The Empire Strikes Back at 46: the film that changed Star Wars

Thu, 21 May 2026 09:00:00 -0300

On 21 May 1980, The Empire Strikes Back opened in 126 screens across the United States. Not two thousand, the way blockbuster sequels do today — 126, a deliberately small number designed to manufacture scarcity and queues. It worked: the per-screen average on opening day was over $10,000. That Memorial Day weekend became legend. And the sequel nobody was sure would work became, decades later, the near-universal consensus pick for the best Star Wars ever made.

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The Empire Strikes Back at 46: the film that changed Star Wars