Raiders of the Lost Ark backdrop
Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster

Raiders of the Lost Ark

1981 • PG • 1h 55m • Action, Adventure • Paramount Pictures

The return of the great adventure.

🍅 94% 96% MC 86 LB 4.16 IMDb 8.4

Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$8.3M
3-day opening
Domestic Total
$225.7M
All releases
Worldwide Total
$367.5M
$141.8M international
Budget$20M
1981 Rank#1
Compare with other movies

Cast & Crew

Full Spielberg filmography
Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Director Harrison Ford Harrison Ford Starring Karen Allen Karen Allen Starring John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies Starring Denholm Elliott Denholm Elliott Starring
ScreenplayLawrence Kasdan Story byGeorge Lucas, Philip Kaufman Produced byFrank Marshall CinematographyDouglas Slocombe Music byJohn Williams StudioParamount Pictures SeriesIndiana Jones
Save comparisonsSave your matchups and
revisit them any time
Predict the weekendPredict the top five and
move up the leaderboard
Rate filmsRate movies and pin your
favorites to your profile
One account.
The whole box office.
Save comparisonsSave and track the matchups you create
Predict the weekendPredict this weekend’s top 5, top the leaderboard
Rate filmsRate movies and display favorites on your profile
Create free account

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Jun 12-14, 1981 1 $8.3M — 1,078 $7,705 $8.3M
2 Jun 19-21, 1981 3 $8.0M −3.5% 1,078 $7,439 $21.9M
3 Jun 26-28, 1981 3 $7.1M −11.8% 1,078 $6,558 $34.9M
4 Jul 3-5, 1981 2 $7.3M +3.9% 1,078 $6,811 $46.3M
5 Jul 10-12, 1981 2 $6.1M −16.4% 1,078 $5,693 $58.4M
6 Jul 17-19, 1981 1 $6.5M +5.1% 1,400 $4,607 $68.4M
7 Jul 24-26, 1981 2 $6.0M −6.3% 1,182 $5,115 $78.7M
8 Jul 31-Aug 2, 1981 2 $5.4M −11.2% 1,140 $4,710 $88.1M
9 Aug 7-9, 1981 1 $4.8M −9.8% 1,091 $4,442 $96.0M
10 Aug 14-16, 1981 1 $5.2M +6.4% 1,310 $3,937 $104.1M
11 Aug 21-23, 1981 1 $4.2M −18.9% 1,180 $3,546 $110.7M
12 Aug 28-30, 1981 1 $3.9M −6.5% 1,110 $3,522 $117.4M
13 Sep 4-6, 1981 1 $5.4M +38.3% 1,144 $4,726 $125.3M
14 Sep 11-13, 1981 2 $2.4M −55.2% 900 $2,692 $128.6M
15 Sep 18-20, 1981 4 $2.3M −4.0% 750 $3,103 $131.8M
16 Sep 25-27, 1981 7 $1.9M −19.6% 621 $3,014 $134.4M
17 Oct 2-4, 1981 6 $2.0M +4.7% 550 $3,563 $136.9M
18 Oct 9-11, 1981 5 $2.2M +13.0% 550 $4,025 $139.9M
19 Oct 16-18, 1981 7 $1.5M −30.8% 466 $3,290 $141.8M
21 Oct 30-Nov 1, 1981 8 $967.7K — 431 $2,245 $145.0M
22 Nov 6-8, 1981 5 $1.3M +31.1% 440 $2,884 $146.6M
23 Nov 13-15, 1981 7 $1.1M −12.2% 410 $2,716 $148.2M
24 Nov 20-22, 1981 2 $3.3M +197.0% 1,232 $2,685 $151.9M
25 Nov 27-29, 1981 2 $4.2M +27.9% 1,251 $3,380 $158.1M
26 Dec 4-6, 1981 1 $2.4M −42.3% 981 $2,488 $161.0M
29 Dec 25-27, 1981 2 $3.7M — 1,221 $3,044 $164.7M
30 Jan 1-3, 1982 7 $3.7M +0.5% 1,094 $3,414 $168.4M
31 Jan 8-10, 1982 6 $1.9M −48.9% 914 $2,088 $171.9M
32 Jan 15-17, 1982 6 $1.6M −14.6% 796 $2,047 $173.9M
33 Jan 22-24, 1982 6 $1.8M +9.8% 740 $2,417 $176.1M
34 Jan 29-31, 1982 6 $1.5M −15.0% 681 $2,232 $178.0M
35 Feb 5-7, 1982 7 $1.3M −15.7% 732 $1,751 $179.6M
36 Feb 12-14, 1982 6 $1.6M +28.0% 620 $2,646 $181.7M
37 Feb 19-21, 1982 6 $1.4M −12.1% 668 $2,160 $183.5M
38 Feb 26-28, 1982 5 $1.4M −2.3% 650 $2,169 $185.2M
39 Mar 5-7, 1982 5 $1.7M +18.1% 650 $2,562 $187.2M
40 Mar 12-14, 1982 6 $1.2M −25.3% 633 $1,965 $188.8M
58 Jul 16-18, 1982 2 $4.3M — 1,330 $3,268 $206.1M
59 Jul 23-25, 1982 5 $2.8M −35.0% 1,330 $2,126 $211.3M
60 Jul 30-Aug 1, 1982 10 $1.6M −42.8% 840 $1,926 $214.5M
61 Aug 6-8, 1982 14 $1.2M −25.0% 630 $1,927 $216.8M
62 Aug 13-15, 1982 17 $804.1K −33.8% 479 $1,679 $218.4M
63 Aug 20-22, 1982 19 $670.6K −16.6% 425 $1,578 $219.6M
64 Aug 27-29, 1982 21 $823.8K +22.8% 490 $1,681 $220.9M
65 Sep 3-5, 1982 11 $1.4M +65.4% 567 $2,403 $222.6M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $5.2M
$8.3M
$8.0M
$7.1M
$7.3M
$6.1M
$6.5M
$6.0M
$5.4M
$4.8M
$5.2M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · +6.4%
−3.5%
W1→2
−11.8%
W2→3
+3.9%
W3→4
−16.4%
W4→5
+5.1%
W5→6
−6.3%
W6→7
−11.2%
W7→8
−9.8%
W8→9
+6.4%
W9→10
Steepest −16.4%Biggest gain +6.4%

Profitability

Return on Budget
Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 · Spielberg $197.2M Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008 · Spielberg $317.1M Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 · Spielberg $179.9M Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2023 · Mangold $174.5M The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997 · Spielberg $229.1M War of the Worlds 2005 · Spielberg $234M

Box office comparisons

Build your own comparison →

No head-to-head comparisons featuring Raiders of the Lost Ark yet — build one in seconds.

Build your own comparison →