Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".

The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars (subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981[2][3]), which became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by the similarly successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983); these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was later released between 1999 and 2005, which received a more mixed reaction from critics and fans in comparison to the original trilogy. More recently, a sequel trilogy began with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards (with Oscar wins going to the first two films) and have all been commercial successes with a combined box office revenue of $6.46 billion,[4] making Star Wars the fourth highest-grossing film series.[5] Additional theatrical films outside of the main saga include the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and the live-action film Rogue One (2016), which is the first in a series of anthology films. Read More.