises in film history will once again grace the big screen on April 30, 2027.
The film arrives in time to celebrate Star Wars Day – May the fourth as in “May the Force be with you” – and almost a month before the film’s official anniversary on its release date on May 25.
The Shawn Levy-directed Star Wars: Starfighter spinoff film starring Ryan Gosling is set for release a month later on May 28, 2027. It will be going in front of cameras later this year. Star Wars will be returning to the big screen for the first time since 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker with The Mandalorian And Grogu, a continuation of the popular Mandalorian Disney+ series, arriving in theaters on May 22, 2026.
This announcement does raise the eternal question of whether this will be the film as it originally appeared in theaters in 1977 or the modified “Special Edition,” which was first released in theaters in 1997 and has been the only officially available version ever since. (You can read our complete breakdown of why the Special Edition does a disservice to both the film and film history here.)
Lucas has often stated that the Special Edition versions of the original trilogy were his preferred iterations of the films, keeping the initial theatrically released versions of the film out of circulation. But fans have often stated a desire for home video copies of the original trilogy as it first appeared, with the popularity of fan-produced bootleg restorations of the original films speaking to the interest.
This past June, the British Film Institute screened an original Technicolor dye-transfer release print it had in its vault which had not seen the light of a projector bulb since 1977. This is the first known official public screening of Star Wars as it was seen originally in decades. Needless to say, the screening was sold out. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was on hand, stating “I’m not even sure there’s another one quite like it. To be able to experience this exactly how it was in 1977 is really special.”
Does this official imprimatur for the BFI screening presage something more for the original theatrical editions of the first Star Wars trilogy? Hopefully.
