Fans can argue day and night about Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy but there’s no denying she pulled an awesome move earlier this week. As previously reported, the British Film Institute had been advertising that it would be screening a very rare print of George Lucas’ Star Wars from its original theatrical run. It’s the version of the film you can basically never see anymore, at least not officially, so Kennedy showed up at the event to change that.
“I’m here to make sure you don’t think this is an illegal screening,” Kennedy said at the event, according to The Independent. As most of us know, in the nearly 50 years since the release of Star Wars, Lucas spent lots of time tinkering with the film. For example, he added the “Episode IV” to it, showing that it was part of a larger series. In 1997, he made many radical changes as part of the Special Editions and has even made tweaks in the years beyond that. And, because those are the versions Lucas believes to be the best, those are the only ones that Lucasfilm will now release officially. Fans, however, have long sought out ways to get the original with no subtitle, no CG characters in Mos Eisley, Han shooting first, etc.
‘I don’t think there’s another one like it, it’s that rare.’
Kathleen Kennedy introduces our BFI Film on Film Festival Opening Night film, Star Wars (1997), screening from an original 1977 Technicolor print. pic.twitter.com/qDwxvU09vF
— BFI (@BFI) June 13, 2025
“It’s incredible folklore,” Kennedy said at the event. “Even when I came into the company, there was endless conversation about where everything was, and what was in fact the first print? And it’s quite remarkable, what you’re going to see is in fact the first print, and I’m not even sure there’s another one quite like it. It’s that rare. There’s so much tinkering that’s gone on over the years, and things that George [Lucas] decided, ‘I’m gonna change this, I’m gonna try that.’ And then, everybody kind of lost track of what it was.”
“It’s quite remarkable to be able to experience this exactly the way it was in 1977. This is really special,” she added. What would be even more special, of course, is if Kennedy and her Lucasfilm team would release the original versions of the films to fans. Yes, we get it, they are flawed and raw but that’s what makes them so good. There’s no word on that happening but, maybe, Kennedy’s endorsement of this recent screening is the first step in it taking place.
Read more about the event over at The Independent.
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