Raiders of the Lost Ark backdrop
Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster

Raiders of the Lost ArkFollow

1981 • PG • 1h 55m • Action, Adventure • Paramount Pictures

The return of the great adventure.

🍅 94% 96% MC 86 LB 4.16 IMDb 8.4

Box office summary

Opening weekend
$8.30M
3-day opening
Domestic total
$225.70M
All releases
Worldwide total
$367.50M
$141.80M international
Budget$20M
1981 rank#1
Compare with other movies

Cast & crew

Full Spielberg filmography
Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Director Harrison Ford Harrison Ford Starring Karen Allen Karen Allen Starring John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies Starring Denholm Elliott Denholm Elliott Starring
ScreenplayLawrence Kasdan Story byGeorge Lucas, Philip Kaufman Produced byFrank Marshall CinematographyDouglas Slocombe Music byJohn Williams StudioParamount Pictures SeriesIndiana Jones

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Jun 12-14, 1981 1 $8.3M — 1,078 $7,705 $8.3M
2 Jun 19-21, 1981 3 $8.0M −3.5% 1,078 $7,439 $21.9M
3 Jun 26-28, 1981 3 $7.1M −11.8% 1,078 $6,558 $34.9M
4 Jul 3-5, 1981 2 $7.3M +3.9% 1,078 $6,811 $46.3M
5 Jul 10-12, 1981 2 $6.1M −16.4% 1,078 $5,693 $58.4M
6 Jul 17-19, 1981 1 $6.5M +5.1% 1,400 $4,607 $68.4M
7 Jul 24-26, 1981 2 $6.0M −6.3% 1,182 $5,115 $78.7M
8 Jul 31-Aug 2, 1981 2 $5.4M −11.2% 1,140 $4,710 $88.1M
9 Aug 7-9, 1981 1 $4.8M −9.8% 1,091 $4,442 $96.0M
10 Aug 14-16, 1981 1 $5.2M +6.4% 1,310 $3,937 $104.1M
11 Aug 21-23, 1981 1 $4.2M −18.9% 1,180 $3,546 $110.7M
12 Aug 28-30, 1981 1 $3.9M −6.5% 1,110 $3,522 $117.4M
13 Sep 4-6, 1981 1 $5.4M +38.3% 1,144 $4,726 $125.3M
14 Sep 11-13, 1981 2 $2.4M −55.2% 900 $2,692 $128.6M
15 Sep 18-20, 1981 4 $2.3M −4.0% 750 $3,103 $131.8M
16 Sep 25-27, 1981 7 $1.9M −19.6% 621 $3,014 $134.4M
17 Oct 2-4, 1981 6 $2.0M +4.7% 550 $3,563 $136.9M
18 Oct 9-11, 1981 5 $2.2M +13.0% 550 $4,025 $139.9M
19 Oct 16-18, 1981 7 $1.5M −30.8% 466 $3,290 $141.8M
21 Oct 30-Nov 1, 1981 8 $967.7K — 431 $2,245 $145.0M
22 Nov 6-8, 1981 5 $1.3M +31.1% 440 $2,884 $146.6M
23 Nov 13-15, 1981 7 $1.1M −12.2% 410 $2,716 $148.2M
24 Nov 20-22, 1981 2 $3.3M +197.0% 1,232 $2,685 $151.9M
25 Nov 27-29, 1981 2 $4.2M +27.9% 1,251 $3,380 $158.1M
26 Dec 4-6, 1981 1 $2.4M −42.3% 981 $2,488 $161.0M
29 Dec 25-27, 1981 2 $3.7M — 1,221 $3,044 $164.7M
30 Jan 1-3, 1982 7 $3.7M +0.5% 1,094 $3,414 $168.4M
31 Jan 8-10, 1982 6 $1.9M −48.9% 914 $2,088 $171.9M
32 Jan 15-17, 1982 6 $1.6M −14.6% 796 $2,047 $173.9M
33 Jan 22-24, 1982 6 $1.8M +9.8% 740 $2,417 $176.1M
34 Jan 29-31, 1982 6 $1.5M −15.0% 681 $2,232 $178.0M
35 Feb 5-7, 1982 7 $1.3M −15.7% 732 $1,751 $179.6M
36 Feb 12-14, 1982 6 $1.6M +28.0% 620 $2,646 $181.7M
37 Feb 19-21, 1982 6 $1.4M −12.1% 668 $2,160 $183.5M
38 Feb 26-28, 1982 5 $1.4M −2.3% 650 $2,169 $185.2M
39 Mar 5-7, 1982 5 $1.7M +18.1% 650 $2,562 $187.2M
40 Mar 12-14, 1982 6 $1.2M −25.3% 633 $1,965 $188.8M
58 Jul 16-18, 1982 2 $4.3M — 1,330 $3,268 $206.1M
59 Jul 23-25, 1982 5 $2.8M −35.0% 1,330 $2,126 $211.3M
60 Jul 30-Aug 1, 1982 10 $1.6M −42.8% 840 $1,926 $214.5M
61 Aug 6-8, 1982 14 $1.2M −25.0% 630 $1,927 $216.8M
62 Aug 13-15, 1982 17 $804.1K −33.8% 479 $1,679 $218.4M
63 Aug 20-22, 1982 19 $670.6K −16.6% 425 $1,578 $219.6M
64 Aug 27-29, 1982 21 $823.8K +22.8% 490 $1,681 $220.9M
65 Sep 3-5, 1982 11 $1.4M +65.4% 567 $2,403 $222.6M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $5.2M
$8.3M
$8.0M
$7.1M
$7.3M
$6.1M
$6.5M
$6.0M
$5.4M
$4.8M
$5.2M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · +6.4%
−3.5%
W1→2
−11.8%
W2→3
+3.9%
W3→4
−16.4%
W4→5
+5.1%
W5→6
−6.3%
W6→7
−11.2%
W7→8
−9.8%
W8→9
+6.4%
W9→10
Steepest −16.4%Biggest gain +6.4%

Profitability

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

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 · Spielberg $197.2M Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008 · Spielberg $317.1M Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 · Spielberg $179.9M Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2023 · Mangold $174.5M The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997 · Spielberg $229.1M War of the Worlds 2005 · Spielberg $234M

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