{"id":13335,"date":"2020-05-18T12:04:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T19:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=13335"},"modified":"2020-05-20T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T21:16:41","slug":"tales-from-the-box-office-the-empire-strikes-back-gambled-its-fortunes-and-won-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/tales-from-the-box-office-the-empire-strikes-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales From The Box Office: \u2018The Empire Strikes Back\u2019 Gambled Its Fortunes And Won Big"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star Wars: Episode V \u2013 The Empire Strikes Back<\/span><\/i> has recently celebrated 40 triumphant years since its initial release at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on May 17, 1980. It\u2019s hard to overstate just how influential <\/span>Empire <\/span><\/i>has been on blockbusters, franchises, science fiction, and even the ways huge plot twists can fuel addictive interest in an ongoing, cinematic story spread across multiple chapters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Empire <\/span><\/i>wasn\u2019t really the first movie to do a lot of the great things it did. But it <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> a defining moment for one of Hollywood\u2019s most financially reliable properties \u2014 just look at the merchandising numbers alone. It proved that the global success of <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>in 1977 was no fluke. This young filmmaker, George Lucas, had an undeniable knack for storytelling, as he was able to combine thrilling set pieces and action-packed battles<\/a>, soap-operatic space drama, and a deep and rich mythology<\/a> into a movie that continues to be a pop culture staple.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crunching The Numbers<\/span><\/h2>\n

This might surprise some of you who weren\u2019t around back then, but the box office legacy of <\/span>Empire<\/span><\/i> isn\u2019t nearly as impressive as its predecessor. <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>(later, <\/span>A New Hope<\/span><\/i>) grossed roughly $225 million domestically between 1977 and 1978. Adjusted for inflation, that translates to about $887.5 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, <\/span>Empire <\/span><\/i>made less in its first 63 weeks than <\/span>New Hope <\/span><\/i>made in 61: $188.3 million domestically, which adjusted for inflation today is about $531.2 million (the rate was much lower in 1981 compared to 1978). To be fair, <\/span>Empire <\/span><\/i>did have a far bigger opening month at the box office, it just didn\u2019t have the same legs. Like <\/span>New Hope<\/span><\/i>, it opened over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, but Empire<\/em> did far better box office: $6.4 million ($19.9 million today). This is mainly because it opened in more theaters, as the first <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>only opened in about 43 theaters compared to 126 for <\/span>Empire<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n