rushmore223

I was just checking out the all time B.O. revenues (Domestic and Worldwide) and while Empire seems to be (most) everybody's favorite of the Star Wars films, it is also the Star Wars film that has made the least money.

Unusual coincidence? Or do more people in general actually like Empire the least?

jdpatri

I always believed that the bigger Star Wars fans enjoyed ESB the most while those on the periphery preferred either ANH or ROTJ.

...and since the casual fan outnumbers the die-hard...

Jackskeleton

When did people react strongly against empire? I think it's on most people's list of their favorite. It didn't do as good in the box office simply because how the film was set up with a cliff hanger. Return of the jedi is really the hated one of the series.

Groucho

The box office for The Empire Strikes Back was lower because many people figured, "Why go out and watch a 'Star Wars' movie when I can simply stay home and watch 'Battlestar Gallactica'?"

Alternative3

Don't forget what ticket prices were back in 1980. If you adjusted for inflation, Empire will be higher on the all time list. There's alot of recent hit movies that will drop down that type of list when you consider the change in ticket prices over the years.

Michael Corvin

I've read(maybe 2 years ago, newspaper article) that if you adjusted for inflation Gone With the Wind would be the #1 box office champ. Followed by Star Wars:ANH. Nowhere in the top 10 was Titanic.

PixyJunket

Hate to bust your little "thumbs up" but take a look at this:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted/

1
Gone With the Wind
MGM
$1,181,960,729
$198,655,278
1939

2
Star Wars
Fox
$1,041,999,630
$460,998,007
1977

3
The Sound of Music
Fox
$833,129,950
$158,671,368
1965

4
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Uni.
$829,847,861
$434,974,579
1982

5
The Ten Commandments
Par.
$766,350,000
$65,500,000
1956

6
Titanic
Par.
$755,830,302
$600,788,188
1997

7
Jaws
Uni.
$749,261,086
$260,000,000
1975

8
Doctor Zhivago
MGM
$726,192,415
$111,721,910
1965

9
The Exorcist
WB
$646,826,717
$232,671,011
1973

10
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Dis.
$637,650,000
$184,925,486
1937

I'm not sure how some of that works out, but either way:

Titanic is still the highest grossing UNADJUSTED by $150 million.

huh?

i'm glad titanic is the #1 grossing film of all time. it makes it much easier to argue that good box office doesn't mean good film all the time. people get so caught up in what a movie makes, and not the quality. i mean, just because 11-16 year old girls had fantasies about Leo and went to see that pile of donkey dung 10 times in the theatre doesn't mean that its a good flick.

RyoHazuki

That is why Empire is considered to be the best of the three. Its an epidemic all over the internet. Take something thats rare, not well known, less popular or obscure in anyway and begin to worship it so that everyone who likes mainstream stuff will look like a loser. Then the people who used to like mainstream go out hunting for less popular, more artsy things to claim as their own.

Rypro 525

I think until clerks came out, everyone hated empire.

bothanspy

Many people consider Godfather II superior, and that made less money. I believe the same is true for Superman II.

Troy Stiffler

Hey, I saw it a couple times, and watch is once in a while on DVD. But nevermind, I just re-read your post. I'm a 13 year old girl.

Terrell

Actually, I don't know a single person that hates Jedi. In fact, Jedi is overhwelmingly loved. Most non-Star Wars fans I know love that one the most. Only a small percentage of fans can't get past the ewoks. It most assuredly is not a hated film in any sense of the word. I'd be willing to bet you take a poll of non-fans, and you'll get that one voted as the favorite. Jedi is considered the weakest of the 3, but not a weak film per se. Big difference.

As for the box office, you have to remember the time. Star Wars set the all-time box office record with over 300 million. ESB pulled in 291 million. Adjust for inflation and it kills the likes of Spider-Man, LOTR, and the prequels. Besides, I've come to the conclusion that box office gross doesn't mean crap. The actual profit a film made is truly defining whether it is a success.

ckolchak

i hate Jedi with a passion.
and for similar reasons why i have always loved Empire...even back in 1980 i felt it was superior to the first movie (although it is really slicing hairs).
look at it this way-
even back in 1980, very few sequels were anything more than rehashes of the first film. usually following the same same 'act beats' in an attempt to recreate the exerience of the first movie all over.
Empire diverted from this paradigm wildly.
-there was no equivilent of the opening rebel blockade runner attack
-there was no scene that tried to replicate and outdo the wierd cantina patrons scene
- there was no, new improved, derivative big space fortress battle attack and trench run.

Empire took and used the most succsesful popcorn movie of all time, as exposition and took the characters places and emotional levels no one was expecting.

Return, on the other hand, was as derivative and as uninspired as anything-
-the new, improved lightsaber battle with vader
-the new, improved death star battle and 'trench run'
-the new, improved cantina scene (jabbas palce)
-the new improved walkers battle.

throughout all this of 'been there, done that' extraveganza, there is very little real character shown.
the characters are soley pieces to navigate from one contrived plot-point/set-piece to another.

i was just thinking in the car the other day, what Jedi would have been like if Lucas had really thought outside his box.
what if Leia and Solo both died in battle, or what if Luke sacrificed himself for the ulimate good?
instead we get a pretty PC/ happy war were nobody really get hurts ( i think leia get a splinter in her arm or something) and the only bad things happen to the bad guys.

whereas Empire never feels like it is taliking down to its audience, ROTJ seems to me to operate at the maturity level of a Kurt Russell Walt Disney movie.

jmo, of course

MrPeanut

this needed repeating.

DRG

I've always liked Empire best, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that it was the first Star Wars film I saw. I was in England and quite young when Star Wars hit big. By the time we returned stateside Empire was just hitting the second run theaters. All I had known about the films prior was that they had cool toys. I loved Empire... Yoda, Cloud City, AT-ATs... I had to wait a year or so for Star Wars to go through a re-release cycle (this was before home video was an option) before I could see how it began.

I was actually surprised that Empire was loved by so many once the Internet struck. Most of my friends picked Star Wars or Jedi as their favorite when asked.

Doughboy

I used to love Jedi the most, probably due to the happy ending and the fact that it was on HBO all the time in the mid-80's. I never liked Empire back then because it was dark and depressing and it let the bad guys win.

Then in '93, I got the Definitive Collection LD boxset and watched all three films in one night. Suddenly everything I used to hate about Empire made it seem like the best movie I'd ever seen. And Jedi didn't look anywhere near as great as it used to.

chanster

The Box Office has nothing to do with how good the movie is. Simple fact, it was a middle portion of trilogy, "ending" movies (Jedi) always do better because it is the last in a series, so people want to see it and A New Hope was a major major major hit that Empire could never catch.

DVDHO

Thank you chanster,the middle will always be the weakest in a trilogy when it comes to BO #s,will see when Return of the King and Revolutions come out if it still holds true.

Pillowhead

Go Dirk Benedict!!

Trigger

This has been going on long before the internet existed. Another example that always comes to mind is Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique. When this follow-up to the insipid License to Ill came out, everyone hated it even though it was their most inspired piece of genius... then later, after the dust settled - all of a sudden it's everyone's favorite.

Rizor

ESB has always been my favorite since the first time I saw the trilogy. It was simple because it didn't have any freaky looking aliens like the duo at the bar in ANH and Jabba and fiends. Just a cute little Yoda and clouds.