Star Wars Facts

'Jedi' is an official religion, with over 70,000 followers, in Australia.

C3PO is the first character to speak in Star Wars.

When the $4.05 billion Disney check cleared, George Lucas owned every dollar of Lucasfilm outright. He didn't buy a yacht. He didn't move to Monaco. Two years earlier he had quietly signed The Giving Pledge to donate most of his wealth. He's given almost all the money to education, calling it the key to the survival of the human race. The galactic fortune is rebuilding schools.

In Tunisia, you can book an overnight stay in Luke Skywalker’s boyhood home for only $10.

Ming-Na Wen, who portrays The Cavalry on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., was also the voice of Mulan. And she’s 50 years old.

The Mos Eisley scenes in Star Wars were filmed in the real Tunisian town of Ajim, where locals still live among the iconic filming locations today.

The first art George Lucas ever bought was a drawing of a comic-strip caveman. He was a college student then, years before Star Wars, and the caveman was Alley Oop. He never stopped buying, and that collection has grown past 40,000 works. The museum he built to hold it opened in Los Angeles on September 22.

The 501st Legion, Darth Vader's own troopers in Star Wars, is named after a real fan club. Two South Carolina fans started the club in 1997 for people who wear their own stormtrooper armor, and Star Wars borrowed its name with Lucasfilm's approval. The club's volunteers still suit up for free at parades, charity walks and visits to kids.