Star Wars not slated for Blu-ray--yet
- — 15 May, 2007 14:40
I admit it: I tingle at the prospect of seeing lightsabers clash and the Death Star explode in high-definition. Contrary to recent musings on the Web, though, Vader, R2-D2, Yoda, and the rest of the classic Star Wars gang aren't coming soon to a Blu-ray Disc player near you.
The musings stem from this listing on Amazon.com. The page is not an actual product listing; rather, it's a placeholder page for customers to sign up for an email alert when the item listed--the Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) on Blu-ray Disc--becomes available.
Unfortunately, according to John Singh, spokesperson for Lucasfilm Ltd., "Lucasfilm Ltd. has no plans to release any of the Star Wars movies on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Listings on Amazon.com or any other Web site are purely speculative and erroneous."
Twentieth Century Fox, Lucasfilm's distribution partner for the Star Wars films, is a staunch Blu-ray proponent. Fox's own content is exclusive to Blu-ray Disc.
Amazon.com also has a speculative listing for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on HD DVD. New Line Cinema hasn't discussed its plans for Lord of the Rings , beyond hinting at CES that the trilogy is in the works. New Line's parent company is Time Warner, also parent company of Warner Brothers. Warner supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Amazon.com declined to comment on how the shopping site generates such pages (perhaps, they do so based on search inquiries from users?). Also unclear is why Amazon.com's sign-up pages for both Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings already have user reviews posted--for products that don't yet exist.
For me, if either of these films came out in high-def, I might hasten my shift to an all-high-def universe at home. Without them, well, in the meantime, I'm waiting--impatiently--for 1080p TV prices to drop. What about you? What films would propel you to buy a high-def player, today?
