For almost 50 years, George Lucas’ $10bn movie franchise, Star Wars, has captured the imaginations of audiences around the world. So, if you can’t get enough of the galaxy far, far away, here are ten movies like Star Wars that will capture your imagination and keep you on the edge of your seat.
Star Wars: 3 Trilogies & A Multi-Billion Dollar Franchise
SPOILERS AHEAD
A New Hope
In 1977, a young George Lucas released a low-budget film, Star Wars, later subtitled A New Hope. With an original budget of just $8 million (which ended up being $10 million), the film turned into one of the most financially successful films of all time, sitting at number one at the box offices for three weeks.
Since its release, with revenues totaling more than $220 million on its original run – over $775 million in total, after reissues.
The film was met with critical appraisals across the board, with Lucas’ remarkable narrative capturing the imaginations of audiences less than a decade after the first moon landing.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, written and directed by Lucas, tells the story of a far-away galaxy encumbered by Civil War, where spies from the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans to destroy the Death Star, a space station run by the Galactic Empire that can destroy entire planets.
Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), a rebel leader from the planet of Alderaan, obtained the Death Star’s schematics before being captured by Darth Vader (James Earl Jones).
However, before her capture, she uploads the schematics to an astromech droid, R2-D2, who gets away from Vader in an escape pod, alongside his companion, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) – a protocol droid translator.
The droids land on the desert planet, Tatooine, where Jawa traders capture them. R2-D2 are sold to moisture farmers, Owen (Phil Brown) and Beru Lars (Shelagh Fraser).
The Lars’ adopted nephew, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hammil), discovers Leia’s holographic recording with an encrypted message for her “only hope”, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness).
Luke is later saved from a group of Sand People before being rescued by a mysterious drifter, “Old Ben” Kenobi, who Luke later discovers is actually Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was once a Jedi Knight, a peacekeeper in the now-defunct Galactic Republic.
Jedi Knights can harness the power of a magical energy known as “the force” and yield light-sabers, a sword-like weapon with a blade made of energy.
However, these peacekeepers were killed and exiled to the far corners of the galaxy during the Clone Wars. Luke discovers that his father, Obi-Wan’s apprentice was one such Jedi Knight who Darth Vader killed.
R2D2 plays Princess Leia’s entire message to Obi-Wan, in which she asks him to deliver R2-D2 and the Death Star’s schematics to her father on Alderaan for analysis.
While Luke initially turns down Obi-Wan’s invitation to join him on the mission, he is forced to change his mind following the death of his aunt and uncle.
They enlist the services of Han Solo (Harrison Ford), a maverick smuggler, and his companion, Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), to transport them to Alderaan on their ship, the Millenium Falcon.
They first have to escape the clutches of Jabba The Hut, a local mob boss who Solo owes a debt.
Once they make it off of Tatooine, the crew gets to Alderaan, only to discover that it’s no longer there, following the destruction of the planet at the hands of the Death Star and its commander, Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing).
The Millennium Falcon is then caught in the Death Star’s tractor being and is forced to board the space station, where they escape capture by hiding in the secret smuggling compartments. The group manages to rescue Leia, while Obi-Wan disables the tractor beam.
Following a duel between Obi-Wan and Vader, Han, Chewbacca, Luke and Leia are able to escape to the Rebel base on Yavin IV after he sacrifices himself. After analysis, the schematics uploaded to R2-D2 reveal a weak spot in the Death Star, which, if exploited, could destroy the entire space station with a single shot.
Luke agrees to join the rebels in their orchestrated attack, but Han chooses to walk away after receiving his reward for rescuing Leia. In the battle to follow, Luke and the Rebel Alliance’s X-wing fighters take on Vader’s squadron of TIE fighters, where they’re fighting a losing battle before Han and Chewbacca return to tilt the battle in the Rebels’ favor.
Guided by the force, Luke fires a proton torpedo into the Death Star’s weak spot. He destroys the planet destroyer, earning the first significant win for the Rebel Alliance in the Galactic Civil War for years, giving the galaxy a new hope for the return of peace and democracy.
Star Wars was such a resounding success that it was nominated for 11 academy awards, winning seven in total, among a long, long list of other film awards.
And this was just the beginning of a story that would become a staple for science fiction fans the world over for generations to come.
The Empire Strikes Back
In 1980, Lucas released the second installment in what was to become an epic trilogy that follows Luke Skywalker’s mission to bring peace back to the galaxy and restore balance to the force.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back takes place three years after the events of A New Hope, with Vader on a relentless hunt for Princess Leia. Vader sends probes out all over the galaxy to find her, and Luke comes across the spirit of Obi-Wan while investigating a probe on the ice planet, Hoth.
Obi-Wan instructs him to seek out Master Yoda – an exiled Jedi Master who can instruct him in ways of the force and on how to use a lightsaber. The Galactic Empire invades the rebel’s base after Vader is alerted to its location, but Leia, Han, and Luke manage to escape.
Leia and Han escape in the Millennium Falcon and hide in an asteroid field while Luke travels to the swamp planet, Dagobah, to receive his Jedi training from Master Yoda (Frank Oz).
Yoda, a diminutive creature, reluctantly accepts to train Luke in the ways of the force, while the rest of the crew seeks out Han’s old friend, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), in Cloud City on the planet Bespin for help.
They ask Lando for assistance in escaping Vader’s clutches as well as Boba Fett (Jason Wingreen), a bounty hunter looking to collect a bounty placed on Han’s head by Jabba the Hutt.
After surviving Fett’s attacks, Calrissian is forced to surrender the group to Vader, who captures and imprisons them, knowing that Luke, who senses a disturbance in the force, will come to their rescue. Luke forgoes the remainder of his training to rescue his friends amidst Yoda’s protestations and falls for Vader’s trap.
Han is frozen in carbonite by Vader to test whether the process will work on Luke and is later given to Fett, who will take Han back to Jabba the Hutt and collect his bounty. Calrissian frees Leia and Chewbacca before Luke enters a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader while his friends escape.
During the duel, Vader urges Luke to turn to the dark side, recognizing his growing power. Luke refuses before Vader iconically reveals that he did not, in fact, kill his father, but that he is Luke’s father, before cutting Luke’s hand off with his lightsaber.
Luke is eventually rescued before he passes out. The movie ends with a scene of Luke being fitted with a robotic prosthesis before he and the rest of the crew get ready to embark on their next mission, to rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt.
The Empire Strikes Back was another resounding success, and its plots, lines, and characters have become ingrained in popular culture, particularly amongst the Sci-Fi community. And, on a budget of $30.5 million, it produced the revenues to prove it.
Overall, the film grossed between $538 and $549 million at the Box Office, winning two Academy Awards and being nominated for a further two.
The Return of the Jedi
In 1983, George Lucas brought the original Star Wars trilogy to a close with Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi. Exactly six years after the release of A New Hope, the film grossed $475 million on its budget that fell between $32.5 and $42.7 million, earning five Academy Award nominations, winning one.
After Han Solo is captured, C-3PO and R2-D2 are sent to negotiate a bargain on Luke Skywalker’s behalf for Han’s freedom. Princess Leia infiltrates Jabba’s palace and unfreezes Han but is captured and enslaved before Luke arrives to negotiate Han’s release.
Jabba the Hutt refuses the offer and captures Luke after forcing him to fight a rancor, a giant beast that Luke eventually kills before being sentenced to death.
After a failed execution that results in both Jabba and Boba Fett’s deaths, Luke Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Han escape to rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, before Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training with Master Yoda.
An old, dying Yoda confirms that the revelation about Darth Vader being Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. It is also revealed that Princess Leia is Luke’s twin sister. The spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi then instructs Luke to confront Vader, defeat the Empire, and bring balance to the force.
At the same time, the Rebel Alliance learns about the construction of a second Death Star, which is being protected by a shield. The Rebels must destroy the shield generator on the moon of Endor to destroy the new Death Star.
Luke, however, surrenders himself to Vader and the Galactic Empire stormtroopers before being taken to Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who tries to convince him to join the dark side of the force.
After revealing that the Empire is luring the Rebel Alliance into a trap with the Second Death Star fully operational, the Emperor tempts Luke to embrace the dark side by striking him down in anger.
Vader intervenes as Luke attempts to attack the Emperor. Another father-son lightsaber duel plays out before Luke cuts off Vader’s prosthetic hand and has an opportunity to finish him.
The Emperor encourages Luke to kill Vader and take his place as his apprentice. After Luke refuses, the Emperor tortures him with Force Lightning before Vader stops it and kills the Emperor, rather than watching his son die.
Vader is electrocuted while killing the Emperor and eventually dies after his disfigured face is revealed when Luke removes his mask at his request.
With the death of Palpatine, Vader restores balance to the force, and the Rebel Alliance can destroy the shield generator and, later, the Second Death Star.
The trilogy ends with Luke, Leia, Han, the rest of the crew and races from all over the galaxy celebrating the end of the Galactic Civil War.
The Prequel Trilogy: Episodes I-III
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II – The Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode II – The Revenge of the Sith (2005) were all part of a prequel trilogy, set 32, 22, and 19 years before the original trilogy’s timeline, respectively.
Phantom Menace tells the story of Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice, a young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) who, as peacekeepers in the Galactic Republic, are tasked with putting an end to the Trade Federation’s blockade around the planet, Naboo – which has been covertly orchestrated by Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who is actually a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, looking for a pretext to become the chancellor of the Republic.
They encounter Naboo’s young queen, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), who helps them to escape the blockade to the desert planet, Tatooine, where they meet a young, enslaved child, a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who Qui-Gon believes is the “chosen one” who would one day restore balance to the force.
Qui-Gon takes Anakin on as his new Padawan (apprentice), believing that training him as a Jedi would help fulfill an ancient prophecy.
However, Qui-Gon dies in a lightsaber battle against Darth Sidious’ Sith apprentice, Darth Maul (Ray Park). Obi-Wan promises Qui-Gon to take Anakin on as his own apprentice, setting the scene for the remainder of the trilogy.
Set 10 years later, Episode II – The Attack of the Clones follows the story of an older Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan as they attempt to rescue Padmé, who has been subjected to a second assassination attempt as she runs to be the Senator of Naboo, following her second term as queen.
While Obi-Wan tracks Padmé’s assassin, Anakin remains in Naboo to protect her, and they secretly fall in love.
Meanwhile, the now-Chancellor of the Republic, Palpatine, attempts to lure the Republic into War with systems of planets that have seceded from the Republic, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, led by Darth Sidious’ new apprentice, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee).
The Jedi Order also oversees assembling an army of clones to aid them in the war against the Confederacy, also known as the Clone Wars.
Three years into the Clone Wars, the story picks up again in Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith. Anakin is losing faith in the Jedi order, having made significant progress in his Jedi training and earning a reputation as one of the finest fighters amongst the Jedi’s ranks.
Continuing his secret relationship with Padmé, he experiences premonitions of her dying in childbirth after her announcement that she’s fallen pregnant.
Having formed a friendship with Chancellor Palpatine, the cunning Sith lord convinces him that the dark side of the force holds the key to saving Padmé’s life. After being appointed to form part of the Jedi Council, Anakin is not promoted to Jedi Master due to his lack of experience.
Due to Anakin’s execution of Count Dooku, Palpatine, who reveals himself as Darth Sidious, convinces Anakin to become his new apprentice after Anakin defends him from execution at the hands of Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), the head of the Jedi order.
Anakin takes on the new moniker, Darth Vader, turning to the dark side before a showdown with Obi-Wan, who has learned of Anakin’s betrayal after escaping an execution order that the leader of the newly-formed Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine, issued for all Jedi, who have been branded as traitors.
In the epic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin loses after Obi-Wan cuts an arm and both legs off, leaving him for dead to be burnt to by molten lava. Meanwhile, Padmé, who Anakin injured in a moment of passion, gives birth to twins, Luke and Leia, and dies in childbirth.
Luke is sent off to live with Anakin’s stepbrother, Owen, and his wife, Beru, on Tatooine, while Senator Organa adopts Leia to live on Alderaan. Both will be raised in secret, out of sight, setting the scene for the original trilogy.
Episodes I, II, and III made revenues of $1 billion, $645 million, and $868 million on budgets of $115 million, $115 million, and $113 million, respectively. The Phantom Menace was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning none.
The Attack of the Clones was nominated for one. Revenge of the Sith was also nominated for one, with none securing the award in their categories.
The Sequel Trilogy: Episodes VII-IX
Ten years after the release of The Revenge of the Sith, the Star Wars franchise continued to capture fans’ imaginations with a third trilogy, this time based 30 years after the destruction of the Second Death Star in the original trilogy.
I would not, however, feature George Lucas as a director or as a screenwriter.
Episode VII – The Force Awakens was released in 2015 and was directed by JJ Abrahams. It would be followed by Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), directed by Rian Johnson, with Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) making up the final installment of the third trilogy and wrapping up the nine-part “Skywalker Saga”, with Abrahams reprising his role as director.
The Force Awakens reintroduces us to the Star Wars galaxy, as it exists 30 years after the end of the original trilogy, with the remnants of what was once the Galactic Empire evolving into the First Order, which is intent on destroying Luke Skywalker (with Mark Hamill reprising his role) and the New Republic.
Kylo Ren, a.k.a. Ben Solo, (Adam Driver) – son of the leader of The Resistance, General Leia Organa and Han Solo (Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford also reprised their characters) – is the leader of the First Order.
Ren captures a Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), who has found a map on Jakku to Luke’s location in the outer-rims of the galaxy.
Poe’s droid, BB-8, escapes with the map and encounters a scavenger, Rey (Daisy Ridley), and a First Order Stormtrooper that has defected, Finn (John Boyega), who all team up with Han Solo and Chewbacca on a mission to bring the map to the Resistance.
Han reveals that Luke tried to revive the Jedi Order but went into exile after an apprentice turned to the dark side before the crew seeks aid from Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) on the planet Takodana, who has offered to help them on their mission to get BB-8 to The Resistance.
While on Takodana, Rey is drawn by the force to discover the lightsaber that once belonged to Luke and Anakin before him. Following some disturbing visions, Rey turns down the opportunity to keep the lightsaber, which Maz later offers to Finn.
The New Republic’s fleet is destroyed by the First Order’s Starkiller Base, a planet that has been converted into a superweapon with Death Star-like planet-destroying capabilities.
This leaves just The Resistance to fight back against Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader, Snoke (Andy Serkis), his commander, General Hux (Donald Gleeson), and First Order tyranny.
When the First Order attacks the crew in Takodana, Rey is captured by Kylo Ren, who takes her back to Starkiller Base, while Poe saves the rest of the crew. The Resistance plans to destroy the Starkiller Base as it gets ready to launch its next attack by attacking its thermal oscillator.
However, Chewbacca, Han, and Finn infiltrate the First Order facilities to rescue Rey, who has been interrogated by Snoke and is now known to be force-sensitive.
While planting explosives around the facility, Han confronts Kylo and implores him to turn away from the dark side, but Kylo kills him instead.
The explosives are set off, and Poe is able to attack the base’s thermal oscillator as Kylo pursues Finn and Rey on foot.
After Finn attempts to fight Kylo and is knocked unconscious, Rey picks up the lightsaber to engage in a duel with Kylo, which she almost wins until they are separated.
After the Resistance forces flee, an inactive R2-D2reactivatess and allows Rey to read the map to Luke’s location, the planet Ahch-To, which she travels to. She then meets Luke on a cliffside, handing him his lightsaber.
The Last Jedi picks up from where The Force Awakens left off, with Rey attempting to convince Luke to teach her the ways of the force and to answer questions about his conflict with Kylo Ren. Luke refuses, saying that the Jedi need to die. She also establishes a connection with Kylo through the force but does not tell Luke.
Meanwhile, Leia continues to lead the Resistance’s efforts against Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order, starting with the destruction of a tracking device that allows them to track every move The Resistance makes.
Through her ability to communicate with Kylo through the force, Rey decides to leave her Jedi training after Luke reluctantly agrees to teach her three lessons to seek a peaceful solution with Luke’s old Padawan, convinced that she can lead him to abandon Snoke and return to the light side.
After Kylo and the First Order capture her, Snoke reveals that he established the connection between Rey and Kylo to determine where Luke is. However, Kylo eventually kills Snoke and tries to convince her to rule the galaxy with him, which she refuses.
They battle each other for possession of Luke’s lightsaber until it is eventually destroyed. Rey escapes before Kylo declares himself the new Supreme Leader in Snoke’s place.
As Rey and the group escape the rebel base on Crait, Kylo orders the seige canons to fire at Luke, who creates a big enough distraction for the crew to escape, only for Kylo to realize that it was just a projection of the force, rather than Luke being physically present.
Once the resistance escapes, Luke becomes one with the Force and dies peacefully on Ahch-To.
In the last installment of the Skywalker Saga, Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker tells the story of the epic final showdown between The Resistance and the First Order.
Set a year after The Last Jedi, Emperor Palpatine reveals himself to have been secretly leading the First Order – meaning that Supreme Leader Snoke was nothing more than a vessel for his power.
Rey continues her Jedi training under the orders of Leia before Finn and Poe tell them that Palpatine has been hiding on the planet Exegol, where Rey will be able to track him through lessons learned from Luke Skywalker’s notes.
However, she is relentlessly pursued by Kylo Ren, who has is under orders from Palpatine to kill her, while she attempts to find a Sith Wayfinder that would lead her to Palpatine himself.
Rey and the crew pick up a clue in the form of a Sith text with the help of Lando Calrissian before it is captured, along with Chewbacca, by the First Order. Rey and the crew then carry out a rescue mission for Chewbacca.
When Rey recovers the dagger, she’s met with the revelation that her parents were Jedi murdered by a Jedi hunter and that she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter.
Once Rey discovers that the Sith Wayfinder can be found in the remains of the Second Death Star on the moon, Endor, she is met by Kylo, who destroys it and engages in a duel with her.
A dying Leia calls out to her son through the force, distracting him and allowing Rey to kill him. However, she heals Kylo and takes herself into exile on Ahct-To with Kylo’s ship, where Luke encourages her to confront Palpatine.
Using a Sith Wayfinder from Kylo’s ship, Rey takes Leia’s lightsaber on her mission to confront the Sith Lord while sending her coordinates to R2-D2 and the new leaders of The Resistance, Poe, and Finn. Kylo, now using the moniker Ben Solo again, joins Rey in Exegol to help her overcome the forces in her way.
Once she confronts Palpatine, he asks her to kill him so that his spirit can be transferred to her and continue propagating the dark side’s power. When she refuses, and Ben intervenes, Palpatine uses force lightning to drain their power and rejuvenate himself.
When Rey counters by using Luke and Leia’s lightsabers, Palpatine dies as she starts to die herself. However, before she dies, Ben uses the force to revive her at the cost of his own life.
The Resistance then destroys Palpatine’s warships, and the galaxy becomes rid of the First Order. Rey buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers on Tatooine in the wreckage of Luke’s old home and takes on the name “Skywalker” as her surname, bringing the Skywalker Saga to a close.
The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker had budgets of $259-306 million, $200-317 million, and $275 million, respectively, grossing $2.069 billion, $1.333 billion, and $1.078 billion at the Box Office each.
The Force Awakens was nominated for five Academy Awards, The Last Jedi was nominated for four, and The Rise of Skywalker was nominated for three. However, none of them won in any of their categories.
10 Movies Like Star Wars
Suppose nine Star Wars movies haven’t been enough to satiate your appetite for George Lucas’ epic Science Fiction franchise. In that case, there are plenty of movies out there that are similar to Star Wars and have captured audiences’ imaginations.
1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Set in the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Rogue One follows the story of the group of unlikely heroes who are on a mission to steal the Death Star’s schematics. It is one of two anthology stories released at roughly the same time as the sequel trilogy.
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk
Academy Awards: 2 nominations
Budget: $220 million
Box Office: $1.056 billion
Related to: When ‘Star Wars’ Changed │ Star Wars Blu Ray Announced
2. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Solo is the other Star Wars anthology film that was released at the same time as the sequel trilogy and chronicles the origin story of one of Star Wars fans’ most beloved characters, Han Solo, and his friends Chewbacca and Lando.
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
Budget: $275-$300 million
Box Office: $393.2 million
3. Dune (2021)
George Lucas admitted that Star Wars and the planet Tatooine were inspired by Frank Herbert’s epic fantasy, sci-fi, written in 1965 Dune. After countless failed attempts to make the film, 2021 finally broke the duck for fans of the legendary novels.
The story follows a son of a noble family as he tries to protect the desert planet, Arrakis, which is the only source of melange, the most valuable commodity in the universe, which heps extend human lifespans.
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
Academy Awards: n/a
Budget: $165 million
Box Office: $117.1 million
4. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
When it comes to immersive fantasy worlds, perhaps the only film franchise that can genuinely compete with Star Wars is The Lord of the Rings. Also released as a trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003) follows the story of a group of hobbits on a quest to destroy the One Ring and save Middle Earth with the help of their companions of men, wizards, elves, dwarves.
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen
Academy Awards: 21 wins, eight nominations
Budget: $281 million
Box Office: $2.991 billion
5. Harry Potter (2001-2011)
Keeping within the epic fantasy universe theme, we move on to another legendary series that made a huge splash around the world, the Harry Potter series. The seven-part fantasy novel, like Star Wars, was originally written for children but resonated well with adult audiences.
It follows the story of a young Wizard, Harry Potter, and his journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the most famous wizard in the world.
Directed by: Christopher Columbus (1 & 2), Alfonso Cuaron (3), Mike Newell (4), David Yates (5-8)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Academy Awards: n/a
Budget: $1.2 billion
Box Office: $7.7 billion
6. Avatar (2009)
Another Sci-Fi film celebrated for its visual effects and its portrayal of celestial worlds and alien species, Avatar, tells the story of a marine on a mission to colonize a planet, infiltrating the indigenous population. However, as it feels like home, he is torn between carrying out his duties and following his heart.
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
Academy Awards: three wins, six nominations
Budget: $237 million
Box Office: $2.847 billion
7. Indiana Jones (1981-2008)
Also created by George Lucas, Indiana Jones is a movie franchise that follows a famous archeologist, Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. There are four films in the franchise, with another one in the making, starting with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, followed by The Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989) and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
Fans of Star Wars will instantly recognize the main character, portrayed by Harrison Ford (Han Solo), and Lucas’ brand of moviemaking is very much reflected in the production, potline, and action scenes.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
Academy Awards: seven wins, seven nominations
Budget: $279 million
Box Office: $1.978 billion
8. Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek and Star Wars are practically sworn enemies as far as space Sci-Fi movie franchises go. The story follows Captain James T. Kirk and Spock on an adventure aboard the Starship Enterprise in 2233. After the USS Kelvin investigates a lightning storm, they discover a black hole, which creates an alternate timeline, from which the Narada, a Romulan vessel, emerges…
Directed by: JJ Abrahams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg
Academy Awards: one win, three nominations
Budget: $150 million
Box Office: $385.7 million
9. Blade Runner (1982)
Another action-packed sci-fi film, with the plot of a thriller, Star Wars fans will once again see the face of Han Solo on a character in pursuit of bio-engineered, genetically enhanced people who have stolen a ship and returned to earth.
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
Academy Awards: two nominations
Budget: $31 million
Box Office: $41.5 million
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Like Star Wars, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was released during the space race era but a year before the moon landing.
Once a mysterious artifact is discovered at a lunar outpost, humanity uses the Supercomputer HAL 9000 to uncover its origins.
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Academy Awards: one win, three nominations
Budget: $10.5-$12 million
Box Office: $146 million