1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) 16 Years
I know it is a prequel but we are going to make it count here. What can I say about Star Wars that has not already been said or known? The original trilogy has and will always mark itself as a milestone achievement in film. We knew there was always suppose to be an episode one, two, and three (and rumored to be more). There are multiple reasons why it took George Lucas 16 years to finally get around to his first three episodes, creating a series in the middle then telling the conclusion then starting from the beginning a decade and a half later. So there is a lot to say critically about The Phantom Menace, which makes the answer to the question of its wait such a fun debate.
Was it worth it? It almost deserves a chuckle to think about this question. Many will say "no" while others will merely shrug their shoulder at most. Would this trilogy have been different if it was created immediately after the finish of Return of the Jedi? Or did the saga need the special effects to truly make it happen? I wrote an article sometime back about some of the redeeming qualities of the prequel trilogy that sparked a lot of angry comments so my answer here may do the same. The answer to the question "was it worth it" depends on what you wanted from the franchise. Did you want any sort of continuation of Star Wars, giving you that complete saga regardless of original trilogy? Then yes, it was worth the wait, kind of ("kind of" is what I can say at the most). But given 16 years and the legacy that it was part of and should have complemented, was it worth it? Not really. Some would say fans deserved a lot more and better. But with a new saga happening in 2015, we will have a whole new level of this question to discuss. Now, let's take a look at five forthcoming sequels which promise big gaps since we saw the original;