Star Wars Prequels Were Never Re-Released In 3D
When Disney finally took ownership of Lucasfilm, they planned to change the company’s direction, namely with decisions made before the Mouse House acquired them. For example, it was decided that Lucasfilm would no longer re-release Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 3D. That was because Lucasfilm would focus exclusively on the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Part of that decision surely stemmed from The Phantom Menace 3D up-conversion re-release in February 2012 which was a massive underperformed at the box office. Because of that, and shift in focus, Lucasfilm decided not to do the same with the other two films in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Attack of the Clones 3D was set to hit theaters on September 20, 2013. And Revenge of the Sith 3D was to follow on October 11, 2013.
When The Phantom Menace 3D opened it took in a disappointing $23 million at the box office. That just wasn’t nearly enough to move any kind of needle and surely meant the other two films would do well below that. Considering things didn’t necessarily get better over the course of the prequel trilogy, this decision wasn’t, in any way, surprising.
Lucasfilm announced in September 2010 that it would re-release the Star Wars saga in theaters with a 3D up-conversion treatment. They announced their plans to re-release Attack of the Clones 3D and Revenge of the Sith 3D back-to-back at Star Wars Celebration VI in August 2013, after the final numbers on The Phantom Menace 3D were dwindling.
Disney executives relaunched the Star Wars franchise with screenwriter Michael Arndt and director, J.J. Abrams, so it stood to reason that they would want to reevaluate the direction of the Star Wars brand.
Though the Star Wars 3D movies were never officially released in theaters, clips from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and brief clips were shown at Star Wars Celebration in 2015. Again, this was all the right decision from Disney and Lucasfilm. Wanting to breathe new life into the franchise at the time, it didn’t make sense to return to (possible) mistakes from the past. Sure, they would have done a little fan service to the hardcore Star Wars folks, but that would have probably been it.
