Poll: Will You Double-Dip for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 3D?

Four months after the initial (2D) Blu-ray was released, caused a brief explosion in disc sales, then subsided and has mostly been forgotten, Disney and Lucasfilm finally announced a release date for a new ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 3D Collector’s Edition‘. Will you double-dip, or are you good with the copy you already own?

I’m a little perplexed by the timing of this announcement. We’ve already hit a point where people’s enthusiasm for ‘The Force Awakens’ has mostly faded and been replaced by newer flash-in-the-pan interests. I don’t understand why the 3D version wasn’t released alongside the 2D copy back in April. Although the Collector’s Edition does add an audio commentary and small selection of new bonus features that weren’t on the previous disc, they don’t look nearly as comprehensive (or, frankly, even that substantive) as the true die-hard fans probably hoped.

Honestly, other than the 3D aspect, the new disc doesn’t seem particularly enticing to me. I might be more excited if it included an audio upgrade to Dolby Atmos. Unfortunately, Disney still refuses to support Atmos on Blu-ray.

As far as the 3D goes, it’s pretty clear that the public’s interest in that has long since waned. I doubt that will be a huge sales motivator. Even as someone who owns a 3D projector and is at least a moderate fan of the format, I think I’m content to let this one pass. I’ve only watched ‘The Force Awakens’ in 2D and I didn’t feel I missed anything. From most accounts, the 3D conversion didn’t add much to the movie.

Am I missing the boat here? Are you eager to scoop up the new 3D Collector’s Edition when it’s released in November?

Will You Buy the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 3D Collector's Edition?

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61 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    I saw this in 3D in theaters, and while I love 3D, I didn’t feel it made the experience drastically better. The best scenes were character driven, unlike something like ‘San Andreas’.

    Still, I held off on buying the 2D release because I suspected that eventually a 3D release would come out.

    • Ryan

      I saw the movie twice. First time in 3D, second time in 2D. I felt like the movie was missing something in 2D. All the dog fight scenes were wicked cool in 3D. Especially that one scene of the star destroyer….the depth was awesome.

  2. Chris B

    I don’t really have any interest in 3d, I don’t own a player with 3d capability and when I go to the theatre I always try and get tickets for a 2d showing if the schedule permits. Mostly it just gives me a headache. The packaging for the new release is kinda cool so there’s that. I honestly just wish they’d re-release the SB version as I missed out the first time around and had to settle fo the regular ole blu. I agree the timing is odd. You’d think they’d release it in the fall to promote the release of Rogue One. Who know, maybe Disney is planning a triple-dip…

    So Josh, after all the hype, speculation, trailer dissection, misgivings about Abrams taking over the franchise etc. I gotta ask: What did you think of the movie?

      • EM

        The score’s at its best when it’s quoting the original trilogy. Otherwise, I agree it’s underwhelming. There are some nice new themes, such as Rey’s and Kylo’s and “March of the Resistance”, but so far they’ve had a hard time sticking in my memory. I’ve seen the film but once, and I know the score mostly from samples at Amazon.com, which I have listened to repeatedly in a vain effort to become convinced I should acquire the soundtrack album. Maybe the best new bits will get reworked in a vastly more appealing score to Episode VIII or IX.

      • Thulsadoom

        It was probably the weakest and least memorable score I’ve heard from Williams in a long time. On the other hand, look what he had to work with! 😉 Can’t really blame him. It’s a shame, though. He doesn’t do many scores any more, and I’d hoped regardless of the film, this would be a great soundtrack.

    • “You’d think they’d release it in the fall to promote the release of Rogue One.” (Chris B)

      Well … that’s what they’re doing. A November release is a fall release.

    • cardpetree

      let me clarify, it’s not a PQ issue, the PQ is beautiful. It has that fast moving soap opera effect on 3D and I can’t figure out how to turn it off. It’s not regular 3D like at the movie theater. I hate it. I’ve turned off every motion enhancing setting I can find. It’s a shame because one of the main reasons I purchased my TV was for 3D.

      • Patient O.T.

        Turn off “Motion Smoothing” or “Auto Motion Plus” or whatever your TV is calling it. (All brands have different name for it). It is ususally in the Picture Options menu and should always be turned off to avoid the disastrous “Soap Opera Effect” that is caused by this.

          • Csm101

            Have you gone into picture settings while in 3d mode? My Sony TV has settings for 3d and 2d settings, meaning I can have the tru-motion turned off while watching 2d content but it will be activated in 3d mode if I didn’t change the settings while in 3d mode. My Lg however, I’ve had since 2012 and that one doesn’t have seperate settings for 2d and 3d. Have you tried that? I’m wondering if there’s any adjustments you have to make to your electronic glasses as I believe Samsung only does active. Correct me if I’m wrong. I definitely think if you can turn off that effect for 2d viewing, there should definitely be a way to turn it off for 3D. Anyways, I understand your pain. FUCK SOAP OPERA EFFECT!!

          • Al

            Card,

            I owned that TV for a while, in 2015 (I decided to upgrade to a FALD set) and it featured the best 3D I’ve ever seen on any television or projector that I’ve ever owned or seen. The 3D was utterly spectacular! I’m really surprised that you’re experiencing so much frustration with the 3D. That is terrible! I hope you get it figured out.

          • William Henley

            I don’t have a set that does it right now, but I thought motion estimation was cool when watching nature documentaries and sporting events. The rest of the time, I turned it off. Television manufacturers need to just have a single button on the remote to turn the effect on and off. Like I used it all the time in the 2012 Olympics, and think it would be cool if my projector had it. But just for stuff like that. Do not want it on movies.

            I would HATE that feature if it was on 3D. That would surely make me sick.

    • Mark U

      Tru(e) Motion is what my tv calls it also, motion interpolation. Needless to say it’s always off on all inputs. Some say for gaming it can be good. I’d love to hear what other think about that & their experiences if it helped, hurt or no real diff for gaming? Anyway, cardpetree I’d consider getting a professional ISF (Image Science Foundation) calibration on your tv. Not sure how much you spend on it, but if you’ve done the whole “home theatre” thing and spent good money on it all, it’s supposed to be the way to make your tv no matter brand or anything else, the absolute best it can be, look. Last I knew it only cost $250-$300 by a certified ISF tech to do so. Something we ALL should consider doing IMO, we’re paying so much and just “winging it” with our settings. Even being knowledgeable about electronics, tech, etc. issues if it’s not your profession, I’d say it’s definitely worth considering. Good luck!

  3. Beerstalker

    I purposely never bought the Blu-Ray release because I was waiting for the 3D release. I eventually found it at a garage sale for $3, but it was missing the Blu-Ray and just had the DVD and digital copy code in the case. I bought it just for the digital copy code.

    So now I will definitely be pre-ordering the 3D blu-ray and will probably give away the new digital copy code and old DVD to someone.

  4. eric

    No 4K = No Buy
    I really didn’t want to buy the current release for this reason, but I really wanted to watch it again, so I gave in. This will not happen for 3D.

      • Timcharger

        So corporations AREN’T our friends who want
        us to maximize our entertainment value at the expense
        of their quarterly earnings?! I’m perplexed that they
        aren’t creating more jobs with higher wages from their
        generous natures.

        Seriously, there is no downside for Disney to do this.
        Their April release sales weren’t hurt by this. It also
        helps market Rogue One. The decision WASN’T to do
        a double dip 6 months later, like it was made after the
        fact. The decision was to hold on and delay the
        “special” edition from day 1.

        For special franchises, this makes financial sense to
        the studios. WB has done it with LotR and Hobbit.

        • Josh Zyber
          Author

          The problem with this line of reasoning is that there’s very little “special” about this Special Edition, other than the 3D, which basically none of the target customers care much about anymore.

          Disney would have sold more 3D copies of the movie if they’d released it in April alongside the 2D version. As it stands, all the 3D fans already bought the 2D copy (because that’s all that was available) and few of them will be inclined to double-dip without more new content to entice them. Sure, this Collector’s Edition gets a new audio commentary, which may or may not be worth listening to, but other than that all there is are a few new featurettes which are probably 4-5 minutes long each. That’s a pretty thin supplement package for a “Collector’s Edition.”

          This CE is being released a full month before Rogue One and will be long forgotten before that movie opens, so it won’t do much to promote that.

          Basically, this just seems like all-around poor marketing.

          Remember when Avatar was released on Blu-ray and people were begging for a 3D version, which was stupidly delayed? By the time the 3D version finally came out, nobody gave a crap about Avatar anymore. I believe it sold 14 copies worldwide.

          • NJScorpio

            It sounds like the best way to maximize profits then is to first release the most expensive, inclusive set first, forcing anyone interested in buying any form of the movie a bundle that includes more than they need. Currently, that’d probably be a combo pack of BD/BD3D/BDUHD/UV/DVD, sold at $39.99.

            Then, once sales start to taper off, release the stand alone packages of Blu-Rays.

          • Josh Zyber
            Author

            Warner Bros. does that all the time with “Ultimate Collector’s Editions” that are later reissued without the box sets and paraphernalia. Think also of certain trilogies and film series (Matrix, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, etc.) that force fans to buy multiple movies when they only want the first one, which will be broken out separately much later.

          • Timcharger

            Josh: “As it stands, all the 3D fans already bought the 2D copy (because that’s all that was available) and few of them will be inclined to double-dip without more new content to entice them.”

            Your own poll suggests otherwise.

            Josh: “Remember when Avatar was released on Blu-ray and people were begging for a 3D version, which was stupidly delayed? By the time the 3D version finally came out, nobody gave a crap about Avatar anymore. I believe it sold 14 copies worldwide.”

            I own a 3D TV and I do own Avatar in 3D. I must
            be one of the 14 copies sold worldwide.

            My memory was different. I recall Avatar being
            a Panasonic exclusive, or something like that. I
            remember eBay had sky high prices for it. But
            ICBW.

          • Al

            You’re not wrong. As a matter of fact, certain Panny players included a free copy of ‘Avatar’ in 3D. One of the models that included it could be found for as little as $115. I bought at least 5 of them, sold the 3D Avatar for between $175 and $250 each time, and then sold the players for between $110 and $140. I made quite a bit of money off of Avatar 3D and Panasonic. The demand for that title was outrageous! Josh was way off, with his comments about it.

          • William Henley

            As far as Avatar, what was stupid is the studio tying the movie to specific players or televisions or whatever they did. And that wasn’t the only disc to do that on. I think that is one of the things that drove a nail in the coffin early on – the equipment you bought dictated the content available. By the time these movies DID get general releases, that is when no one gave a crap about them.

            I did pick up the Avatar 3D release, and think I watched it once. In fact, I am not even sure if I got all the way through it.

            As for this, like many others, I remember Disney saying that they were releasing the 3D set later this year, so I waited. I think its unfair to say fans already picked up the movie in 2D. I waited a couple of YEARS to pick up the first six movies, waiting for a good deal on them, and finally found one. Also, I mentioned in an earlier post what my backlog of unopened movies look like, so I had no issue waiting.

            I did the same thing on The Hobbit. I did not pick up any of the original releases – just waited a year for the special editions to come out. I think many others did the same thing.

            I’ve also imported a few Disney 3D flicks from the UK that had delayed release dates from the 2D releases. Didn’t bother me any. I think one of those is still unopened.

            Point is, just because someone is a fan of something doesn’t mean they have to own it on release day, and I don’t think it makes me any less of a fan. I do pick up quite a bit of stuff on Release Day, other things I will wait for it to hit the bargain bin or to get it used, some stuff I hold out on as I am expecting a special release. Very seldom do I have a day when I rush home on Tuesdays, rip open the Amazon envelope and pop in the disc. Right now, a lot of those envelopes are going into a stack, and on a day off when I am undecisive on what I want to watch, I’ll grab an envelope with a mystery disc in it and commit myself to watch whatever is inside it.

          • Timcharger

            “By the time these movies DID get general releases, that is when no one gave a crap about them.”

            Repeating something doesn’t make it true.

            There is doubt to this claim. The poll itself here
            suggests otherwise, plus your purchase of 3D
            Avatar would suggest you’re 2 of the 14 so-
            claimed global sales by Josh. Coupled with
            evidence that many people were willing to
            hundreds for it, seems contrary that only a
            handful held out for fair prices. But ICBW.

  5. Rob behrens

    I won’t be double dipping until they give us a 4K release. What I’d really like is a 4K release that also included the 3D version and all the special features from these 2 releases, and maybe some new ones as well. Wishful thinking perhaps.

        • cmdrdredd

          Haha yeah right. 4k HDR will last a long time. Sales have already been better than expected. You haven’t been keeping up.

        • William Henley

          Haha! You’re funny. There are a few demo sets available right now, and that’s it. I doubt you will see them in production and available to the public before 2020, and then they probably won’t be affordable until 2024. And as studios are STILL using 2k digital intermediaries, and rendering CG at 2k, its highly unlikely that we will see 8k for anything other than theaters and public venues!

  6. photogdave

    I only saw it in 3D in the theatre because that was the only way to see it on the biggest screen. If I could go back in time I would watch it on 2D on a smaller screen.
    I just watched it on Netflix and it looked pretty good and I actually enjoyed the score a lot more this time around. I’ll probably wait 10 years and buy the whole next trilogy or whatever on what will be the 2D format of the day.

  7. As a diehard 3D enthusiast, yes I will double dip for the 3d. It was a very nice presentation and will enhance my enjoyment of the movie at home. The only reason I didn’t hold out was because I thought Disney said the same thing about Frozen when it came out and never did ( issuing a special edition 3d). I’m not sure if it was fan speculation or something they said. So just in case they didn’t make good on their word about releasing a 3d version later this year, I figured I’ll buy it on sale and hope for the best. I might hold out on Jungle Book because I thought i read something similar on that release. I’m also hearing about potentially releasing the prequel trilogies in 3d along with Force Awakens. If that was the case, I might hold out.

  8. Al

    What Disney should have done is release the actual original versions (NO LUCAS MOLESTING WHATSOEVER — The versions that played theatrically) with re-mastered sound and new transfers and made this 3D version available only in the original trilogy set. That would have sold faster than any blu-ray release in history.

    • Disney will get the home video rights for ‘Empire’ and ‘Jedi’ in 2019, but Fox will forever have those for ‘A New Hope’. If Fox is smart, they’ll work out a solution with Disney to release the unaltered versions in one big set. A deal akin to Sony/Disney teaming up for Spider-Man could work.

  9. Matthew Seeley

    I refused to buy the original release becuase it didn’t include the 3D version. The 3D version added alot to the movie for me personally and it’s one of the very best 3D conversions out there imo. This collector’s edition is everything I’ve wanted and I will be purchasing it day one!

  10. Yes, Disney was goofy (see what I did there?) for not releasing the 3D version with the original blu-ray set (maybe it wasn’t ready for release??) but I’m willing to forgive them on this one… the 3D was great in theatres (Star Destroyer coming RIGHT AT YOU outta the screen!), it’ll look even better at home on my active 3D plasma, and there’s been quite the 3D drought with Disney releases in the last year or two.

    I have a buddy who works for Disney and a year ago he was able to provide me with info from their movie division, sharing that they didn’t see enough business with 3D releases to continue putting them out (which makes no sense, since they continued in the UK and other regions for Frozen and Maleficent, but that was their answer). Not sure why they changed their mind, but I’m supporting their decision to start up again happily! I just won’t be double dipping with The Jungle Book. They said a 3D release would follow the official release… I’ll either import from the UK or wait til it’s later North American release.

  11. Csm101

    I’m wondering if Disney is testing the waters for releasing 3D’s in some sort of exclusive movie club thing. Maybe they think it’s a waste to mass release it, but there still a market for it, so they’re trying out these different things. I just hated how they stopped 3D with out an official announcement on the matter. As long as they release them on physical media, I’m in. I’m grateful for Zootopia and Star Wars, but now they’re holding back on Jungle Book for some reason. I haven’t seen any announcements for the Finest Hours in 3D from the international markets. I don’t mind importing them if they’re region free, but there’s been a few releases I’ve missed out on because of them being region locked.

    • William Henley

      I think most of Disney’s UK 3D releases have been region free, but I can’t confirm – 99% of the time my player is set to Region B because most releases are region free, with the exception of when movies have different distributors, and then on many of those I am importing, so, yeah, most of the time my player is on Region B. But all of my Disney discs (the 2D bundled discs at least) work on my parent’s Blu-Ray players, so I can confirm those are all region free. (I usually give the 2D discs to my parents). The only issue is when trying to redeem the Disney Movie rewards – you cannot redeem the UK rewards in the US.

      Frozen 3D is confirmed to be Region Free, as is Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Oz The Great and Powerful.

      I know I should not be promoting this website here, but on blu-ray.com, change your country to UK, and punch in the movie. Other users will confirm what regions they have tested the discs in. This makes importing a much smaller risk.

      Or just pick up a Region Free 3D Blu-Ray player – that’s what I did. I would say a good 30% of my discs are imported.

      • Csm101

        Yes I do that with 3d releases on bluray.com. Sometimes I check all the countries to see if any thing else is available. Someday I just might jump on the Region free bandwagon.

        • Yeah, I do that too – I have one movie, an American movie, that ONLY got a Blu-Ray release in Italy, of all places. Not a great release, better than the DVD, but yeah, only country in the world that got it on Blu.

          Let me just say, the region free player is the smartest move I ever made. Like movie sets in the UK are crazy cheap. Like a movie set in the US can be like $75 on Amazon, but the UK will have it for 15 pounds or something. Plus I can buy all those crazy Steelbooks that only get UK releases.

  12. Jon

    No double dip here, I refused to buy it until 3D was available. I’m happy now. My
    If only they’d give the Jungle Book a proper 3D release. At least I can import the UK version.

  13. nagara

    The 3d aspect doesn’t appeal to me at all. I just want the special features. I was surprised there was no commentary on the first version.

  14. MARK

    A delayed 3D version had me thinking there was going to be a better version coming out later in the year.
    This reminds me of the Phantom Menace home video release. They released it on vhs only for when DVD was becoming popular. I waited for the inevitable supeior DVD version.
    This is a simply a cash grab.

      • Mark U

        Personally I would’ve loved to have that at home in 3D on Blu-ray, but I’ve never seen it anywhere available. I’ve also not really looked beyond Amazon, but I don’t think they released it for home 3D weirdly? You’d think if they’re gonna spend all that $/time on the conversion they’d definitely give it the biggest possible audience. Also, then 3D was being pushed big for home and theatrical consumption. I know many seem to love to bash the prequels, especially TPM, but that pod race scene alone in 3D with Dolby Atmos or DTS-X audio would be awesome IMHO.

  15. Michael M

    I deliberayely waited for the 3D release as I was hoping it would include the 2D version as well. My gamble paid off as not only does it include the 2D version, the packaging is amazing. I’m far from being a “completist”, I can live without loads of extras – sometimes not knowing the “magic” behind the movie is the best way, and SWES:TFA is one of those times. My only grumble is that while the US got a 3-disc set, we in the UK/Europe only dot 3 discs as the HD digital copy has been omitted. But I might get my NYC-resident sister to bring me a copy home with her the next time she comes.

    I don’t know why the UK/Europe always gets the rough deal when it comes to much anticipated movie releases. Our original version of “The Complete Saga” on BluRay came with the discs in blue plastic trays, while the US versions came in a book-style package.

    Now if we could just have episodes 1-3 deleted from the annals of history, I would be really happy.

  16. Mark U

    I didn’t know when I bought the initial Blu-ray release that I would have a 3DTV in the not too distant future. I’m very happy I do and I really love 3D, especially when it’s done quite well. I’d consider “SW-TFA” to be a very good 3D conversion. Don’t love the fact that I paid so much money for the brand new releases of both when first available, but I definitely don’t regret it at all, I was 9yrs old the Summer Star Wars came to theaters and like most in my generation it changed my life in many ways. Always a movie/art/etc. lover even at that tender age, it helped me to want more, expect more from what I chose to see, hear and spend my $/time on. Cannot wait to see where this story goes, the possibilities are endless, especially at this point!

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