With the backstory he created for the sequel, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies, with the original film given the subtitle Episode IV – A New Hope to establish it as the first part of the second trilogy. The film's unanticipated success led Lucas to make it the basis of an elaborate serial. Star Wars was released on unlikely hero Luke Skywalker is drawn into a galactic conflict between the Empire and Rebel Alliance by two droids and an old Jedi Knight he helps make one of the Rebellion's most significant victories. Some, like Ford, have called the dialogue in the scripts clunky, and several lines were unscripted some of these are considered the most memorable moments in the films. The selected actors are considered by many viewers to have onscreen chemistry even though some of them were inexperienced, with the notable exceptions of Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing. Thousands of actors were assessed in the search for the trilogy's main cast. American Graffiti cast member Harrison Ford had given up on acting to try to become a carpenter, until Lucas hired him to play Han Solo. He also negotiated the sequel rights and ownership of 40% of the merchandising profits. And Fox would get a first opportunity and last refusal right to make the movie." Lucas was offered $50,000 to write, another $50,000 to produce, and $50,000 to direct the film his directing compensation was later increased to $100,000. Not all the that came later, mind you just the sequel rights. Tom Pollock, then Lucas's lawyer, writes: "We came to an agreement that George would retain the sequel rights. Lucas negotiated to retain the sequel rights.
Subsequent drafts evolved into the script of the original film. By May 1974, he had expanded the script into the first draft of a screenplay, but found that the script had grown too long for a single film. Lucas felt his original story was too difficult to understand, so on April 17, 1973, he began writing a 13-page script titled The Star Wars, sharing strong similarities with Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958). After United Artists, Universal Studios and Disney rejected the film, 20th Century Fox decided to invest in it. Immediately after directing American Graffiti (1973), Lucas wrote a two-page synopsis for his space opera, titled Journal of the Whills. He began developing his own story inspired by the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
In 1971, Lucas wanted to film an adaptation of the Flash Gordon serial, but could not obtain the rights. With the trilogy's success, Star Wars became a pop culture phenomenon, spawning a multi-million dollar merchandising empire. Both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back have been hailed as among the greatest films of all time. The original Star Wars received widespread acclaim from critics for its storytelling, characters, John Williams' music and groundbreaking visual and sound effects, and surpassed 1975's Jaws as the highest grossing film of all time, turning science fiction films into a blockbuster genre, until it was surpassed by E.T. Luke joins forces with Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2 and the Rebel Alliance in facing the Empire and the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The films center on the Galactic Civil War between the Rebel Alliance and the tyrannical Galactic Empire, as well as the archetypical hero's journey of Luke Skywalker in his quest to become a Jedi under the tutelage of exiled Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
Collectively, they are referred to as the "Skywalker Saga" to distinguish them from spin-off films set within the same universe. It was followed by a prequel trilogy between 19, and a sequel trilogy between 20. Beginning in medias res, the original trilogy serves as the second act of the nine-episode Skywalker saga. It was produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox, and consists of the original Star Wars film (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). The DIS-T81 was created for Star Wars: X-wing Second Edition by FFG.The Star Wars Trilogy, also known as the original trilogy or the classic trilogy, is the first set of three films produced in the Star Wars franchise, an American space opera created by George Lucas.