It's so much more than money. Lucas has been actively supressing and slandering the original versions for years now. He claims the restoration is too expensive. He's a multiBILLIONaire! Even the BEST full film restorations only cost in the 10's of millions, which we all know he'd make back in sales.... Not to mention Robert Harris offered his services to restore the originals for FREE. Lucas claims that the original elements are too far gone to be saved. Hmm, 20th Century Fox did a full restoration (with THEIR money, not Lucas's) of Star Wars just prior to making the '97 special editions (these were the elements USED for the SEs). Where did those negatives go? I guarantee they haven't rotted yet. And even if the original negatives are gone, while they might be the best starting point, they are NOT the only elements that could be used for a restoration. If it really came down to it, there are archival prints of all the films in various locations including the BFI.
Heck, a privately owned British technicolor 70mm print of Star Wars was recently screened as the final closing show at The Senator Theater in Blatimore. It looks AMAZING based on the pictures people took.
http://friendsofthesenatortheatre.wordp ... n-july-21/
pics:
http://petergaultney.smugmug.com/Movies ... 2138_wuqj9
There's no GOOD excuse for Lucas not to restore the originals. It's nothing more that his pride or ego stopping it.
Edit, here's one example of the 70mm print at the Senator, click the link above labeled "pics" for more.
