Star Wars: A New Hope is the first film to be made in what would become the gigantic Star Wars franchise. Conceived by creator George Lucas as a "space opera," the film instantly became a phenomenon at the moment of its release. It paved the way for numerous other films, television shows, books, and video games.

Now officially titled Episode IV: A New Hope, the film was released in 1977, and it starred Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alex Guinness, and others. It was an instant hit, and at the time of its release it was the highest-grossing film ever made. It follows the story of Luke Skywalker, a young farm boy from the planet of Tatooine, who gets unexpectedly embroiled in the Rebel effort during an intergalactic civil war.

Lucas was inspired to write the film in 1971, after directing his first film, THX 1138, and was inspired by the comic Flash Gordon. He had to do a lot of convincing to get studio heads to run with his idea, as science fiction was not a particularly viable genre at the time. Principal photography began in 1976 in Tunisia, and many of the crew members thought the film would be a failure. The film's success greatly exceeded the low expectations surrounding its release, and it is widely credited with reinvigorating 20th Century Fox as a production company.