Revenge of the Sith’s MASSIVE Re-Release Opening Weekend! What Happened?
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith turns 20 this year. To celebrate, Lucasfilm decided to re-release the film in theaters. That turned out to be a smart move as its opening weekend was massive and breaking all sorts of records. Let’s talk about it!
The Numbers: Revenge of the Sith’s opening for the re-release $25.2 million. At face value, $25.2 million doesn’t look like anything to write home about. Except this is the second biggest opening ever for a re-release. The record holder to this day was the special edition release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope back in 1997 with $30 million. When you adjust that for inflation A New Hope is much bigger. But hey, $25 million for a re-release is pretty incredible. Over the last couple of years several Star Wars movies have been re-released and have done significantly less. Last year, The Phantom Menace’s re-release opening weekend was $8.7 million. Then in 2023, Return of the Jedi’s re-release did $5.1 million. The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi did about a ⅓ and a ⅕ of what Revenge of the Sith did. That’s insane and absolutely crazy. It raises the question, why did Revenge of the Sith’s re-release have such a big opening. Let’s talk about it!
- REASON #1: People Love The Prequels: People might have conflicted feelings about this because the prequels are polarizing. There’s a group of people that do not like the prequels. My dad hates the prequels and doesn’t like any of the movies. There’s also a lot of people that adore those movies and have it as the best Star Wars movie and might even be one of their favorite movies ever. If people adore this movie, their of course going to go see it on the big screen again. What’s fun about these re-releases is getting to see movies that you either have or haven’t seen on the big screen. I’m not a massive fan of the prequels (it’s actually been a while since I’ve seen them). I’m probably around the age of people that love the prequels, specifically Revenge of the Sith. If there’s a movie that I love and would love to see on the big screen, I’ll try my best to go out and see it. It’s a fun thing to do that’s different from seeing a movie on the big screen. People can watch Revenge of the Sith at home whether on Disney+ or on Blu-Ray or DVD (know what those are kids?). But seeing a movie in the theater is the better option to experience something. I think that’s just the power of movies and theaters, it provides a different and unique experience that you can’t get from watching a movie at home.
- REASON #2: People Weren’t Able to See Revenge of the Sith in the theaters: For an entire generation their gateway into Star Wars and loving Star Wars was through the prequels. When The Phantom Menace came out it was 16 years after Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith came out 10 years before The Force Awakens. For 32 years the only new Star Wars movie people had were the prequels. That’s a lot of time in there for millions and millions of people to fall in love with Star Wars through the prequels. A large percentage of the prequel defenders probably did see Revenge of the Sith on the big screen. Maybe it was the first Star Wars movie they saw on the big screen. But there’s other people that were too young to see it on the big screen, but they still grew up with it. People that love that movie who didn’t get to experience it on the big screen want to because it’s something special. My favorite movie of all time is The Dark Knight. I was WAY too young to see that movie in the theaters but I still grew up watching it and I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen back in 2020. That was special to me because I’d seen it countless times but not once on the big screen and that was cool. The experience I had watching The Dark Knight on the big screen is what other people had watching Revenge of the Sith on the big screen.
- REASON #3: 6 Years Since The Last Star Wars Movie: I think another key piece to remember in all of this, it’s been a while since we’ve gotten a new Star Wars movie on the big screen. The last new Star Wars movie we got was The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. There’s probably a bunch of people that are hungry for Star Wars on the big screen so they’re seeing anything Star Wars on the big screen. Whether that’s the re-release of Return of The Jedi, The Phantom Menace, or now Revenge of the Sith they want Star Wars so they’re going to the theaters. From 2015 to 2019 we were getting a new Star Wars movie every single year. So audiences kind of grew to anticipate a new one coming out and when that was done people were like “I want more”. The next new Star Wars is The Mandalorian & Grogu which doesn’t come out until May 2026, so still a ways away. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lack of Star Wars movies in recent years will help that movie’s box office because it would be the first Star Wars movie in seven years. Despite Star Wars frustrating so many people over the years and Kathleen Kennedy’s poor management at Lucasfilm, people love Star Wars and will support it. Since a lot of people love Revenge of the Sith it made a lot of money in its re-release.
- REASON #4: Cultural Event/Impact: Revenge of the Sith has become one of the most memed movies of all time. So many memes and famous quotes are from this movie. I frequently say “hello there” and somebody will respond with “General Kenobi” because it’s fun and everybody gets the reference. I think meme culture is a driving force for so many people seeing movies in the theater. A Minecraft Movie being the most recent example of this where people saw it because they wanted to be a part of the cultural event and get excited when Jack Black says “chicken jockey”. While I didn’t see any videos online about that happening with Revenge of the Sith it’s a very memed movie and seeing those meme filled movies with a packed crowd is fun. The communal experience of seeing a movie in the theater is what drives me and so many others to the theater. Revenge of the Sith has that event feel about it as being the best movie of the trilogy and to so many people being the best Star Wars movie ever made and one of the greatest movies ever made.
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