Ever since I first watched Star Wars: A New Hope in the early 2000s with the added CGI I had always wanted to experience the original 1977 theatrical release exactly as audiences saw it.
For years, I searched for an original VHS copy but never had any luck finding one. Even if I had, by the time I became serious about tracking it down, televisions had advanced to at least 1080p, and an old 480p VHS transfer simply wouldn't have done the film justice.
Recently, I discovered Project 4K77, along with its companion restorations, 4K80 and 4K83, which preserve the original theatrical versions of the original trilogy. I was incredibly excited to learn these projects existed, and today I finally got my hands on 4K77.
Yes, the film is grainy, the lighting isn't as polished as modern releases, and there is no CGI and that's exactly the point. This is the closest experience to what audiences saw in theaters back in 1977, preserving the original look and feel of the film.
Wanted to share this with the community in case there are other Star Wars purists like me. 4K77 Link
Honestly surprised that Disney hasn't released the theatrical versions in the decade(?) since they've owned Stara Wars. They have the rights and they love money.
I know people speculate that the original Star Wars prints are lost, but those movies were in wide cinema release and enormously popular to collectors ever since. There are supposedly dozens of film prints available in private collections, I'd be surprised if there were none in corporate film vaults.
Either way, glad the dedicated fans have made these available.
They're working on a restoration project right now actually. Images have surfaced from accounts on social media that could only be from the original restored prints. They're likely doing a theatrical re-release of the original trilogy.
50th restored theatrical rerelease:
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-50th-anniversary-theatrical-release