Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back backdrop
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back movie poster

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

1980 • PG • 2h 4m • Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi • 20th Century Fox

The Star Wars saga continues.

🍅 93% 97% MC 82 LB 4.40 IMDb 8.7

Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$4.91M
3-day opening
Domestic Total
$291.7M
Final
Worldwide Total
$549M
$257.3M international
Domestic Legs27.8x
Budget$23M
1980 Rank#1
Compare with other movies

Cast & Crew

Mark Hamill Mark Hamill Starring Harrison Ford Harrison Ford Starring Carrie Fisher Carrie Fisher Starring Billy Dee Williams Billy Dee Williams Starring Anthony Daniels Anthony Daniels Starring
ScreenplayLeigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan Studio20th Century Fox Produced byGary Kurtz SeriesStar Wars
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The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 May 23-25, 1980 1 $4.9M — 126 $38,972 $7.2M
4 Jun 13-15, 1980 3 $3.6M — 126 $28,619 $15.2M
5 Jun 20-22, 1980 1 $10.5M +191% 823 $12,734 $47.3M
6 Jun 27-29, 1980 1 $9.2M −12% 821 $11,228 $64.9M
7 Jul 4-6, 1980 1 $8.3M −10% 880 $9,443 $82.0M
8 Jul 11-13, 1980 1 $6.7M −20% 858 $7,754 $94.3M
9 Jul 18-20, 1980 1 $6.7M +1% 1,089 $6,172 $105.7M
10 Jul 25-27, 1980 1 $7.1M +6% 1,278 $5,579 $118.3M
11 Aug 1-3, 1980 1 $5.8M −19% 1,139 $5,056 $130.0M
12 Aug 8-10, 1980 1 $4.6M −21% 1,195 $3,811 $139.1M
13 Aug 15-17, 1980 2 $4.3M −5% 1,208 $3,577 $145.9M
63 Jul 31-Aug 2, 1981 1 $7.0M — 1,364 $5,133 $188.4M
64 Aug 7-9, 1981 2 $4.0M −43% 1,382 $2,910 $196.6M
65 Aug 14-16, 1981 7 $2.1M −48% 969 $2,144 $200.9M
131 Nov 19-21, 1982 1 $3.9M — 992 $3,981 $213.3M
132 Nov 26-28, 1982 4 $3.6M −8% 992 $3,658 $219.0M
133 Dec 3-5, 1982 4 $1.6M −57% 909 $1,731 $221.3M
134 Dec 10-12, 1982 7 $570.5K −64% 600 $951 $222.3M
135 Dec 17-19, 1982 16 $206.3K −64% 600 $344 $222.7M
875 Feb 21-23, 1997 1 $22.0M — 2,111 $10,410 $244.7M
876 Feb 28-Mar 2, 1997 1 $13.1M −40% 2,111 $6,227 $262.9M
877 Mar 7-9, 1997 3 $8.0M −39% 2,116 $3,804 $274.4M
878 Mar 14-16, 1997 5 $5.1M −36% 2,322 $2,208 $282.2M
879 Mar 21-23, 1997 9 $2.4M −53% 1,723 $1,409 $286.0M
880 Mar 28-30, 1997 16 $927.6K −62% 591 $1,570 $287.9M
881 Apr 4-6, 1997 24 $452.2K −51% 294 $1,538 $288.8M
882 Apr 11-13, 1997 31 $199.0K −56% 190 $1,047 $289.1M
883 Apr 18-20, 1997 41 $101.9K −49% 136 $749 $289.3M
884 Apr 25-27, 1997 22 $379.6K +272% 751 $505 $289.7M
885 May 2-4, 1997 28 $194.1K −49% 383 $507 $290.0M
886 May 9-11, 1997 34 $76.6K −61% 189 $405 $290.2M
2106 Sep 25-27, 2020 5 $908.0K — 2,097 $433 $291.2M
2107 Oct 2-4, 2020 — $335.0K −63% 1,675 $200 $291.5M
2108 Oct 9-11, 2020 — $145.0K −57% 825 $176 $291.7M
2109 Oct 16-18, 2020 — $79.0K −46% 480 $165 $291.7M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $7.1M
$4.9M
$3.6M
$10.5M
$9.2M
$8.3M
$6.7M
$6.7M
$7.1M
W1W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · +6%
+191%
W4→5
−12%
W5→6
−10%
W6→7
−20%
W7→8
+1%
W8→9
+6%
W9→10
Steepest −20%Biggest gain +191%

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 1983 · Marquand $316.5M Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope 1977 · Lucas $461M Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2017 · Johnson $620.2M Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015 · Abrams $936.7M Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018 · Howard $213.8M Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019 · Abrams $515.2M

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