Disney and Lucasfilm have announced huge plans for their celebration of 50 glorious years of one of their most beloved and recognisable franchises, with a scheduled re-release of George Lucas’ 1977 masterpiece Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope and the upcoming Shawn Levy spin-off, Star Wars: Starfighter, in IMAX 70mm. The former film, the one which started it all, will be re-released as a newly digitally restored version of the first Star Wars adventure, while the latter will run in theatres under Digital IMAX.

Episode IV-A New Hope is one of cinema’s greatest contributions, kickstarting one of the greatest, most cherished sci-fi franchises ever made.

Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones, the film depicts a resistance movement known as the Rebel Alliance battling against the tyrannical Galactic Empire in a galaxy far, far away, with a young Luke Skywalker finding himself on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Princess Leia and take down the Death Star. A Jedi master known as Obi-Wan Kenobi is tasked with teaching Skywalker about a metaphysical power known as the Force, while the evil Imperial Commander Darth Vader poses a threat to the resistance.

Lucas‘ film, placed as the fourth chapter of the Skywalker Saga, went on to spawn a whole media franchise of sequels, prequels, comics, TV shows, video games and toy sets.

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With talks of Levy directing a new standalone film in 2022, Star Fighter is set to star Project Hail Mary star Ryan Gosling as Kade Auberon, who is faced with his past once he embarks on an adventure across the stars.

Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, Flynn Gray and Amy Adams are also set to star, with Jonathon Tropper also holding screenwriting credits.

Starfighter will stand as the franchise’s fourth standalone live-action film, following 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and 2026’s The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope will be re-released in IMAX on 19th February, 2027.

Star Wars: Starfighter will hit cinemas on 28th May, 2027. 

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