"Chewbacca," a character from the film Star Wars is wearing a bandolier across his right shoulder. Kenner Products obtained the rights to produce Star Wars action figures and play sets for the Star Wars trilogy from 1977 through 1985. After the first film Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope was released in 1977, Star Wars and its subsequent films became a worldwide popular culture phenomenon generating merchandising and stories in other media. Star Wars is classified as a space opera, which is defined as a melodramatic adventure on a grand scale set in outer space.