Movies Like Star Wars

Frequently asked about Star Wars

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• How to watch Star Wars in order?▾

  There are two common viewing orders. Release order follows the films as they came out: the original trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983), the prequels (1999, 2002, 2005), then the sequels (2015, 2017, 2019). Chronological order goes by in-universe timeline: Episodes I-III, Solo, Rogue One, Episodes IV-VI, then Episodes VII-IX.

• What's the next Star Wars movie?▾

  The next theatrical Star Wars film is The Mandalorian and Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau and scheduled for release on May 22, 2026.

• Was Star Wars released in 1977 or 1978?▾

  Star Wars was released in 1977. It premiered in U.S. theaters on May 25, 1977, though it rolled out to many international markets in 1978.

• What actor has the most $100 million movies?▾

  Samuel L. Jackson holds the record for the most films grossing over $100 million at the box office, with appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars prequels contributing significantly to that total.

• Why does Obi-Wan Kenobi let Darth Vader kill him instead of fighting back?▾

  When Obi-Wan sees Luke and the others are safely aboard the Millennium Falcon, he lowers his lightsaber and allows Vader to strike him down, seemingly at peace. He tells Vader that striking him down will only make him more powerful — and indeed he immediately vanishes into the Force, becoming a disembodied voice that guides Luke during the Death Star trench run. His sacrifice is both a strategic distraction to let the group escape and a deliberate transformation into a Force spirit capable of guiding Luke beyond death.

• How does Luke destroy the Death Star if he turns off his targeting computer at the last moment?▾

  Luke uses the Force rather than the computerized targeting system, guided by Obi-Wan's voice telling him to 'use the Force.' The exhaust port is described as only two meters wide, a shot that the targeting computer was struggling to guarantee. Luke's trust in the Force — drilled into him by Kenobi during his lightsaber training aboard the Falcon — allows him to fire proton torpedoes at precisely the right moment, sending them down the thermal exhaust shaft and triggering a chain reaction that destroys the station.

• Why does Darth Vader spare Luke during the Death Star trench run?▾

  Vader does not knowingly spare Luke — he has not yet identified him as his son. Vader personally enters the trench to finish off the final Rebel pilots and is lining up a killing shot on Luke's X-wing when Han Solo returns unexpectedly in the Millennium Falcon, blasting Vader's wingmen and sending Vader's TIE fighter spinning helplessly into space. Luke survives purely because of Han's last-minute intervention, not any deliberate choice by Vader.

• What is the Force, and why can Luke use it so quickly with almost no training?▾

  The Force is described by Obi-Wan as an energy field created by all living things that binds the galaxy together, which Force-sensitive individuals can tap into for perception, reflexes, and influence over others. Luke is implied to have unusually high innate sensitivity — Obi-Wan notes his father was the best star pilot in the galaxy and a strong Force user. His only formal training in the film is a brief session with a remote drone aboard the Falcon, yet his natural aptitude (and, retroactively per later films, his lineage) allows him to succeed where even the Rebel Alliance's veteran pilots failed.

• Why does Princess Leia send R2-D2 to find Obi-Wan Kenobi specifically?▾

  Leia hid the stolen Death Star plans inside R2-D2 and recorded a personal holographic plea to Obi-Wan Kenobi, addressing him by his full name Ben Kenobi and referring to her father Bail Organa's old connection to him. Obi-Wan had served as a general in the Clone Wars alongside Bail Organa, and Leia knew from her adoptive father that Kenobi was one of the few surviving Jedi — and a figure with the knowledge and ability to help the Rebellion analyze and exploit the plans. R2-D2 was programmed with Tatooine as the destination because Obi-Wan had been living there in self-imposed exile watching over the young Luke Skywalker.