http://movieweb.com/star-wars-origin...-release-2017/
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If a new rumor is believed to be true, LucasFilm may be making a big announcement about the 40th anniversary soon, with plans apparently under way to release a new Blu-ray set with the theatrical versions of the original trilogy films
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This is amazing news if true. The original theatrical versions are some of the best films ever created and it is a tragedy they have not yet been made available on Blu-Ray. Although the 1997 versions are watchable they are inferior films for many reasons, most notably the extensive out of place CGI and of course Han shot first!
This is only just a rumour however and there are some things to be worked out first. For one Fox still owns the rights and Disney will need to work something out with them. Also previous comments from George Lucas stated the originals would never be released on Blu-Ray:
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There will only be one [version of the films]. And it won't be what I would call the "rough cut", it'll be the "final cut". The other one will be some sort of interesting artifact that people will look at and say, "There was an earlier draft of this." The same thing happens with plays and earlier drafts of books. In essence, films never get finished, they get abandoned. At some point, you're dragged off the picture kicking and screaming while somebody says, "Okay, it's done." That isn't really the way it should work. Occasionally, [you can] go back and get your cut of the video out there, which I did on both American Graffiti and THX-1138; that's the place where it will live forever. So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20-foot-by-40-foot screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's, to go back and reinvent a movie.
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Fingers crossed this is true. The original VHS trilogy is one of my most prized possessions and I would love to have that version in high definition.