‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ Officially Set For Debut IMAX Release!!

For the first time ever, the biggest science fiction movie ever is coming to the biggest possible screen. Star Wars: A New Hope, the movie that kicked the entire phenomenon off in 1977, is getting an IMAX re-release just in time for its 50th anniversary.

Star Wars was a phenomenon unlike any other when it first hit theaters on May 25, 1977. George Lucas‘ tale of droids, aliens, and the mystical energy field known as the Force captivated audiences, and broke an untold number of box office records. It made Lucas a billionaire, and reshaped blockbuster filmmaking for the next half-century and beyond. It has also grown from a single film to over a dozen theatrical films and counting, not to mention an innumerable amount of comic books, novels, TV series, and action figures.

Now, for the first time in many years, it will be seen on the big screen in the way audiences first saw it nearly 50 years ago. The recently restored original print of Star Wars, before it received its subtitle and episode number, will screen at a select number of IMAX theaters equipped with 70mm film projectors. IMAX is certainly having a moment right now, as filmgoers were sent into a frenzy for Christopher Nolan‘s adaptation of The Odyssey; it was filmed entirely in IMAX, a first for a major studio feature-length film. Meanwhile, other IMAX theaters will also see Star Wars return to theaters, although it is currently unclear which cut of the film they will receive.

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

Star Wars has a long and storied history of returning to theaters. It first came back in 1981, after the release of The Empire Strikes Back; notably, this was when Lucas inserted the Episode IV: A New Hope subtitle into the opening crawl, as it had solely been known as Star Wars up to that point. Lucas wasn’t finished tinkering just yet; for its 20th anniversary, Star Wars and its two sequels returned to cinemas in Special Editions, with remastered sound, special effects, and new scenes; Star Wars featured new CG shots of the final Death Star battle, more creatures (including a CG Jabba the Hutt) in Mos Eisley, and, controversially, the bounty hunter Greedo shooting first in his confrontation with Han Solo. Another theatrical re-release was planned in 2012, this time in 3D, but the box office disappointment of the Phantom Menace 3D release quashed those plans.