Remaining Star Wars Prequels to be Re-Released in 3D

Star Wars prequels Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are to be re-released in 3D in the autumn of 2013.

Following the 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace in February 2012, production company Lucasfilm have officially pushed the re-release dates of both remaining Star Wars prequels Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith forward to the autumn of 2013. The original plan was to release one film a year across 2012-14; the decision to release the final two films within a month of each other next year has prompted us to question, ‘what’s the rush?’

To say that the Star Wars prequels were badly received by the majority of film-goers upon their original release would certainly be an understatement. Fans of the series, many of whom had seen and loved the original trilogy in cinemas in the seventies and eighties, were largely appalled by the efforts of writer/director George Lucas to resurrect his epic sci-fi saga. Therefore, it wasn’t particularly surprising when a 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace earlier this year produced rather underwhelming figures at the box office; it appears that movie-goers just weren’t that interested in watching the film on the big screen again, even with an added third dimension.

After the poor performance of The Phantom Menace, it was thought by some that Lucasfilm might not even bother to re-release Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Although they are apparently going ahead, the decision to rush through the remaining films looks almost as if the production company has decided to grit its teeth and try to get through it all as quickly as possible.

While this may be true, it also throws up another interesting possibility. It may be that Lucasfilm is rushing through the prequels in order to get within striking distance of the original trilogy as fast as possible. Many of us would jump at the chance to see old favourites A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on the big screen once more, and with the prequels safely out of the way by the end of next year, the chance of seeing some old school Star Wars action return to the cinema as early as 2014 increases by a wide margin.

Meanwhile, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are slated to be released in 2013 on September 20th and October 11th respectively.