The Road Warrior backdrop
The Road Warrior movie poster

The Road Warrior

1981 • R • 1h 36m • Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi • Warner Bros.

Just one man can make a difference.

🍅 93% 86% MC 77 LB 3.90 IMDb 7.6

Box office summary

Opening Weekend
$2.5M
3-day opening
Domestic Total
$23.7M
Final
Worldwide Total
$23.7M
Domestic only
Domestic Legs9.4x
Budget$2M
Compare with other movies

Cast & Crew

Directed byGeorge Miller ScreenplayTerry Hayes, George Miller, Brian Hannant Produced byByron Kennedy CinematographyDean Semler Music byBrian May StarringMel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, Emil Minty StudioWarner Bros.
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The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 May 21-23 4 $2.5M — 704 $3,591 $2.5M
2 May 28-30 7 $2.4M −5.4% 708 $3,377 $5.9M
3 Jun 4-6 10 $1.0M −57.4% 478 $2,130 $7.5M
4 Jun 11-13 13 $703.1K −30.9% 357 $1,969 $8.6M
5 Jun 18-20 16 $477.8K −32.0% 276 $1,731 $9.5M
6 Jun 25-27 19 $299.5K −37.3% 246 $1,218 $10.0M
7 Jul 2-4 19 $309.1K +3.2% 237 $1,304 $10.5M
8 Jul 9-11 18 $182.6K −40.9% 167 $1,093 $10.8M
9 Jul 16-18 22 $105.0K −42.5% 118 $890 $11.0M
10 Jul 23-25 25 $166.0K +58.1% 189 $878 $11.2M
11 Jul 30-Aug 1 20 $675.3K +306.8% 467 $1,446 $11.9M
12 Aug 6-8 23 $442.5K −34.5% 248 $1,784 $12.6M
13 Aug 13-15 23 $472.4K +6.8% 153 $3,088 $13.3M
14 Aug 20-22 6 $2.6M +448.1% 674 $3,842 $16.2M
15 Aug 27-29 8 $1.6M −39.6% 552 $2,831 $19.1M
16 Sep 3-5 18 $1.1M −27.6% 430 $2,632 $21.1M
17 Sep 10-12 17 $536.4K −52.6% 356 $1,507 $21.8M
18 Sep 17-19 24 $293.4K −45.3% 229 $1,281 $22.4M
20 Oct 1-3 22 $334.0K — 323 $1,034 $23.2M
22 Oct 15-17 14 $308.9K — 288 $1,073 $23.7M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $166.0K
$2.5M
$2.4M
$1.0M
$703.1K
$477.8K
$299.5K
$309.1K
$182.6K
$105.0K
$166.0K
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · +58.1%
−5.4%
W1→2
−57.4%
W2→3
−30.9%
W3→4
−32.0%
W4→5
−37.3%
W5→6
+3.2%
W6→7
−40.9%
W7→8
−42.5%
W8→9
+58.1%
W9→10
Steepest −57.4%Biggest gain +58.1%

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 1985 · Miller $36.2M Mad Max 1979 · Miller $8.8M Escape from New York 1981 · Carpenter $25.2M Tron 1982 · Lisberger $26.9M Flash Gordon 1980 · Hodges $27.1M Dune 1984 · Lynch $28.4M

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