The title of the final Star Wars prequel will be Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

The movie is set for release in May 2005.

It will link the prequels with the original Star Wars trilogy by showing how Luke Skywalker's father, Anakin, went from a sweet-natured slave boy to the galaxy-crushing villain Darth Vader.

The Sith is the evil sect that corrupts Anakin (played by Hayden Christensen) by drawing him into the dark side of the Force, the cosmic power that balances the universe.

Lucasfilm announced the new title at the annual Comic-Con International, the annual gathering of tens of thousands of sci-fi and superhero fans.

It was a risky move - some of the notoriously fickle Star Wars admirers initially bristled at previous prequel titles The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

Star Wars creator and filmmaker George Lucas did not attend the event, but sent fan relations chief Steve Sansweet in his place.

In addition to the title, Lucasfilm also sent concept artist Ryan Church to show off drawings of a Wookie tree civilisation from Episode III and played footage of Christensen's climactic light-saber duel - minus all the special effects - with co-star Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Return of the Jedi was originally to be titled Revenge of the Jedi. Some advance promotional material even featured that title, but Lucas changed it later in production.

"This time, George tells us he's going to keep 'Revenge' in the title," Mr Sansweet said.

Source: Press Release