If you live in London, England and are fortunate to be around the BFI Film on Film Festival you were in for a special treat on 12th June as the festival had the first screening of the original cut of Star Wars, the first showing of this cut since 1978!

The movie was significantly changed in the Special Edition version of Star Wars in 1998 in the run up to the first prequel movie Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace in 1999.

This was a very rare treat for fans of the series as the Special Editions, especially of this movie, have caused controversy over the year, especially the now famous "Han Shoots First" scene.

A brief history of this print of the film as found in various sources on the internet:

The BFI (British Film Institute) found the print in their archives and after contacting Lucasfilm about doing a screening they agreed.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she was surprise that the print existed, but agreed to the screening as she thinks it is a valuable artifact in historical cinema.

Kennedy presented the showing to prove it was a legal copy!

As explained by the BFI

"In these very special screenings, we present the film exactly as experienced by audiences on its original 1977 release. Screening from one of the precious handful of dye transfer IB Technicolor prints produced uniquely for the first British release, and preserved in the BFI National Archive"

Lets hope this sentiment to the original cut goes that bit further and, as the whole trilogy is owned by Disney since the buyout of Fox, it gets a 4K remastered home release, as well as Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Return of the Jedi.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace it's time to remember the anniversary of the last trailer released before the movies release.

This was the last chance fans had to see any of the movie before they got to see it in full on its release, and get a flavour for the story and characters.

The trailer was first released in cinemas which was the normal way to see trailers back then, and the next day released online, and this movie is largely responsible for the internet being the way we consume trailers today, and its responsible for the uptick in home broadband!

The first trailer for the movie, shown in 1998, was placed in front of movies Meet Joe Black, The Waterboy and The Siege and perhaps turned them into bigger movies than they would normally have been.

This trailer played in front of the movie Wing Commander and is most likely responsible for much of the box office gross of that movie.

Its hard to understand unless you were there how much excitement there was before the release of this movie, it had been 16 years since the last Star Wars movie, Star Wars Return of the Jedi and expectation were high.

Arguable this gave away a little too much, and perhaps promised a bit too much, but the release date was for May (in America at least) and the hype machine was just ramping up.

The trailer for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness which appeared after the end credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home has been released on the internet and can seen below.

• The movie is directed by Sam Raimi who also directed the Tobey Maguire starring Spider-Man movies.
• It stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen among others.
• And has a release date of 6th May 2022.
• It is a sequel to Doctor Strange

Check out the Salty Popcorn movie page for more information on this upcoming film.

The first trailer for the fourth The Matrix movie has hot the internet from warner brothers, and as you might have expected the trailer poses more questions about The Matrix Resurrections that it answers!

The trailer features Keanu Reeves very heavily, and as you expected he looks just like John Wick rather than Neo, but is there a reason for this, what reality is he living in and is he a washed out version of his former self?

It looks like he's been having trouble recently living in The Matrix, and when an apparent chance meeting with Carrie-Anne Moss's Trinity it looks like they don't know each other!

The red pill and the blue pill are a major feature of this trailer and it looks like Mr Thomas Anderson has been taking the blue pill of late?

Directed by Lana Wachowski goes it alone this time but it looks like the slick style of the original The Matrix back.

The movie is released December 22nd 2021 in cinemas and on HBO Max, we'd recommend this one at the cinema.

Mulan was about a week away from release when the world started closing down due the the COVID-19 pandemic, after a couple of new dates Disney have now removed it from their schedule until further notice.

This isn't much of a surprise as America is still deep in the pandemic with cases increasing daily and there is no sign to the end meaning cinemas are still not ready to re-open.

This may seem unfair to the rest of the world which is slowly staring to re-open and cinemas are in limited capacity accepting people in their doors, but who knows like Warner Bros. and Tenet a staggered release may happen.

This is just the latest is what is becoming a long list of films, as mentioned Tenet has been removed indefinitely and today it was announced that Bill & Ted Face The Music will get a simultaneous movie theatre and VOD release.

There are more to come I'm sure as Wonder Woman 1985 and A Quiet Place Part II are just around the corner and the virus is still months away from being controlled in the US.

A staggered global release similar to hot things were before the turn of the Millennium is possible, films used to get released in Europe and Australia often up to a year after their American release.

This was stopped primarily because of piracy and with the internet the ease of distributing pirated films, as opposed to buying the film on VHS from your mate down the pub!

25thframe.co.uk will bring you more as films get delayed.