What if Lucas just restored the films to what they originally were and released them that way?
What if he just released the restored films on VHS and Laserdisc with a 20th anniversary logo and restrospectives in the beginnings of the tapes?They wouldn't have made a total of $251 million at the US box office, that's for sure.
At the time they were made (1997) re-releases, which had been part of Hollywood's backbone for ages, were going out of style due to VHS being massively popular. That year a re-release of The Little Mermaid made only $27 million, and the following year a re-release of Grease made only $28 million. I doubt the 20th anniversary re-releases would have been so successful if Fox and Lucas hadn't incorporated CGI into the new versions; that made a big-screen trip worthwhile for an audience that would otherwise buy an old videotape to watch the film instead.
There were THX-mastered releases, but you can tell that the film is unrestored.?? Didn't Lucas do exactly that a couple of years before the Special Editions? Weren't there some 'restored editions' put out on VHS?