You knew it was coming, and now with the announcement made by Lucasfilm Ltd. and 20th Century Fox, you now know when Episode I is going to strike (pun intended): February 10, 2012.
The official press release out of San Francisco states:
“Star Wars is perfectly suited to the immersive 3D theatrical experience, and Episode I delivers some of the Saga’s most stunning and spectacular sequences – from the Naboo invasion to the Tatooine Podraces to the climactic lightsaber battle between Darth Maul and the Jedi. Supervised by Industrial Light & Magic, the meticulous conversion is being done with utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.”
So there you have it. You knew the Star Wars saga would be re-released (yet again) in your lifetime and the 3-D format is just the cover Lucas and co. require for justification. On the one hand, if any genre is suited for 3D, it’s sci-fi, with its penchant for exotic locales and a lot of debris flying in various directions. On the other, the films are being converted into the 3-D format, not shot (obviously), which hasn’t yielded the most positive results for past films (here’s looking at you, Clash of the Titans ...).
What say you, PA readers? Will Industrial Light & Magic be “meticulous” enough to warrant a return trip to a galaxy far, far away in 3D? Or does the thought of a 3-D Jar Jar Binks scare the crap out of you as much as the 2-D one did?