Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic space opera that follows the adventures of a young Jedi knight, Luke Skywalker. Master storyteller George Lucas wrote and directed Star Wars and helped launched an entirely new genre of movie. Star Wars premiered in 1976, and was immediately beloved by fans. The movie launched an epic phenomenon, which changed movie and cultural history forever.

The sequels to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, completed the tale of Luke Skywalker's journey to confront the evil Darth Vader, master of the dark side of the force. Along the way, Luke and his cohorts, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Yoda, R2D2, and C3PO, encounter a phalanx of fantastical and terrifying creatures. Luke and other Jedis battle with swords of light known as lightsabers.

The phenomenal success of Star Wars and its spin-off movies--six in total--cannot be measured in box office gross alone. Rough estimates suggest that the franchise may be worth several billion dollars today. Star Wars spun off a number of extremely popular video games, toys, and promotional items. In 2001, George Lucas returned the Star Wars world to the big screen. His next three Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith, grossed astonishing box office takes worldwide and reinvigorated the franchise.

Given the vast commercial success of Star Wars and its spin-off franchises, memorabilia from the original film is extremely rare and valuable. Trading forums and virtual game worlds based on Star Wars abound, and mint condition Star Wars figurines from the earlier trilogy can retail for thousands at online auctions.