One of the lost trailers for Revenge of the Jedi was found recently and released….
Before Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, the movie was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi.
The title was actually changed after creator George Lucas felt the title didn’t reflect the values that had been bestowed upon the Jedi as a peace keeping army, not led by hatred or vengeance.
But before the title got switched, a series of trailers were the movie were created and that’s where this original video for Revenge of the Jedi was found recently and released.
It’s an interesting piece of footage because the video only shows a few still frames and the big reveal at the end with the title Revenge of the Jedi showing through.
The other surprise is the release date that’s listed in the trailer. Originally, Revenge of the Jedi was going to be released in the winter of 1982 before the date was changed and the film came out in the spring of 1983 instead.
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who uncovered the footage:
“This peculiar and very brief Revenge of the Jedi teaser trailer originated from a cinema in the United Kingdom, where the film was originally being considered for a Christmas 1983 release. This teaser was apparently shown with the U.K.’s May 1982 double feature re-release of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. American audiences would not get a glimpse of the third film until Star Wars was re-released in the U.S. in August 1982, meaning that this may be the earliest Revenge trailer distributed – and fans from across the pond got the first peek!”
Take a look at the trailer for Revenge of the Jedi from 1982.
