Star Wars timeline

Here's a time line of milestones in Star Wars history:

3/1971
George Lucas releases THX 1138, his first full-length movie

7/1973
Universal Studios passes on Lucas' idea for Star Wars

8/1973
American Graffitti becomes a hit

8/1973
Lucas forgoes a six-figure raise for the Star Wars movie in exchange for merchandising and sequel rights.

3/1976
Shooting of Star Wars begins in Tunisia

5/1977
Star Wars premieres and grosses $1.5 million in opening weekend.

Xmas 1977
Lucas sells 600,000 empty IOU action-figure boxes. in 1978 Kenner sells 42,000,000 action figures

4/1978
Star Wars wins 6 academy awards

3/1979
Shooting begins on Empire Strikes Back

5/1980
Empire grosses $6.4 mill in opening weekend

1/1982
Shooting begins for Return of the Jedi

3/1983
Lucas sues Reagan for his use of "Star Wars" for the strategic defense initiative.

5/1983
Jedi sets single opening-day box office reconds on a Wednesday

5/1987
Lucas announces plans for a sequel trilogy and possibility of a third

1/1997
Star Wars Special Edition earns $35.9 mill inopening weekend. 2 weeks later it beats E.T. as the all-time box office champ

6/1997
Epsiode I begins shooting with Lucas as director

5/1999
Phantom Menace makes $28.5 mill in its first day and reaches $100 mill in 5 days

6/2000
Episode II Attack begins production

5/2002
Attack of Clones premieres and makes $80 mill in first weekend

6/2003
Episode III begins shooting

3/2005
Lucas annnounces plans to rerelease all 6 movies in 3-D starting in 2007

4/2005
Lucas announces plans to begin a Star Wars TV series to begin in 2006