In somewhat surprising news, Lucasfilm and Disney have cancelled plans to re-release Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 3D and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 3D, according to Deadline, both of which are completed and were scheduled to hit cinemas in Octber and November of this year.

The stated reason for this is that Lucasfilm and Disney are looking to focus primarily on “rebooting” the franchise. However, it’s believed that the disappointing box office of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’s 3D release, which brought in on about $43 million, is also to blame.

There’s also some suggestion that the fact that the prequel trilogy isn’t thought of favourably amongst fans, means that the studios are hoping to get the three films out of the public consciousness, so that they can concentrate on selling the new movies as a continuation of the classic trilogy. It also didn’t help that a lot of the hardcore fans felt these 3D re-releases were yet another blatant cash grab by George Lucas.

It’d be interesting to know what 20th Century Fox thinks about this, as they still have distribution rights for the original two trilogies and would have brought Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith 3D to cinemas.