Return of the Jedi

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Return of the Jedi (disambiguation).
"The Battle for Endor" redirects here. For the television film, see Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Return of the Jedi
. This poster shows a montage of characters from the movie. In the background, Darth Vader stands tall and dark in front of a reconstructed Death Star; before him stands Luke Skywalker wielding a lightsaber, Han Solo aiming a blaster, and Princess Leia wearing a slave outfit. To the right are an Ewok and Lando Calrissian, while miscellaneous villains fill out the left.
Theatrical release poster by Kazuhiko Sano
Directed byRichard Marquand
Screenplay by
Story byGeorge Lucas
Produced byHoward Kazanjian
Starring
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited by
Music byJohn Williams
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • May 25, 1983 (1983-05-25)
Running time
132 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32.5–42.7 million[2][3]
Box office$482 million[4][5]

Return of the Jedi (also known as Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) is a 1983 American epic space opera film that is a sequel to The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It is the third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy and the sixth chronological film in the "Skywalker Saga". It is directed by Richard Marquand based on a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who was also the executive producer. The film follows the ongoing struggle between the malevolent Galactic Empire and the freedom fighters of the Rebel Alliance. As the Rebels attempt to destroy the Empire's second Death Star, Luke Skywalker tries to bring his father, Darth Vader, back from the dark side of the Force. The film stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Frank Oz.

Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, and David Cronenberg were considered to direct the film before Marquand signed on as director. The production team relied on Lucas's storyboards during pre-production. While writing the shooting script, Lucas, Kasdan, Marquand, and producer Howard Kazanjian spent two weeks in conference discussing ideas to construct it. Kazanjian's schedule pushed shooting to begin a few weeks early to allow Industrial Light & Magic more time to work on the film's effects in post-production. Filming took place in England, California, and Arizona from January to May 1982 (1982-05).

The film was released in theaters on May 25, 1983. It grossed $374 million worldwide during its initial theatrical run, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1983. The film was well received by critics, with strong praise going to the performances of the actors, John Williams's score, the special effects and the action sequences. Several re-releases and revisions to the film have followed over the decades, which have brought its total gross to $482 million. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2021.

  1. ^ "STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (U)". British Board of Film Classification. May 12, 1983. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  2. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p260
  3. ^ Rinzler 2013, p. 336.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference numbers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).