After the overwhelming success of Star Wars, Lucas was able to declare his independence from the studio system by self-financing his sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Popularly celebrated as a superior film to its predecessor, Empire took Lucas (and the fledgling ILM) to new levels of production, continuing the saga with elaborate space fights, composite landscape effects, and strange new locations like the ice planet Hoth and Cloud City, home of Lando Calrissian. Empire also featured the franchise debut of Master Jedi Yoda and more than tripled the opening weekend returns of Episode IV. Coincidence not, think we.

By the third installment of the Star Wars series (Episode VI, the final chronological chapter in the Star Wars mythology) Lucas was in full-steam producer mode, organizing his schedule, budget, and concept art well before handing scripting duty to Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan. Directing duties were handed to Richard Marquand, who was handpicked by Lucas after his previous choices -- Steven Spielberg and David Lynch -- were not available. Despite receiving a cooler critical and commercial reception than its predecessors, Return of the Jedi raked in more than $475 million worldwide -- and, more importantly, gave us the gift of Ewoks.