Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, created by George Lucas and centered around a film series that began with the eponymous 1977 movie. The saga quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.The first film, subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope with its 1981 re-release, was followed by two successful sequels, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983); forming the original Star Wars trilogy. A subsequent prequel trilogy, consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), was met with mixed reactions from critics and fans. Finally, a sequel trilogy began with Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), continued with Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), and will end with Episode IX in 2019. The first eight films were nominated for Academy Awards (with wins going to the first two released) and were commercially successful, with a combined box office revenue of over US$8.5 billion. Together with the theatrical spin-off films The Clone Wars (2008), Rogue One (2016), and Solo (2018), Star Wars is the second-highest-grossing film series of all time. The film series has spawned into other media, including books, television shows, computer and video games, theme park attractions and lands, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series' fictional universe. Star Wars holds a Guinness World Records title for the "Most successful film merchandising franchise". In 2018, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at US$65 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise.