Rare “Revenge of The Jedi” Trailer Uncovered
The Academy Film Archive, a branch of the organization that runs the Oscar awards, has uploaded what they claim is the earliest trailer ever made for Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi, later renamed Return of the Jedi. It’s so early that only stills from the set were available for use. It was only shown in the UK, during a double-bill showing of the first two movies on May 30, 1982 — about a year before the third film came out. And it hasn’t been seen since then.
Note that this trailer says fans wouldn’t be getting their next Star Wars until Christmas 1983 — this is the only trailer to display that early date. It was later revised and bumped up six months. The name “Revenge of the Jedi,” however, wasn’t changed until the following December, meaning a good number of promotional materials (including the first US trailer) got out using the original title.
“Revenge” was the suggestion of Lawrence Kasdan, who thought “Return” wasn’t as strong a word. Lucas initially agreed, but then realized the title made no sense when the Jedi are supposed to be the good guys and wouldn’t seek revenge. Instead he saved the other “R” word for Revenge of the Sith in 2005.
[Source: Den of Geek]