Disney and Lucasfilm have announced thatStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerwill arrive on Digital on March 17th and on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st. The home release will contain “over two hours of bonus material”. Per the press release:
Bonus material includes a feature-length, making-of documentary, which goes behind the scenes with the cast and filmmakers from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and explores the legacy of the Skywalker saga. Bonus features also dig into the film’s Pasaana desert scenes, including the thrilling landspeeder chase, and the ship in which Rey discovers family secrets as well as a new little droid named D-O. Plus, fans will hear from Warwick Davis, who reprises his role as Wicket the Ewok, as well as the creature effects team that created a record 584 creatures and droids for the film. Digital consumers will receive an exclusive feature highlighting legendary composer John Williams, who has scored every episode in the Skywalker saga.
Before you start thinking that the feature-length documentary might explain the convoluted story or the reshoots or anything controversial, keep in mind that the making-of documentary onThe Force Awakensdoesn’t even mention that Harrison Ford broke his leg during production. That was a widely available fact, but Disney and Lucasfilm needed to pretend that every part of the production ran smoothly, and I expect that will be the party line that this documentary holds to. And that’s disappointing because making movies, especially on the scale of something likeThe Rise of Skywalker, is hard and the audience isn’t served by giving them a fairy tale about how everyone was good buddies, the script was perfect, and everything went according to plan.
As for other home release plans, March 31st will see eight otherStar Warsmovies released on 4K for the first time:Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,Star Wars: A New Hope,Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,Star Wars: The Force AwakensandRogue One: A Star Wars Story. Keep in mind that if you have Disney+, these films are already available in 4K.
