The Original ‘Star Wars’ Is Coming to IMAX 70mm Theaters in 2027

70mm IMAX films are having a moment right now thanks to Christopher Nolan’s epic blockbuster, The Odyssey, which is the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX cameras. If Disney has its way, the good times will keep on rolling in 2027 with a pair of Star Wars films screening in IMAX 70mm film.

Disney and Lucasfilm announced today that both Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Starfighter will be available to experience in IMAX 70mm next year. The event celebrates the very first Star Wars film and the newest one.

As part of the yearlong 50th anniversary celebration of Star Wars (1977), later renamed Star Wars: A New Hope, an anniversary re-release of Star Wars (1977) will return to theaters, newly restored. The restored re-release will screen at “a select number of IMAX 70mm film locations.”

According to StarWars.com, this will be the very first time that any Star Wars movie has ever been screened in IMAX 70mm.

However, PetaPixel doesn’t think this is quite accurate. 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens was screened at nearly 400 IMAX theaters, over a dozen of which were 70mm locations. In any event, this is still a first for Star Wars: A New Hope, which has never been shown in any IMAX format.

Then on May 28, 2027, the actual 50th anniversary weekend of the first Star Wars movie arriving in theaters, Star Wars: Starfighter will debut. This movie was filmed for IMAX and shot with IMAX-certified cameras.

The film, an all-new standalone Star Wars adventure, stars Ryan Gosling, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, Flynn Gray, and Amy Adams. It was written by Jonathan Tropper and directed by Shawn Levy, best known for Deadpool & Wolverine and Stranger Things.

Relatively few theaters worldwide can project IMAX 70mm film prints. Per DFIrentals, there are only about 41 of them, which is less than 3% of all IMAX-certified theaters. Roughly 30 of these 70mm theaters are in the United States.

70mm IMAX film is very special and requires purpose-built projectors and huge screens. The 15-perforation 70mm film is in a tall 1.43:1 aspect ratio, very different from the more standard cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio of many movies.

It will be interesting to see how Disney handles Star Wars: A New Hope in 70mm, since the original theatrical release was shot on 35mm film with anamorphic lenses to achieve a wide aspect ratio of 2.35:1. That’s very far from 1.43:1.

Presumably, the original 35mm film will go through IMAX’s proprietary Digital Media Remastering (DMR) process, a sophisticated form of upscaling and image processing that ensures movies filmed on non-IMAX formats still look great on the big screen.

The smashing success of The Odyssey cannot be ignored. IMAX 70mm locations have contributed a record-setting $78 million to the film’s gargantuan global box office of over $1.5 billion. IMAX theaters in total have earned nearly half a billion dollars during The Odyssey‘s run.

Hopefully this success will translate to more IMAX 70mm theaters worldwide. Fingers crossed.

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Image creditsDisney, Lucasfilm