“Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” led the weekend box office for the first time in 23 years, Deadline reported.
The sci-fi film, which is currently being shown at 483 cinemas, is expected to complete the three-day stretch between Friday and Sunday with an earnings total somewhere in the high $400,000s or low $500,000s range.
A handful of movie theaters have reopened in the United States in recent days amid the coronavirus pandemic, but without any new films to show, the cinemas have screened classics like 1980′s “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Drive-in theaters are among the theaters showing throwback films.
This marks the first weekend that “The Empire Strikes Back” has led the box office since 1997, when the film was reissued in theaters.
“The Empire Strikes Back” is the second installment in the “Star Wars” series. It stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, with James Earl Jones providing the voice of the villainous Darth Vader.