20 Greatest Summer Blockbusters Ever Made

9. Star Wars (1977)

RottenTomatoes Score: 94% (8.6/10)

Box Office: $775.4 million

Why It's Awesome: For starters, it's one of the most influential films ever made, ushering in an era of visually stunning sci-fi flicks, most of which attempted to ape the iconic space opera, though few have truly succeeded in living up to it.

The beauty is in the film's simplicity: it lives and breathes on the strength of its familiar yet tremendously entertaining characters, while George Lucas' world-building is simply immaculate, and of course, the movie introduced the world to Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher.

Even had Star Wars not spawned a mammoth franchise of merchandise and tangential stories, the original would still stand tall as a testament to the power of unique ideas, colourful characters and the wonder of space.

And yes, Han shot first.