by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: January 30, 2013

Following the development of a new Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm have announced they will not be releasing any other prior Star Wars movies in 3D, according to a report on popular cult film, TV and comics site Den of Geek.

In 2012, Lucasfilm hit box office gold with a 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Since then, plans to release the other two Star Wars 'prequel' films (Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) have shifted. At first 3D versions of Episodes 2 and 3 were slated to be released at a rate of one a year. Then both were moved forwards for an Autumn 2013 release.

Now, in light of the fact that Lucasfilm has been acquired by Disney and work on a third trilogy of Star Wars films (set after Return of the Jedi) has begun with Lost and Star Trek visionary JJ Abrams at the helm, they've announced that they've scrapped plans to release the second two films for the time being. "We will post further information about our 3D release plans at a later date," said a statement issued by the Disney-owned production company.

Fans of Star Wars, the legendary science-fantasy film franchise which for reasons best known to writer and director George Lucas kicked off with Episode IV in 1977, have long preferred the original trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and were hoping that the 3D releases of the slicker but critically inferior prequel trilogy might herald the release of a 3D version of their best-loved films. When The Phantom Menace was first released in 3D, Lucasfilm made it clear that future re-releases would be based on the commercial success of this first effort.

With the Phantom Menace widely regarded as the weakest of all Star Wars films, from Jar Jar Binks to little Jake Lloyd's blond moppet Anakin Skywalker, many fans felt at the time this was a little unfair, but the release performed well at the box office nonetheless.

So why the change? Well, fans suspect Lucasfilm are keen to avoid "Star Wars fatigue" creeping in as the world hopefully becomes more and more excited about Episode VII's release in 2015. Den of Geek suspects the remaining rereleases may be rescheduled to appear closer to the new film's release, to build up an appetite among cinema audiences.

Whatever the truth behind this decision, it's another sign that, against all hope even 12 months ago, a new trilogy of Star Wars films really is happening.

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