A Complete Star Wars Timeline

Launch of Star Wars
1.) First look at Star Wars at the 1970’s comic con

1. The premiere showed two handfuls of people in a small room watching an even smaller projector screen.
2. Although this movie did not start out big, this franchise has always respected its fans. From humble beginnings, Lucas Films understands that without the faithful backing of this beginning it would not be the iconic pop culture stamp that it has been.
3. The launch of Star Wars started slow. It began with the bare minimum. It had several comics out, but no action figures. Apparently Stan Lee felt that these comic books were the only thing that saved Marvel from having a terrible year of comics.

2.) 1980: The Empire Strikes Back
3.) 1983: Return of the Jedi

1. These movies redefined what it meant to be a science fiction movie and make big success. They also reshaped when the best time for movies to come out.  Previously the fall season was when the “best” movies would come out. But of course, Star Wars breaks this mold and comes out Memorial Day weekend. This turns the trend towards “better” movies coming out during this time.
2. While these films were being created, Lucas had to facilitate his own needs. He had to build his own studios that could help him technologically perform what he needed. This innovator broke so many old rules and turned film making into a completely different process. Lucas helped bring digital film making into the mainstream. The focus was to be able to tell stories with computer-generated imagery.

4.)  1984/1985: Live action Ewok movies

1. The Ewok Adventure
2. Ewoks and the Marauders of Endor
3. Saturday Morning cartoons featuring R2D2 and C3PO only lasted for a few episodes before being taken off the air.
4. Ewoks: a TV show featuring these tiny bear like creatures lasted for two seasons before being cancelled.
5. Eowk on Ice was also another part of the Star Wars history, albeit a bit of a weird and unpopular one.

5.) 1987: Star Tours

1. Disneyland opens this ride to audiences and fans of Star Wars.
2. First real collaboration between Lucas and Disney.
3. This was the first chance a fan could have at seeing and living inside a Star Wars adventure.
4. After Star Tours, not much was happening with the series. George Lucas had moved onto other projects and this slowly slipped into the back of people’s minds. Until…..

6.) 1990’s Video Games

1. The gamer could now experience a full Star Wars storyline through a game.

7.) 1991: Comic books

1. Star Wars: Dark Empire and Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
2. Dark Horse comics and Bantam comics published these comics, which became a huge success.
3. These comics began telling stories in the world of Star Wars
4. Stories like the past of the empire, the future, or even an entirely different part of this world were suddenly explained and created to enrich the experience of Star Wars. These comics went into expanding this universe.

8.)  1993

1. The release of Jurassic Park helped to inspire Lucas to find a new way to make his vision real. The use of visual affects could now be used to make giant dinosaurs. This only made Lucas rethink what could be done with Star Wars.

9.) 1997 20^th anniversary of Star Wars

1. Theatrical re-release of the trilogy.
2. Re-mastering of the old Star Wars movies to re-finish scenes and make the film even more into what Lucas had originally planned.

10.) 1999: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

1. George Lucas in the fall 1998 made watching the trailer into a huge deal. He only released it with certain films, which hyped people up into wanting to see it.

11.) 2002: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

1. First major film of this magnitude to be shot digitally.

12.) 2005: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

1. Only showed in digital theatres.

13.) 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars

1. Stories that came from the galactic war between episodes two and three.
2. The animation style of this show was said to be like watching a mini Star Wars movie that lasted 25 minutes.

14.) Modern Era:

1. Star Tours revamped
2. Muppets with Star Wars
3. Phineas and Ferb mixed with Star Wars
4. George Lucas retires and hires Kathleen Kennedy as his replacement

i.      She’s made films such as: Schindler’s List, The Sixth Sense, and Jurassic Park

1. October: signed Lucasfilm to be apart of the Disney filmmaking industry
2. This brought the mention of a new Star Wars movie
3. Star Wars: Rebels

i.      Scrappy under dogs must fight against the empire, and takes place after Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope
       4.  2015: Unnamed Star Wars: Episode VII will be made.