When was empire strikes back re release

Not so long ago in a galaxy not so far away, what is widely considered to be the best "Star Wars" sequel was released, introducing audiences to the Mandalorian bounty hunter named Boba Fett, a scoundrel-turned-Rebel ally named Lando Calrissian and -- spoiler alert -- the revelation that Darth Vader is actually the father of Luke Skywalker.

The "Star Wars" sequel, first released in , was the top-grossing re-release last weekend, finishing fourth behind a trifecta of first-run films "Tenet," "The New Mutants" and "Unhinged. That includes "Star Wars" creator George Lucas' reissue of the original trilogy in Nor love. Except on an IMAX screen. On December 18, this list will have one more entry. How many zeroes and commas do you think will be in the final total? The film ends on a EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate at the Rebel fleet's rendezvous point, where Luke under the care of B again which includes the implantation of a prosthetic hand.

Lando and Chewbacca begin their parts of a most dangerous mission Lando promises to Leia they'll bring her back the man she loves. Luke, Leia, and the droids look on as the Falcon departs for unknown territories. Lucas hired screenwriter Leigh Brackett to write a screenplay based on his story treatment.

Brackett finished the first draft on February 23, , but she died soon afterwards. According to Lucas, he did not like the direction in which her screenplay went. Without a writer to fix it, he was forced to write the second draft himself throughout March. One of the most notable changes was making Vader Luke's father. After some additional input, the shooting script was finally formed. Minor changes to dialogues came from Kershner and actors throughout the filming and were mostly approved by Lucas.

He said he based Yoda's face on his own face and added some of Albert Einstein's facial features to it. Filming lasted from March 5 until September 24 , During the production, the film went seriously over-budget and over-schedule.

To secure the additional money required to complete the film, Lucas was forced to approach 20th Century Fox to negotiate a deal. The studio received more profit from the film while in exchange it guaranteed the loan. Despite this Lucas managed to retain the sequel and merchandising rights. The special event was dubbed "Empire Day," a playful take on the British Commonwealth Day holiday known as Empire Day prior to , where legions of stormtroopers were unleashed across the city. The film went on to official general release in North America and the U.

The first wave of release included 70 mm prints of the film, [2] before a wider release in June which were mostly 35 mm prints. A novelization of the film was written by Donald F. Glut and was published on April 12, The film was adapted into comics form by Marvel Comics as part of their ongoing Star Wars series. Released in six parts issues 39 to 44 , the adaptation was scripted by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Al Williamson. Years later, a manga adaptation illustrated by Toshiki Kudo was released in Japan in and in the United States in Kenner launched a toyline based on the film.

A radio drama adaptation was written by Brian Daley and produced for broadcast on National Public Radio in Along with the other two films of his original trilogy, George Lucas issued a Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back in , making a number of changes and additions , including replacing a piece of music from the closing scene.

On September 21 , the three original movies were finally released on DVD. There have been a few further minor changes to the film on this release—such as sound effects and improvements to the visual quality of the film.

One highly noticeable change involving visually quality improvement is that the odd pink glow was removed from the Cloud City entrance scene, where the Cloud Car was replaced with a Tibanna refinery in the theatrical version. Originally, Palpatine was portrayed by a woman wearing a mask with a chimpanzee's eyes superimposed over her own, with an elder male's voice dubbed in later.

Clive Revill , who performed Palpatine's voice, and Marjorie Eaton , who portrayed Palpatine physically, were both replaced with Ian McDiarmid , who would eventually be cast for the same role in Return of the Jedi and all three prequels. However, Revill's name still appeared in the movie's credits as the voice actor for Palpatine.

McDiarmid re-recorded the dialogue with James Earl Jones and they both added more lines for this scene. Another addition was Temuera Morrison providing the voice for Boba Fett , further establishing the fact that Boba is indeed a clone of Jango Fett. In addition to multiple home video re-releases, the film underwent numerous theatrical re-releases.

The trilogy was re-released on separate two-disc Limited Edition DVD sets from September 12 , to December 31 , ; the original versions of the films were added as bonus material. Controversy surrounded the release because the unaltered versions were from the non- anamorphic Laserdisc masters, and were not retransferred with modern video standards. Fox was also to retain theatrical, nontheatrical, and home video rights worldwide for the franchise's five subsequent films, which Lucasfilm produced and financed independently, through May , at which time ownership was to transfer to Disney.

This complex relationship between Fox and Disney, particularly in regards to Fox's perpetual rights to Episode IV, was to create an obstacle for any future boxed set comprising all nine films. The film's 40th Anniversary was celebrated with official posters by Matt Ferguson. The films were also each given a new poster, with Episode V's poster having an overall light blue color scheme.

The Empire Strikes Back initially received mixed reviews. Many critics had problems with the story, but at the same time said the film was a technical achievement. Critics also had various reactions to changes introduced in re-releases of this film. According to the actors, Irvin Kershner would encourage group discussions and improvisations from the actors, and would do many takes of each scene, in contrast to Lucas, who would always stick to the script, usually do about three takes, and offer little direction to the actors.

The film is the highest grossing sequel of all time when adjusted for inflation. General Veers is about to destroy the shield generators when Hobbie , a Rebel pilot, flies his damaged snowspeeder toward Veers's walker. One of Veers's men says, "Look out!

He's going to The Expanded Universe shows both of them alive after the Battle of Hoth. This scene was likely cut because Veers succeeds in destroying the shield generators, and the filmmakers would have found it difficult to alter the scene so it takes place after Veers destroys them.

According to the fourth version of the script for The Empire Strikes Back , there is some extra dialogue concerning the wampas and a scene involving R2 getting chased down a hallway by one while the Rebels blast it. One of the Rebels calls in the report saying, "We got it, sir, but there may be more," talking to General Rieekan. Alarms are buzzing and Leia inquires if the creature has been examined yet. The general tells her they are working on it and then they are alerted to a "visitor"—the Imperial probot.

Since it is revealed to be metallic, Leia remarks, "Then it couldn't be one of those creatures"—referring to the wampas, of course. In the scene where Han Solo is about to go after Luke Skywalker on a tauntaun , a dead tauntaun is seen on the floor being examined by B, the medical droid. On the wall is what appears to be some blood, presumably from the dead animal. In the fourth draft of the script, one of the rebels says to his deck officer, " I can't imagine, sir.

Their necks are broken. The wampas have already broken into the base at this point and have obviously attacked some tauntauns. They break in once around the time of Han and Leia's argument in the hallway see the picture below from the comic adaptation and again when C-3PO and R2-D2 are walking towards the hangar and commenting about the temperature in Leia's chamber. Later, when Han is wondering where Luke is, he comes across the Rebels examining the dead tauntaun.

They are wondering what happened to this creature as they have no idea yet that wampas have infiltrated the base. It can be noted however, that this scenario is present in the instant action mode of Star Wars: Battlefront II. The pursuing snowtroopers enter the wampa pen.

Out of all the cut scenes featuring wampas, this one is the most well-known, perhaps because this scene has left the most evidence behind. Sometime during the Hoth scenes, it's discovered that R2-D2's beeping noises attract the wampas—just like in the famous "Pied Piper" fairy tale. R2-D2 leads the wampas into a large room and the Rebels then place a red and yellow warning sign on the door so Rebels will not wander inside unaware and get eaten.

This scene with R2-D2 was allegedly filmed, but never made it into the final cut. Later on, while on their way to the medical center to see Luke, R2-D2 and C-3PO pass by the wampa pen and discuss the creatures briefly. On the way out, they pass a door with a familiar yellow sign with red lettering.

The Dolby Stereo mix was featured on all home video releases. There were also some minor changes made to a few 's pan and scanned TV broadcasts such as squeezing in the second Tusken Raider while looking through Luke's macrobinoculars.

Playing the mix through a home Dolby Pro-logic decoder authentically recreates the original 4-channel surround experience. This mix did not contain the line uttered by C-3PO "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations.

A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave. An advertisement before the films started explained how widescreen showed more of the picture. They were re-released in with different artwork and released a third time as THX versions in The VHS reissue in , which was the last available release of the Pre-Special Edition trilogy prior to the DVD release, utilized THX digital remastering to enhance the picture and sound quality on all three films.

Letterbox versions of the original theatrical releases of the original three films have also been released. The initial North American widescreen release of A New Hope suffered from a shrinking aspect ratio. The master that was used was the Japanese subtitled LaserDisc, in which the image appeared higher on the screen to allow for subtitles. For the North American release, it was shifted down, and a black bar was put up to cover the unused parts.

However, as the film progresses, the image creeps up on the screen moving underneath the top bar, causing the image to become increasingly wider. By the time the film reaches the Battle of Yavin scenes, the image has widened from 2. This problem was fixed in the reissue of the disc. C-3PO's line about the tractor beam can be heard on this LaserDisc and the three original effects shots can be seen. In , the Star Wars Trilogy: The Definitive Collection box set was released based on the interpositives struck in This version featured the original trilogy on nine CAV discs, widescreen transfers, THX remastering, audio commentary tracks, assorted bonus features, a copy of the hardcover book George Lucas: The Creative Impulse , and for A New Hope , a new surround-sound audio mix.

This mix, digitally remastered by Ben Burtt and Gary Summers, was supposedly a mix of the best elements of all three original mixes. Additionally, the transfer was somewhat sub-par, with scan lines often disappearing and colors being incorrectly switched.

Initial versions of this box set were missing approximately ten seconds from The Empire Strikes Back. Fox Video offered a replacement disc, and this mistake was corrected in later pressings. The final LaserDisc edition of the original trilogy was released in , sourced from the masters. Many of Lucas' changes for the Special Editions were cosmetic, generally adding special effects which weren't originally possible. Other changes, however, are considered to have affected plot or character development.

These changes, such as the change referred to by fans as " Han shot first, " have proven to be controversial. The "Han shot first" situation can be generally described as this: in the original release of Episode IV, the character Han Solo shoots and kills a bounty hunter named Greedo , after Greedo threatens to kill him in order to collect a bounty which had been placed on Solo's head by Jabba the Hutt.

In the Special Edition of the film, however, Greedo shoots first at close range. Only after he misses does Solo return fire. George Lucas has been quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying that this version of the scene was meant to be the original, as in the original storyboards Greedo fires first at Han Solo. Greedo shoots first and misses in the special edition of A New Hope.

A revised version of the Sarlacc with a beak and tentacles, more closely resembling its original concept art. In , in addition to an extensive and comprehensive hi-definition digital cleanup and restoration job by Lowry Digital, the original trilogy films were changed once again for their release on DVD. In these new versions of the films, a few changes which had been made for the Special Editions were removed.

Even more changes were made to the films, however. With this release, Lucasfilm created a new high-definition master of the films, which will be used in future releases as well.

Its sound mix was a combination of the first SE mix and the original mono mix. One of the most notable of these new changes includes new footage shot during the filming of Revenge of the Sith of Ian McDiarmid portraying Palpatine, which has been inserted into The Empire Strikes Back , replacing the original performance voiced by actor Clive Revill and portrayed by Marjorie Eaton , wearing a specially made mask recorded for the film. Another notable and quite controversial change was to a scene at the end of Episode VI, when the spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi , Yoda , and Anakin Skywalker look upon the Rebels' celebration.

In , the Special Editions were again released on DVD; however, this time they were repackaged and sold as a three-disc set that did not include the bonus materials disc.

This was done to provide a more affordable trilogy set.