The BFI Film on Film Festival took place from June 12th through the 15th in London, and one of its undeniable highlights was a screening of the original theatrical cut of Star Wars: A New Hope. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was on hand to introduce the film, which opened the festival, as well as assuage any audience members in case they feared they were attending an “illegal” screening. Kennedy addressed both the controversy and confusion internally at Lucasfilm regarding the original theatrical version of George Lucas’ 1977 masterpiece, and commented on the rarity of the print.
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With filmmakers increasingly relying on digital technology to make movies and television, the BFI Film on Film Festival celebrates the actual film itself that the media is made on. Every single selection in the festival, A New Hope included, is projected from a print, rather than a digital drive that most theaters and distributors use nowadays. According to Kennedy, audience members had the “remarkable” opportunity to see what she verified as the only print of the 1977 film. Kennedy told attendees that “I’m not even sure there’s another one quite like it.”
Kathleen Kennedy Addresses the “Folklore” Surrounding the Star Wars Theatrical Cut
Although Kennedy has been at the helm of Lucasfilm for over a decade, she divulged that even internally there was debate and confusion over what was the true, original theatrical cut of A New Hope. “There was endless conversation about where everything was and what was, in fact, the first print.” she confessed. It’s been nearly 30 years since this version of Star Wars was accessible to the public, having only been made available in recent years via limited edition home media. Unsurprisingly, the restriction has become a point of contention for fans yearning for the version of the Star Wars they first knew and loved, before Lucas made a slew of changes to the films with the special editions.
Kennedy explained, “There’s so much tinkering that’s going on over the years, and things that George decided, I’m going to change this, I’m going to try that out over there, and then everybody kind of lost track of what it was.” While it’s certainly within a filmmaker’s right to make changes to their works, with a film trilogy as universally loved and known as the original Star Wars films, it’s also to be expected that fans will have strong feelings over which version they prefer.
In March 2025, the theatrical cut was briefly available to stream on the Cinema Box app on Roku. While the BFI screening of the original A New Hope may signal that Disney and Lucasfilm are considering making the theatrical cuts of the films more widely available, it’s unclear when or if that will happen. For now, it seems that those in the audience at the BFI Star Wars screening should revel in the fact they viewed likely the only print in existence of the original version of the film.
The original Star Wars trilogy is available to stream now on Disney+.
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Image Courtesy of Pixar -
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
