“Speculation from the outside world was inevitable because this has never been done before,” Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, told a reporter in a starcruiser hallway on Tuesday. “And I didn’t mind that. People should hold us to the highest possible standard. I also knew what was waiting inside, that our imagineers had created a whole other level of surprise and delight.”

A lasting impact on science fiction films, the general film industry, popular culture, and political culture (Darity 1).

Revolutionary special effects played a huge role in science fiction films (Darity 1).

The technology used in the film itself was revolutionary (Darity 1).

Many of the episodes were nominated for and won oscars and other film awards (Darity 1).

Movies were influenced by politics that were occurring during the time of creation (Darity 1).

Famous actors such as Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman helped with the success of the prequel movies (Historic U.S. Events 1).

The special effects of the late 90’s also helped provide more realistic crowd scenes, cities and buildings, and characters such as Jar-Jar Binks. (Historic U.S. Events 1).

The popularity of the first three movies had made the anticipation for the new prequels greater (Historic U.S. Events 1).

When the previews for The Phantom Menace were released in 1998, fans bought theater tickets just to watch the trailer (Historic U.S. Events 1).

Had an impact on everyday pop-culture such as characters and everyday sayings, music, video games, books, and the evolution of Hollywood. (Cobane 1).

It led to formulaic tales of science fiction, horror flicks, war movies, or coming-of-age adventures

Star Wars is mainly categorized under science-fiction but George Lucas was willing to incorporate other genres to create his vision

Star Wars influenced other films such as the Star Trek franchise to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. (Cameron 1).

Inspired other amateur filmmakers to make mockumentaries and paradies such as Darth Vader’s Psychic Hotline and How the Sith Stole Christmas (Cameron 1).

Score by John Williams is one of the most recognizable of all time. (Cameron 1).

Inspired other directors to improve their visuals (Cameron 1).

Science-fiction media was very popular at the time but was cheaply produced and were usually alien or monster based (National Air and Space Museum).

Star Wars essential revived the Science-fiction genre (National Air and Space Museum 1).

Elon Musk even has named his Falcon series of launch vehicles after the Millennium Falcon (National Air and Space Museum).

Star Wars not only helped to influence real spaceflight but also shaped business and economics (National Air and Space Museum).

The film Alien (1979) is greenlit because of the success of Star Wars (Snider 1).

Star Wars creates an ideologically conservative future compared to Alien or Blade Runner which have futures linked to a liberal society. (Literature/Film Quarterly 1).

Films have grossed $7.8 billion worldwide at the box office, plus $32 billion for all the merchandise (Snider 1).