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Originally posted by: RowMan
I don't know when he actually mentioned it, but I'm sure I've read that the movie was always called "Episode IV: A New Hope." GL decided to take it out of the opening crawl at the last minute because he thought it might be unneccesarily confusing to the viewer. Of course later, after the film was a hit and sequels could be made, the full title was added back on to later prints.
How convenient.