Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

Attack of the Clones premiered on May 16, 2002, with Hayden Christensen — a near-unknown chosen after a sprawling casting search (Leonardo DiCaprio was among those considered before passing) — as the grown Anakin Skywalker. The film deepened the saga's mythology: the hidden clone army on Kamino, the origin of Boba Fett, and Christopher Lee's Count Dooku as a silkier kind of villain.

Its real milestone was technical. Attack of the Clones was one of the first major motion pictures shot entirely on a 24-frame high-definition digital system, using Sony's HDW-F900 cameras developed with Panavision — a leap that helped push Hollywood toward the digital era. The payoff came in the climax, when Yoda appeared as a fully computer-generated character for the first time and drew a lightsaber against Dooku. Audiences who had only ever known the puppet cheered in the aisles.

Reception was mixed — 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, with praise for the spectacle and groans at the stiff Anakin-and-Padmé romance. Anakin's "I don't like sand" confession was merely awkward in 2002; its life as one of the internet's favorite memes came years later. At the box office the film earned $310.7 million domestically and $653.8 million worldwide on a $115 million budget — big numbers, but it became the rare Star Wars film that didn't top its year, finishing behind both Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers domestically in 2002.