Lucasfilm have cancelled plans to finish releasing the existing Star Wars films in 3-D.Deadline reports, “the studio now owned by Disney wants to focus only on ‘rebooting the franchise’ with three new Star Wars films.”Rebooting is, of course, a relative term given that J.J. Abrams will be directing a film that continues the existing story, at least according to all the information so far released. He could, of course, squirt the Star Wars universe through some kind of massive wormhole and recast the original trilogy. Seems as though somebody has done that with another big sci-fi franchise recently, but I can’t put my finger on it…!Lucasfilm has responded to the Deadline story with a statement of its own:UPDATE: “Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall’s scheduled release of Star Wars Episodes II and III in 3D. Given the recent development that we are moving forward with a new Star Wars trilogy, we will now focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: Episode VII in order to ensure the best possible experience for our fans. We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date.”In September 2010, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, who distributed the first six Star Wars films, announced that all six would be converted to 3D. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released in February to a disappointing box office performance. Episode II: Attack Of The Clones was to hit theaters on September 20th, 2013, and Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith was set for October 11, 2013. No dates had yet been set for the original trilogy where, arguably, most of the concept’s appeal was.
