'Star Wars' in 3D in 2012
If you are annoyed by either 3-D movies or the Star Wars prequels, prepare to cringe. If you are annoyed by both, just walk away because this will only end in heartache, maybe rage. That's right, George Lucas plans to re-release the Star Wars saga in 3-D.
The Hollywood Reporter cites sources who say Lucas wants to convert the original films to 3-D , an increasingly common practice, and release them one-by-one starting in 2012.
Apparently, Lucas has wanted to do this for some time, but decided to wait until there were enough 3-D capable theater screens to support a major release. The recent glut of 3-D movies has made that possible. Sources say that "Avatar" in particular convinced Lucas that it was time for Star Wars to be in 3-D . In addition, many manufacturers are making 3-D TVs for home theaters, making it possible for Lucas to sell the 3-D Star Wars movies again after the theater release.
It takes over a year to do a full 3-D conversion. Episode 1, "The Phantom Menace," would be released first in 2012, and then each consecutive episode would be released a year after the previous episode. The release of following episodes would depend on the box office performance of Episode 1, though.
Given the poor reception of "The Phantom Menace" and general consumer backlash against hiked 3-D movie prices, these may not be the blockbuster hits he's looking for.
