The Empire Strikes Back strikes again. The 40-year-old film was the highest grossing movie in theatres over the weekend.
When the second episode in the Star Wars saga was released in May of 1980, it spent eight weeks at the top spot at the North American box office, ultimately grossing more than $200-million, twice that of the second-place film that year, the office comedy 9 to 5 . A re-release in February 1997 gave it an additional two weeks atop the box office, earning another $35-million.
The take over last weekend was modest in comparison, just an estimated half a million dollars from about 500 locations. But with many cinemas closed and few new releases, that was enough to take first place yet again, with drive-in theatres making up a large portion of ticket sales.
Star Wars is now owned by Disney, which also captured second and third place at the weekend box office with reprisals of 2018’s Black Panther and 2015’s Inside Out .
No word on whether theatre-goers were asked to keep the surprise revelation from The Empire Strikes Back under their hats in respect of those who still haven’t seen it.
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