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Posted: |
Apr 19, 2015 - 8:13 AM
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By: |
Joe E.
(Member)
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As I understand it, when the original movie first came out in 1977, Fox owned it outright, including the distribution rights. It did not own the characters, story elements, etc.; Lucasfilm did (as I understand it, the deal was structured as though Star Wars were a pre-existing property, like a novel or comic book or whatever, and Fox were making a movie adaptation which they would own, but Lucas(film) still owned the source material, giving them rights to the sequels and merchandise and such). At some point around the 20th anniversary special edition release in 1997, Lucasfilm and Fox worked out a deal finally giving Lucasfilm ownership of the original movie along with the others (hence the copyright at the end credits now being assigned to Lucasfilm), but Fox retained distribution rights, and as far as I can tell, it still has distribution rights to the movie in perpetuity*.
Fox and Lucasfilm also did not originally have a deal in place for prequels / sequels after the original trilogy, so when it came time to make the prequels, Lucas(film) briefly talked to other studios about releasing them, but ultimately made a distribution deal with Fox, and thus Fox wound up being the exclusive distributors of live-action, big-screen Star Wars (I make the distinction because various animated and/or television SW-related productions were distributed by others).
Apparently, though, when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, they not only automatically gained all distribution rights to future films (like this year's upcoming Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens), they also somehow later took over distribution rights to all the others, except the original (the one originally released in 1977 as simply "Star Wars", that got "Episode IV: A New Hope" added in 1981), to which Fox retains distribution rights forever*, as noted earlier. The six movies were finally just released as legal downloads for the first time just a few days ago, and as I understand it, the download versions of Episodes I-III, V, and VI now all open not with the Fox logo, but the Disney one! But the original movie still has the Fox logo and fanfare.
(Similarly, Lucasfilm also owns the Indiana Jones movies, and the franchise in general - contrary to assumptions occasionally made here, it always has - but Paramount held the distribution rights to the series, including any and all sequels, even though Lucasfilm owned the actual movies. Not long after Disney bought Lucasfilm, it worked out a deal with Paramount to get the distribution rights to future Indy movies, but Paramount retains distribution rights to the first four, so those four will always open with the mountain, but any future ones will open with the castle.)
*Well, for as long as the movie is under copyright, but then since we're talking about huge studios that are part of huge corporations, I think we can expect the copyrights to last forever 
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Posted: |
Apr 19, 2015 - 12:19 PM
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By: |
Joe E.
(Member)
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Really sad if we ever get the original theatrical trilogy on BluRay it won't have the Fox Fanfare. I guess Star Wars (A New Hope) will though right?
That seems to be the case, yes. I mean, I'm not privy to the inner workings of giant corporations, so take anything I say with a certain amount of salt, but that's my take.
Whether Disney ever sees fit to release the original versions of any of these is anyone's guess. On the one hand, it's entirely possible the Lucasfilm acquisition terms included a stipulation by Lucas that Disney not make the originals available again. Or perhaps not (not being a lawyer, I don't know whether such a stipulation is even feasible or legally enforceable), but since Lucasfilm is now headed by Kathleen Kennedy, a longtime personal friend who produced the Indiana Jones movies with him, she might choose not to release the original versions out of respect and personal loyalty to him even if she's legally free to do so. Or maybe Disney / LFL have the rights, but not the actual physical film materials (Disney got Lucasfilm as a company and all its intellectual property, but not all the physical archive material, like all the props and costumes and miniatures and such, and I think Lucas also kept some of the real estate associated with Lucasfilm, like Skywalker Ranch; I'm not sure about that. But anyway, it's possible all the actual film elements stayed with Lucas, if they weren't indeed destroyed some time ago as has been alleged), so Disney might not even posses the necessary materials for releasing the original version(s) even if they legally have the rights.
But all that said, Disney has a lot of resources, and they're surely aware there's a huge fan demand for pre-SE versions of the movies, so if there's any chance they can release them I'm sure they'll look into it.
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Posted: |
Apr 19, 2015 - 1:30 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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Really sad if we ever get the original theatrical trilogy on BluRay it won't have the Fox Fanfare. I guess Star Wars (A New Hope) will though right?
That seems to be the case, yes. I mean, I'm not privy to the inner workings of giant corporations, so take anything I say with a certain amount of salt, but that's my take.
Whether Disney ever sees fit to release the original versions of any of these is anyone's guess. On the one hand, it's entirely possible the Lucasfilm acquisition terms included a stipulation by Lucas that Disney not make the originals available again. Or perhaps not (not being a lawyer, I don't know whether such a stipulation is even feasible or legally enforceable), but since Lucasfilm is now headed by Kathleen Kennedy, a longtime personal friend who produced the Indiana Jones movies with him, she might choose not to release the original versions out of respect and personal loyalty to him even if she's legally free to do so. Or maybe Disney / LFL have the rights, but not the actual physical film materials (Disney got Lucasfilm as a company and all its intellectual property, but not all the physical archive material, like all the props and costumes and miniatures and such, and I think Lucas also kept some of the real estate associated with Lucasfilm, like Skywalker Ranch; I'm not sure about that. But anyway, it's possible all the actual film elements stayed with Lucas, if they weren't indeed destroyed some time ago as has been alleged), so Disney might not even posses the necessary materials for releasing the original version(s) even if they legally have the rights.
But all that said, Disney has a lot of resources, and they're surely aware there's a huge fan demand for pre-SE versions of the movies, so if there's any chance they can release them I'm sure they'll look into it.
That's interesting, didn't know what if anything Lucas kept of his empire. But it makes sense. He can sell all or any parts of the company he owns. (Just like he kept ILM but sold off Pixar)
And yes stipulations can be made. When Disney purchased "The Family Channel" from Pat Robertson it was stipulated Disney must continue broadcasting his "700 Club" on the channel.
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