20 Things You Somehow Missed In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
9. Rogue One Was The First Live-Action Star Wars Movie Without An Opening Crawl
A long time ago in a galaxy not that far away at all, George Lucas kicked off the saga that would change cinema forever with an opening crawl explaining exactly what had been going down in this strange corner of space. And so began another much-loved Star Wars tradition.
However, in an unprecedented but easily overlooked move at the time, this spin-off actually became the first film in the franchise's history not to begin with some yellow words tumbling to the sound of John Williams' magnificent main theme.
Now, Rogue One did still boast the iconic "long time ago" silent opening shot. But despite writer Gary Whitta actually creating one for Edwards' Star Wars Story, a piece of text that remarkably contained the exact same number of words as Episode IV's, the call was ultimately made to keep this standalone entry crawl-less.
I did write a crawl, and I remember thinking it was neat that it was the same number of words as the one in A New Hope. This was before the (correct) decision not to have opening crawls for the standalones. https://t.co/DuyTcAiCVl
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) July 23, 2018