On May 19th, 1999, the George Lucas film, "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" was released to theaters across the United States. Following the release of "Return of the Jedi" in 1983, there were talks of a follow-up film being produced, but George Lucas was unmotivated to produce it. During his years off, Lucas began to develop backstories for some of the characters, particularly Anakin Skywalker, and once he was satisfied with the advancement of CGI, he began production of "The Phatom Menace". Upon release, the film was extensively covered by the media, and was highly anticipated due to the cult following the original "Star Wars" trilogy had created. "The Phantom Menace" grossed $924 million in the worldwide box office during its initial theatrical run, and became the highest-grossing film of 1999, and the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind only "Titanic". The success of the film led to two more films in the prequel trilogy, including "Attack of the Clones" (2002) and "Revenge of the Sith" (2005).
