The original 1977 Star Wars is going back to cinemas on February 19, 2027, and this time it will run in IMAX 70mm. Lucasfilm confirmed the restored re-release on November 12, alongside a new making-of documentary called The Hero Awakens that will stream on Disney+ on May 4, Star Wars Day.
The film will play on thousands of screens worldwide in both digital and film formats: IMAX 70mm, Digital IMAX, 4DX and D-BOX. Each showing opens with a new celebratory logo set to a freshly orchestrated John Williams score, and a new poster by artist Matt Ferguson nods to the 1977 artwork.
“The original version,” says Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm co-president Lynwen Brennan framed it as a piece of film history. “It is incredibly special to mark the 50th anniversary by returning the original version of Star Wars to theaters so audiences can experience this part of film history on the big screen,” she said.
The announcement calls the print a restored version of the original film but does not spell out whether any of the later digital changes have been removed. That detail matters to fans, because the movie has been reissued several times since 1977, and the 1997 Special Edition added new scenes, effects and dialogue. Until Lucasfilm says which cut is being shown, treat “original version” as Lucasfilm’s wording rather than a confirmed edit.
The Hero Awakens documentary
The new documentary comes from director R.J. Cutler. It tells the story of how Star Wars was made, using archival footage and audio recorded during and around the 1977 production. Lucasfilm is producing it with Cutler, This Machine, which is part of Sony Pictures Television, and Kennedy Marshall. It will be available only on Disney+.
Fifty years of Star Wars in cinemas, in dates
- May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens in just 32 theaters in the US.
- July 21, 1978: a summer expansion to 1,744 theaters sets a US weekend record of $10.2 million.
- 1979, 1981 and 1982: three more theatrical runs, with the 1981 reissue adding the subtitle Episode IV – A New Hope.
- 1997: the Special Edition becomes the highest-grossing reissue ever at $138.3 million in the US and Canada.
- February 19, 2027: the restored film returns, including IMAX 70mm.
The 2027 run lands about three months before the true anniversary date of May 25, which gives the film a long theatrical window before the documentary arrives on May 4.
The rest of the anniversary year
The re-release anchors a year of events. Cosm will show a dome version of the film from March 2027 in select US locations. Star Wars in Concert: The Skywalker Saga, hosted by C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels, plays the Hollywood Bowl on the first weekend of April, the venue of the first official Star Wars concert in November 1977. Star Wars Celebration, already sold out, runs April 1 to 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and the new film Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, opens May 28, also in IMAX 70mm at select sites.
For more on the people behind the saga, read Badiyaa’s look at George Lucas’s Presidio campus in San Francisco and Adam Driver on his shelved Star Wars film.
Tickets for February 19 have not yet gone on sale; Lucasfilm says more 50th anniversary announcements begin in January.
Further reading
Image: DiscoA340, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
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