The Star Wars Saga, arguably one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, finally comes to a digital platform on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox Video, Vudu, Playstation, and any other digital video platform at last. The release date is set for April 10th, at least on iTunes.
My first response to hearing the news that the Star Wars Saga was coming to iTunes and other digital platforms was: isn't it on there already? I have to admit that it is odd that George Lucas, 20th Century Fox, Disney, or whoever owns the distribution rights doesn't already have the six-part saga in digital form so that even more profits can be made from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Then again, I have to admit that most diehard Star Wars fans already own boxed sets of Star Wars on DVD or Blu-ray of the trilogies, so paying extra to have them on their phone or tablet with a smaller screen size might not be worth the investment. However, many of these newer digital formats are made for the television as well as the mobile device, so I suppose now would be a good time, especially when Star Wars is really going to hit theaters again with The Force Awakens on December 18th.
According to Phone Arena, it looks like the Star Wars movies will be the "Special Edition" releases. This was when the original trilogy (Episodes 4, 5, and 5) was edited with some new footage and special effects back in the late nineties, which includes the infamous "Greedo shooting first" and more.
In addition to the Special Editions of these films, you can also get a lot of bonus material. This includes "Discoveries from Inside" for each movie, as well as "Conversations" that allow you to watch contributors to the films talk about their time on the set and what it was actually like working on Star Wars. These are similar to the special features of DVDs and Blu-rays throughout the years.
Each movie will be available for pre-order on iTunes for $19.99 each on April 10th. GottaBeMobile states that the Star Wars trilogy will be released on iTunes at the same day that the Apple Watch will go for pre-order and the day of the new MacBook launch. It will be a big day for Apple.
Amazon and Google Play also have the option of pre-ordering the entire trilogy for $89.99, which is a savings of $10.00 as the iTunes offer is $99.99 for all six. Vudu will also have this as well, but I don't have a release date for those digital platforms. The issue is that iTunes will have shot first.
