Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film[a] and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

The Star Wars franchise depicts the adventures of characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"[2] across multiple fictional eras, in which humans and many species of aliens (often humanoid) co-exist with droids, which may be programmed for personal assistance or battle.

Virtually any Earth biome, along with many fictional ones, has its counterpart as a Star Wars planet which, in most cases, teem with sentient and non-sentient alien life.

[22] The Jedi and Sith prefer the use of a weapon called the lightsaber, a blade of plasma that can cut through virtually any surface and deflect energy bolts.

[25] The combination of science fiction and fantasy elements makes Star Wars a very universal franchise, capable of telling stories of various genres.

[45] The original trilogy depicts the heroic development of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi and his fight against Palpatine's Galactic Empire alongside his sister, Leia.

[48] In 1971, George Lucas wanted to film an adaptation of the Flash Gordon serial, but could not obtain the rights, so he began developing his own space opera.

[52] Fox expected the film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to Elstree Studios in England to help save on cost.

"[60] Technical advances in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the ability to create computer-generated imagery (CGI), inspired Lucas to consider that it might be possible to revisit his saga.

[78][79] The sequel trilogy also meant the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories, which were discarded from canon to give "maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience.

In 2008, Lucasfilm released the animated film The Clone Wars, which is set during the prequel trilogy and serves as the theatrical pilot of the television series of the same name.

[97] Dave Filoni will direct a film set between the original and sequel trilogies during the New Republic era, serving as the climax of the various live-action television series that began with The Mandalorian in 2019.

All future projects and creative developments across all types of media would be overseen and coordinated by the story group, announced as a division of Lucasfilm created to maintain continuity and a cohesive vision on the storytelling of the franchise.

Written by multiple authors, the series was set 25 to 30 years after the original films and introduced the Yuuzhan Vong, a powerful alien race attempting to invade and conquer the entire galaxy.

Although no longer canon, the story is paralleled in The Force Awakens with Han and Leia's son Ben Solo, who becomes the evil Kylo Ren.

[187] The only downside for Marvel was that the 100,000 copy sales quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements from a position of strength.

Involving the majority of the then current officially licensed publishers, a new era set 200 years before the Skywalker Saga was explored in various books and comics.

Titled Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca, the one-shot was written by High Republic writer Cavan Scott with art by Marika Cresta.

[201] Several other composers worked on other soundtracks, including John Powell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Michael Giacchino (Rogue One),[200] and Ludwig Göransson (The Mandalorian).

[204] In 1983, Buena Vista Records released an original, 30-minute Star Wars audio drama titled Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell, written by Daley.

[204][208] The Star Wars franchise has spawned over one hundred[209] computer, video, and board games, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles.

Some are based directly on the movie material, while others rely heavily on the non-canonical Expanded Universe (rebranded as Star Wars Legends and removed from the canon in 2014).

A single-player action-adventure game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, with an original story and cast of characters, was released in November 2019.

Battles featuring the Ewoks and Gungans against the Empire and Trade Federation, respectively, represent the clash between a primitive society and a more advanced one, similar to the Vietnam-American War.

[275][276] On the inspiration for the First Order formed "from the ashes of the Empire", The Force Awakens director J. J. Abrams spoke of conversations the writers had about how the Nazis could have escaped to Argentina after WWII and "started working together again.

"[277] The Star Wars saga has had a significant impact on popular culture,[278] with references to its fictional universe deeply embedded in everyday life.

[296] Finally, along with Steven Spielberg's Jaws, it shifted the film industry's focus away from personal filmmaking of the 1970s and towards fast-paced, big-budget blockbusters for younger audiences.

[299] One such critic, Peter Biskind, complained, "When all was said and done, Lucas and Spielberg returned the 1970s audience, grown sophisticated on a diet of European and New Hollywood films, to the simplicities of the pre-1960s Golden Age of movies...

"[299][300] In an opposing view, Tom Shone wrote that through Star Wars and Jaws, Lucas and Spielberg "didn't betray cinema at all: they plugged it back into the grid, returning the medium to its roots as a carnival sideshow, a magic act, one big special effect", which was "a kind of rebirth".

For example, a project in Western Australia honed elementary school students storytelling skills by role-playing action scenes from the movies and later creating props and audio/visual scenery to enhance their performance.