So far there have been six Star Wars films, and a seventh is on the way. In addition, two independently made standalone films are planned. There have also been a great many spin offs including TV series, comics, books, computer games etc.
The original film made by George Lucas appeared in May 1977, so that is just coming up to 37 years ago.. It was a huge worldwide success and was followed by two sequels, Star Wars II and III. These were released in 1980 and 1983, giving a gap of three years between films.
Originally Lucas intended to stop at three movies, but in 1993 it was announced that there would be three more - this time the films would be prequels going back into the 'history' of the Galactic Empire.
Episode VII will be the first of yet another trilogy, this time a sequel trilogy carrying on where the first three films left off.