I don't agree with your Star Wars point. Regardless of how I feel about it, George Lucas made the changes to his film. I believe that is his right as creator. Making changes to other people's work crosses a line for me.
I learnt a while back that George Lucas allegedly did those edits to prevent his wife from earning her royalties as editor: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/7g5gfr/til_m...