Appearing at the ShoWest, a yearly trade show for movie theater owners, George Lucas announced that he was planning to re-master all the Star Wars films for release in 3-D. Lucas was just one of six high profile directors urging theater owners to install digital projection equipment so they could take advantage of a striking new 3-D process developed by the Agoura Hills, California company, In-Three. Lucas hopes to have the original Star Wars film, A New Hope, ready for release in 3-D in time for its thirtieth anniversary in 2007 and then release the series in order at a rate of one film per year.
Lucas was joined in his plea for the adoption of digital projection by other A-list directors including James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Rodriguez, Randal Kleiser and Peter Jackson (by way of a pre-taped 3-D segment). Lucas presented clips from Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones that had been processed into the new 3-D format. Cameron announced that his next film, Battle Angel (based on the Battle Angel Alita manga published by Viz), which is set for a 2007 release, will be released in 3-D, telling the ShoWest crowd: 'I'm a man on a mission when it comes to 3-D, I will be making all of my films in 3-D in the future.' Rodriguez also plans to release his original 'kids' superhero feature, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D this summer.