Star Wars fans rejoice; the time has finally come! All six Star Wars film will hit Blu-ray next year! The news came straight from George Lucas himself while at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando. He said all of the films will arrive in a massive box set “utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with extensive special features – including documentaries, vintage behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, retrospectives and never-before-seen footage from the Lucasfilm archives.”

It’s been five years since the franchise’s last installment, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, hit theaters, so it’s about time. At Celebration V Lucas explained, “We’ve been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it.” It’s quite obvious that the chances of this box set making a killing on Blu-ray just a few years ago would have been monumentally different than it is today. Lucas added, “We came out with Star Wars right at the beginning of VHS.” He added, “and we sold 300,000 copies.” But just a few years later, “They were selling 1 million, 2 million, 10 million. So we learned from that experience that if you’re too early in the marketplace, there’s just not enough demand for it.”

Well, franchise fans certainly aren’t going anywhere, so it looks like Lucas has an excellent strategy here. Plus, it seems as though there will be more than enough new material making the wait well worth it. However, 2011 may still seem like ages away, so here’s a little something that might hold you over for a bit – a long-lost deleted scene from Return of the Jedi. Lucas showed it off at Celebration V and the crowd went absolutely crazy. Check it out for yourself below.

By Perri Nemiroff (LA Times and NY Times)