Star Wars: 20 Things You Didn't Know About Return Of The Jedi

20. It Was Almost Called "Revenge Of The Jedi"

During the scripting stage, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan claims he told George Lucas that his original title, Return of the Jedi, was "weak," prompting Lucas to change it to "Revenge of the Jedi."

This decision held firm enough that it was included in the original teaser trailer, until five months before the film's release when Lucas had a change of heart, feeling that the word "revenge" wasn't appropriate to apply to a Jedi.

Lucas did this at considerable expense, as thousands of teaser posters had already been printed, and to offset costs he ended up selling the remaining stock to Star Wars fan club members.

Amusingly Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally going to be called "Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan," but changed its title for fear of audiences confusing the two franchises, only for Lucas to ditch the word a few months after Wrath of Khan hit cinemas.

Lucas finally found an appropriate place for it in the prequel trilogy, though, with Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.