Star Wars is an American space opera franchise created by filmmaker George Lucas that features a series of eight science fantasy films and two spin-offs. The first film was released only under the title Star Wars on May 25, 1977, and became an unexpected worldwide phenomenon of popular culture, responsible for the beginning of the "age of blockbusters": Super cinema productions that are successful at the box office and become franchises with toys, games, books, etc. It was followed by two sequences, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, released at three-year intervals, forming the original trilogy.
This first trilogy follows the iconic trio: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia, who fight in the Rebel Alliance to overthrow the tyrant Galactic Empire; parallel to Luke's journey to become a Jedi knight and the fight against Darth Vader, a former Jedi who succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force and the Emperor.