The wait to see Star Wars: A New Hope in theaters for its fiftieth anniversary just got a little shorter. Previously scheduled for April 30, 2027, the film is now scheduled to return to theaters on February 19, 2027. That will put it on the big screen three months before the latest all-new Star Wars adventure, Starfighter, hits theaters on May 28.

When Has ‘Star Wars’ Been Re-Released in Theaters Before?

After its block-busting debut in theaters in 1977, Star Wars returned to theaters in 1981, satisfying fans clamoring for more after the cliffhanger sequel The Empire Strikes Back. Notably, director-writer George Lucas made the first of many changes to the film with the 1981 re-release: originally just titled Star Wars, the opening crawl was altered to re-title the film Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. It returned to theaters in the winter of 1977 for its 20th anniversary, along with Empire Strikes Back andReturn of the Jedi; dubbing the films the Special Editions, Lucas updated the film’s special effects, added in a previously cut scene with Jabba the Hutt, and infamously altered a scene of a shootout between Han Solo and alien bounty hunter Greedo. There were plans to re-release the full sequel and prequel trilogies in theaters in 3D; however, when the 3D The Phantom Menace disappointed at the box office, the other films didn’t make it back to theaters.

With the fiftieth anniversary looming and the franchise fully in the hands of Disney, fans have one burning question about the impending re-release: which version of the film will make it to theaters? Will it be the 1997 Special Edition, one of the later revisions released on DVD or streaming, or — as rumor has it — will it be the unaltered 1977 original? Only time will tell.

Star Wars: A New Hope will be re-released in theaters for its 50th anniversary on February 19, 2027.

via Collider