Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas.

The
franchise began with the namesake eponymous 1977 movie and quickly became a worldwide
pop-culture phenomenon.

The first film, later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope, 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), completed what Lucas later called the "tragedy of Darth Vader". 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.[1] The first eight films were
nominated for Academy Awards (with wins going to the first two released) and were
commercially successful. Together with the theatrical spin-off films Rogue One (2016) and Solo
(2018), the series has a combined box office revenue of over US$9 billion,[2] and is the second-
highest-grossing film franchise.[3]

The film series has spawned into other media, including television shows, video games, books,
comics, theme park attractions and themed areas, resulting in a significantly detailed 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 of all time.