Original STAR WARS Is Coming to IMAX, But Which Version?

George Lucas’ original Star Wars film, now officially known as A New Hope, is coming back to theaters for its 50th anniversary in 2027. Lucasfilm made the announcement earlier this year. But now we know that it’s actually coming to IMAX screens too. Via a report in Polygon, we learned that the IMAX company made mention of a release in 2027 in an investor call, along with films like Avengers: Doomsday and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. But this begs two questions—how can they reformat A New Hope for IMAX, and is this the original 1977 release version, or the 1997 Special Editions?

While we desperately want the original version of Star Wars available once again, we think the likely answer is that the IMAX version is the Special Edition from 1997 or the subsequent Blu-ray update. That version has updated special effects, which will likely look much better on a huge IMAX screen. Besides, for the past 30 years, these are the only versions that younger fans even know. The real question here is, how will this movie, shot 50 years ago in standard widescreen, look in IMAX? Hopefully, Lucasfilm doesn’t use AI to alter the aspect ratio and “add” space to the film where none existed before. But fans should brace themselves for the possibility.

However, we do think Lucasfilm is currently doing restoration work on the original 1977 version of A New Hope. A report from Kotaku revealed that 4K screenshots of the original versions surfaced recently, then were promptly deleted. We could see the original trilogy getting a 4K release on Disney+, or on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2027. For a long time, George Lucas demanded that these versions stay in the vault. But in recent interviews, he suggested he’s let go of Star Wars as no longer something he owns. (How Jedi of him). Which means Disney can do whatever it wants to. Even if the original trilogy is a limited-time release, fans will jump for joy upon seeing Han shoot first again.