Subtitle Star.Wars:.Episode.IV.-.A.New.Hope.197...
The opening crawl in the first Star Wars film is very different from Lucas's original intention. The original text, used in the rough cut he showed to friends and studio executives in February 1977, appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film. When originally released in May 1977, the first film was simply titled Star Wars, as 20th Century Fox forbade Lucas to use a subtitle on grounds that it could be confusing, since there had been no other Star Wars movies prior to 1977.[1][9] In addition, it was not certain if the film would be followed with a sequel. When The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, the episode number, "Episode V", and subtitle "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" appeared as the first two lines of the opening crawl. To match its sequel's crawl, the episode number "Episode IV" and subtitle "A NEW HOPE" were added for the film's theatrical re-release in April 1981.[12] The original version, without the subtitle, was not released again until the 2006 limited edition DVDs. Also, the original version of Episode IV's crawl uses a lowercase "R" for "Rebel spaceships" and "Rebel spies", as, at the time, "Rebel" (in its Star Wars meaning), just like "Imperial", was not considered some sort of demonym-like adjective as it is now.
subtitle Star.Wars:.Episode.IV.-.A.New.Hope.197...
By the way, when the subtitle was added, the roll-up itself was changed. Lines of text were condensed differently so the length of the roll-up remained the same despite the addition of two lines at the top. The capitalized words DEATH STAR appear on one line in the first version and are broken on the revised version.
Originally just "Star Wars," the first movie was given the subtitle "Episode IV - A New Hope" in 1981, reflecting the "Episode V" in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. Reversing this change would be illogical for several reasons, especially since calling the film "A New Hope" makes it easy to distinguish it from every other Star Wars project. It would also be strange for every other Star Wars movie to have an episode number and subtitle, while the fourth movie is just called "Star Wars." Out of all the original trilogy changes that Star Wars could reverse, this one is the most likely to stay the same.
The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars (it later added the subtitle "Episode IV: A New Hope" in 1981), which became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983); these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy.
A Star Wars Story is a bad subtitle. It's long. It's janky. You can't even really call it a subtitle. If anything, "A Star Wars Story" is a statement about a movie, as if somebody is in the middle of a sentence explaining to their unaware friend what Rogue One and Solo are.
In fact, we shouldn't even be using a subtitle at all. The overarching brand should come first, just like with every other series that has ever existed. It's not Fellowship of the Ring: Lord of the Rings, and it sure as hell isn't Empire Strikes Back: Star Wars Episode V. Put "Star Wars" front and center.
There's a reason that HBO renamed George R.R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire to the sleek and simple Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones takes its name from the subtitle of the first book, A Game of Thrones, and HBO very smartly dropped the leading "A." Very rarely does a title that starts with the word "A" sound good.
The film was originally released as Star Wars, without "Episode IV" or the subtitle A New Hope. The 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was numbered "Episode V" in the opening crawl. When the original film was re-released on April 10, 1981, Episode IV: A New Hope was added above the original opening crawl. In early interviews, it was suggested the series might comprise nine or twelve films. The film was re-released theatrically in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, and with additional scenes and enhanced special effects in 1997. 041b061a72