For many a science fiction fan within this galaxy, May 4th marks Star Wars Day — an event which sees aficionados of the hugely successful movie series celebrate Star Wars culture.
In case you hadn’t guessed, the date relates to a pun on one of the space saga’s most quoted lines — “May the force be with you”.
To mark the occasion, we’ve delved deep into the Sarlacc pit-like depths of the Guinness World Records archive to bring you our pick of Star Wars world records.
Largest fortune made from a film franchise
Rather than taking a director’s fee for Star Wars (USA, 1977), George Lucas acquired the rights to all sequels and future merchandise. In 2011, Forbes assigned him a net worth of US$3.2 billion.
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Highest box-office gross for a screenwriter
The 15 movies written by George Lucas have grossed a lifetime combined total of US$3.33 billion in box office receipts. Until last year, Lucas also held the record for Highest box office film gross average for a director until he was bumped by Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich.
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Largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia
Steve Sansweet has amassed an estimated 300,000 unique items at Rancho Obi-Wan in northern California, USA. As of 15 May 2013, only 90,546 items have been accurately audited and cataloged.
Sansweet estimates that the cataloging process will take years to complete, as his collection continues to grow.
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Most Oscars won for visual effects
Dennis Muren won the Academy Award for Visual Effects a total of six times between 1983 and 1994. He has also received two Special Achievement Awards, in 1981 for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and in 1984 for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.
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Best-selling single of instrumental music
A 1977 disco arrangement of John Williams’s fan favourite “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band” remains the only instrumental single to have reached platinum status. The track featured on the album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk (1977), which outsold the original movie soundtrack and was also certified platinum.
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First Star Wars videogame
The inaugural Star Wars videogame, The Empire Strikes Back (Parker Brothers, 1982) was based on the second film in the series and made for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.
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Most spoofed film series
There have been direct references to the Star Wars series in more than 170 feature films, and in countless TV shows, comics, adverts and online videos. Individual Star Wars spoof scenes have been a staple of comedy movies for more than 30 years, from Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) and Get Crazy (1983) to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and The Simpsons Movie (2007).
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Most successful action-figure range
As of 2007, the Star Wars toy lines from Kenner/Hasbro had generated more than US$9 billion in sales. In 1978 alone, Kenner’s first range of Star Wars figures sold more than 40 million units, earning in excess of US$100 million.
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Most viewed movie trailer on YouTube in 24 hours
In April, the second teaser trailer for Star Wars: the Force Awakens smashed a social media record when it amassed an unbelievable 30.65 million views in the space of one day after being released.
Largest plastic cup pyramid
A world record attempt inspired by a galaxy far, far away took place last week at the Paseo Acoxpa Cinépolis in Mexico City, Mexico. 42,925 plastic commemorative cups featuring Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens designs were carefully placed to make an incredible 8m tall, 5m wide pyramid.