Ok, this has very little to do with the DaVinci Code... mostly because I don’t care about it... But also because everyone else is paying so much attention to it that it can’t possibly live up to all the hype.  Don’t misunderstand... I have nothing against Ron Howard, actually got to spend some fun times with him when I worked on “The Grinch”... He came in one morning and said “This weekend I went up to Skywalker Ranch and saw the first Star Wars Prequel”... When we asked him how it was, he said... “... Good.”  Which brings me to my topic.  The SECOND biggest conspiracy in entertainment news this week.

 

Next week will be the 29th Anniversary of Star Wars.  A couple of weeks ago, after much consternation and the slight chill in hell, George Lucas and his company announced that they would indeed release the ORIGINAL versions of the classic trilogy.  On first glance this might seem a wonderful thing.  It’s not.  Let’s look deeper.

 

If you notice in the release announcement, the Original versions are actually BONUS material on yet another release of the awful Special Editions.  This may seem odd... but there are reasons that I suspect it is being done this way.

 

ALL THESE STATEMENTS ARE PURE SPECULATION

 

First.  Lucasfilm supposedly made a deal back in 1996 with Twentieth Century-Fox that transferred ownership of the SPECIAL EDITIONS to Lucasfilm.  Previously Lucasfilm only had ownership of Empire and Jedi.  That means that when those are released in theaters and home video, Fox will get a distribution fee... but that’s it.  The rest of the money goes to LFL.  There is ALSO speculation that with this deal, the previous deals on the original Star Wars didn’t apply to the new Special Editions, and thus... people who were entitled to participation points in the original trilogy, didn’t NECESSARILY get them when the Special Editions were making money.  Obviously this probably wouldn’t apply to the actors or key creative personnel.  Some speculate that one person removed from this compensation list was Lucas’ ex wife, Marcia.  This would explain one reason why Lucas didn’t want the original films to be released again, and consequently, making more money.  If this is true, it means that the real reason for the disappearance of the original movies is retribution to his ex.

 

So... with this in mind...

 

Why does it matter that the original movies are Bonus Material?  

 

Bonus material is not considered part of the film release deal.  It is only connected to ADVERTISING of the main release.  In this case, the main release is the Special Edition Versions.  Thus, the Bonus material is considered “Value Added” material... and in an accounting sense is not actually “sold”... but is given FREE with the purchase of the main release.  

 

This means that Actor contracts are not enforced... and the actors and others don’t get compensation.  Implicit in contracts is the ability for the producers to use this material for free in advertising.  Bonus material is considered advertising for the main feature on the disc.  After all, how can you get compensation from something given away for free?  Here again, Lucas’ ex makes no money.

 

This also takes care of any legal “loopholes” that so called pirates have been quoting regarding the distribution of versions of the original trilogy on the net.  It was argued that since Lucas himself stated that the original trilogy would “Never be released” and “Doesn’t exist anymore”... that he would have shaky ground if he tried to enforce his copyright on the original trilogy.  Not that distribution of the original trilogy movies wouldn’t be technically illegal, but that there would be a tough time enforcing it.

 

This release closes that loophole.  Especially considering that the new OT release is supposedly the 1994 laserdisc master (which is the favored DVD bootleg version).  This way, the argument is, that the bootlegs existing are bootlegs of the laserdisc master, which would now be released on DVD... and a direct copyright violation.

 

This laserdisc master is also not 16x9, or enhanced for widescreen dvds.  Nor will it have a multichannel discrete soundtrack, though all three OT movies had discrete 6 track 70mm releases.  Why?  Why wouldn’t these releases be the best they can be?  Don’t they want these to sell???

 

Yes and No.

 

Releasing an obviously substandard master in this manner (though they can still be called THX, since the laserdisc masters were among the first to be made by this standard)

works in a business sense in several ways.

 

First and foremost, using an existing asset like the Laserdisc master doesn’t require much capital outlay.  It already exists.  It only needs to be compressed into DVD format.  Easy.  No new transfer to hi def... nothing.  No capital outlay.

 

Second, and this is more tricky... it’s a nose thumbing to the fans... they’re saying “sure... ok... we’ll give you the original films since you begged us for them...but we’ll give you them the way we want to.”  That way, if the films don’t perform as well as people think, they can attribute it, not to the substandard release, but to “See, people like the Special Editions more... the ones who wanted the originals were only a few very vocal freaks.”

 

If for some reason the releases work very well, and do well... then it doesn’t matter. The money won’t go into the books for the OT, it will go into the Special Edition column.  Since, remember these are another Special Edition release, with BONUS MATERIAL.  Again, the special Edition wins.

 

Well, at least this release will give a good version of the old opening crawl without “Episode IV” on it.  That’s a plus.