Same for me. I suppose there were film series considered franchises before Star Wars (planet Of The Apes comes to mind), but it doesn't seem like it was quite the behemoth until the past 20 years or so.
I'm sure the studios were ecstatic when a film grew into one. However, it seems like they're created specifically with that as the goal now. Canon becomes much more important now because of it. At least to the licensing arms of the rights holders anyway.