Lucasfilm has announced that the theatrical debut of the first Star Wars film to be presented in 3D.  Star Wars Episode1: The Phantom Menace will be released on February 12th, 2012. The third dimension will be added by a computer process. In a press release announcing the date of the first Star Wars 3D debut Lucasfilm noted that the conversion is being handled by Industrial Light & Magic in a “meticulous” fashion “with the utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.”

 

Produced in1999, The Phantom Menace was actually the fourth Star Wars film made, but chronologically it is the first movie in the overall Star Wars narrative. If as expected the rest of the Star Wars films will be released in 3D in narrative order, fans will have to wait several years before the more popular films in the original trilogy get the stereoscopic treatment.