The history of cinema can be divided into two eras: BSW and ASW.

Before Star Wars and After Star Wars.

Things were never the same after Star Wars became a pop cultural juggernaut in 1977. Dozens, if not hundreds, of imitators sprung up from all around the world, hoping to cash-in on the new space craze. And countless more filmmakers began inserting references to Star Wars in their own movies; some out of a craven attempt to leech a little bit of cache from a hot property, others in a sincere attempt at admiring homage.

Most Star Wars references in other movies and TV shows are pretty obvious and therefore pretty boring. The staff here at ScreenCrush prefer the ones that fall under the umbrella of Easter eggs; hidden, subliminal, or extremely subtle hat-tips to the franchise, often as background gags or co-opted lines of dialogue. As we gear up for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (now less than three months away!), it seemed like the perfect time to collect 25 of the most clever Star Wars Easter eggs from other movies (and TV shows!) and put them together into one gallery, which you’ll find above. They run from the first years of the ASW era (before The Empire Strikes Back had even opened in theaters) to earlier this summer. (Did you catch the reference to Empire in Ant-Man?)

Maybe after The Force Awakens opens we’ll update this list with new Easter eggs from new movies. And who knows? If the movie’s big enough, we may have to create a new era to describe it; BSW, ASW, and ASWTFA (After Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

Check Out a Gallery of Classic Star Wars Concept Art:

 

More From ScreenCrush