"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." as The Empire Strikes Back's opening crawl reads, Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Rebellion are once again on the run, driven by the Empire "from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy," which has led them to the frozen planet called Hoth. But the Empire has found the Rebels at Hoth and begun to attack, which causes Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, C3PO, Han Solo, and R2D2 to leave the planet and seek refuge. Luke, though, goes to get trained so that he can fight against the Empire and Darth Vader and the Emperor.
Just like A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back totally revolutionized the science fiction genre, helping to catapult the genre from the niche to the mainstream. And although Empire wasn't as successful at the Academy Awards as its predecessor, (it won only one Academy Award - Best Sound - and was nominated for two more: Best Art Direction and Best Original Score). Still, the film made $547.9 million at the box office and was made for only $33 million.
