While Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the true definition of a box office phenomenon, one that fans and critics both loved, there is a huge problem people have had with the movie since it arrived in theaters this past December. And that’s the fact that it is way too similar to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Both stories certainly run parallel to each other, and both hit some of the same beats to the minute. Now, a new study shows that the two movies are much more similar than you may have originally thought!
McGill University computer science professor Derek Ruths has taken a deep dive into both movies exclusively for Wired magazine, and you can read their full report here. The study points out the most obvious similarities right off the bat. Both sci-fi adventures follow a desert-dwelling, force sensitive individual who is forced to journey away from their home planet for a life-altering mission. They team up with smugglers, join the Rebellion/Resistance, and help destroy a mammoth weapon capable of destroying entire planets. When you watch both movies back to back, the similarities almost become overwhelming. But Derek Ruths suspected there was something bigger to the whole thing…