''For the original'' '''Star Wars''' ''film, see'' [[Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]].
'''Star Wars''' is a [[science fiction]] film saga and fictional universe created by American director [[George Lucas]]. The original ''Star Wars'' movie (Episode IV) came out on May 25, 1977. The earlier set of ''Star Wars'' movies (''Episodes IV, V, and VI'') are renowned as classics of cinema, and were some of the first "summer blockbusters" ever made. Episodes I, II and III were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. All six movies are among the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time.<ref>http://imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross</ref> During the time of the Prequel trilogy, Lucas's liberal politics came to the forefront, with there being a more overt left-leaning agenda in the films, including a negative depiction of creating a military, a negative depiction of capitalism in Episode I and II via the main antagonistic groups of the Trade Federation and the Separatists, respectively (the former showing the Trade Federation literally owning a seat in the Senate, and the latter having the inner circle of the Separatists being composed of various corporations such as the aforementioned Trade Federation as well as the Techno Guild, Intergalactic Banking Clan, and the Corporate Alliance), some demonization of Republicans in the form of the main antagonist Nute Gunray (who was explicitly named after both [[Ronald Reagan]] in reference to his role in SDI as well as then-Senate Majority Leader [[Newt Gingrich]]), the minor character and "senator" of the Trade Federation Lott Dod (referring to Trent Lott, then-current House Majority Leader of the Republican Party), and to a lesser extent the entire Republican party (as the first film, and the decision to make the Trade Federation the main villains was derived largely from the [[Republican Revolution]] (1994)|Republican Revolution of 1994 ]] as well as Gingrich's Contract With America plan, all of which had occurred within eight days of Lucas draft-writing Episode I), as well as some [[George W. Bush]] jabs in the third movie (as well as at least one implied instance of promoting postmodernism via the line "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."). While box office successes, the Prequel Trilogy had controversial reception, with complaints including the creation of Jar-Jar Binks as well as the more overt pushing of politics in the films (particularly pushing a more left-wing view of politics).
In 1984 and 1985, two spinoff movies to the original trilogy (Episode IV, V, and VI) were made featuring the Ewok characters seen in ''Episode VI: Return of the Jedi''. An animated film called ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' was released in 2008. In 2012, [[George Lucas]] sold the franchise to [[Disney]], which plans to make three more movies <ref>http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/10/30/disney-buying-tar-wars-maker-lucasfilm-for-405b/</ref> ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' was released on December 18, 2015, making it second film (the first being The Clone Wars) and the first in the main series, to not be released in May. ''Star Wars Episode VIII'' will follow suit, releasing on December 15, 2017. Episode IX is slated with for a December 20, 2019 release, with J.J. Abrams returning to direct. Overall, with the comics, movies, video games, books of various genres, and toys, it is the second-highest grossing media franchise in existence, with only ''[[Pokemon]]'' surpassing it.