Star Wars is an American epic area opera multimedia franchise produced by George Lucas, which started with the eponymous 1977 movie as well as swiftly ended up being a worldwide pop-culture sensation. The franchise has actually been expanded right into different movies and also other media, consisting of television collection, video clip games, stories, comics, motif park attractions, and themed areas, consisting of an all-encompassing imaginary universe. In 2020, its total worth was approximated at US$ 70 billion, and it is presently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise business of all time. The original film (Star Wars), retroactively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), was adhered to by the follows up Episode V: The Realm Strikes Back (1980) as well as Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), creating the original Star Wars trilogy. Lucas later went back to filmmaking to route a prequel trilogy, including Episode I: The Phantom Threat (1999), Episode II: Assault of the Clo...