Take Those Glasses Off: No More Star Wars 3D Releases

It’s not you, Star Wars 3D rereleases. It’s just that the Star Wars franchise really needs to focus on its career right now, and it’s not sure that it’ll be able to give you the attention that you, Star Wars 3D rereleases, really deserve. Disney? No, no… Star Wars and Disney are just friends!

…Okay that’s enough of that. Am I the only person who’s a little disappointed that there aren’t going to be any more 3D Star Wars releases?

Deadline reported last night that under Lucasfilm’s new management, the company will discontinue its plan to bring all six Star Wars films back to theaters in 3D.

This surprising decision follows the underwhelming box office performance ofEpisode I: The Phantom Menace re-released in 3D in February 2012. It debuted to only $23M domestically but maybe even more importantly hardcore fans felt it was yet another craven cash grab by George Lucas.

The reason given to Deadline for the change was that Lucasfilm wants to focus entirely on “rebooting” the franchise with its new movies now, not rehashing the old stuff in shiny new 3D.

And yeah, I’m a little bit disappointed. Not for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the two movies in the prequel trilogy that had yet to make their re-debut. But for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. I’m not even a huge fan of 3D, really, which I enjoy as much as anybody can enjoy wearing two pairs of glasses for an afternoon. But what I do enjoy is watching the kind of movie that screams “I WAS MADE FOR THE BIG SCREEN” on a big screen with fabulous sound. Opportunities to do that with classic films are few and far between, and one of the reasons I’m very much looking forward to Jurassic Park returning to theaters this summer even though it is in 3D is because although I was alive in 1993, I never saw it theaters. The last time I saw Star Wars on the big screen, I was in the 6th grade.

Of course, I wasn’t at all willing to shell out a single cent to see the first three movies that Lucasfilm had decided to remaster in 3D and push to theaters, but rather to patiently wait until something worth watching happened along. I can understand that that wasn’t particularly ideal for them. Someday I’ll build that home theater …or make friends with somebody with a big home theater …or who owns a theater. Maybe I’ll just cut out the middleperson and marry a multiplex. I didn’t want kids anyway.

(via Deadline.)