Star Wars original cut to be screened this summer in London
The 1977 theatrical version of the film, in which Han Solo shot first and Jabba the Hutt was only mentioned by name, will be shown twice on the opening night of the British Film Institute's Film on Film festival on 12 June.
This version of the film, which launched a multibillion dollar franchise, has rarely been shown in public since Lucas produced special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy in the 1990s, complete with new CGI characters and other controversial revisions.
The prospect of seeing the 1977 cut on the big screen has become a holy grail for fans, especially among those who saw it in cinemas decades ago, with numerous fan-made edits, attempting to restore the film back to its original state, circulating online.
Anyone wanting to see the theatrical cut by legitimate means must choose between an out-of-print VHS release and a low-res DVD bonus feature from 2006. In 2004, Lucas told the Associated Press that he was 'sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it, but I want it to be the way I want it to be.'.
Perhaps his most maligned alteration to the film is the scene in which Harrison Ford's Han Solo originally shot the bounty hunter Greedo dead in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine. The 1997 special edition version was edited so that Greedo fires first – to give Solo more justification for acting in self-defence. But the scene has undergone further revisions with the two firing at nearly the same time, then finally at the exact same time.
Another unpopular change was the CGI addition of the giant slug-like Jabba the Hutt, who originally was not seen on screen until the final film in the original trilogy, 1983's Return of the Jedi. In the added sequence, based on a deleted clip featuring a human actor, the vile gangster yelps as Solo steps on his tail.
James Bell, senior curator of fiction, BFI National Archive and programme director, BFI Film on Film Festival, said: 'This original 1977 35mm British release print is preserved at the BFI National Archive, in its world class preservation conditions. The festival screening is a unique opportunity to present the film to audiences in exactly the same form as they would have watched it in 1977.'
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