'A New Hope' Is Coming To IMAX In 2027

Star Wars

Oct 30

The next theatrical release of a Star Wars film after The Mandalorian and Grogu won’t be Starfighter, but the re-release of the film that started it all: To celebrate the fifty anniversary of the original film, A New Hope will return to the big screens around the unofficial Star Wars day, May 4, in 2027. And it won’t be just the big screens, but also the very BIG screens.

During a recent investors’ call, IMAX revealed its rough schedule through the end of 2027, and besides big new releases, like both upcoming Avengers films, or Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the lineup also includes A New Hope.

This leaves the question of which version of Episode IV will be released for the anniversary. Back in August, Disney said that it was "not confirming the format of the film at this time."

Chances are that the film fans will get to see in roughly one and a half years will be the Special Edition that came out to celebrate the 20th anniversary, as George Lucas has always stated that this is the only official version of the film.

But Lucas is no longer the head of Lucasfilm, and earlier this year, a print of the original Star Wars film, without the updated special effects and the new scenes added for the Special Edition, was screened at the British Film Institute in London.

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Lucasfilm seemingly has an IMAX version of A New Hope sitting on the shelves for some time now, as back in 2016, Rogue One director Gareth Edwards said that he was invited to a screening: "It had literally just been finished. [Production supervisor John Knoll] suggested we sit and watch it. Obviously, I was up for that."

Still, Lucasfilm and ILM could still be tempted to tinker with this ten more than a decade old IMAX version for the re-release some more, maybe letting Han shoot first again, or remove or at least improve the rather crude-looking Jabba the Hutt that was included in the 1997 version.

Anyway, no matter what version of the film Lucasfilm is going to release, having the very first Star Wars movie back in cinemas will surely be exiting and the successful re-release of Revenge of the Sith earlier this year showed that there is still a big interest for “vintage Star Wars”.

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