June, 1981. A director responsible for two of the biggest box office hits of the 1970’s has teamed up with the producer of a film series that changed all the rules of Hollywood filmmaking. Together, these two titans of Hollywood—the wunderkinds with beards—have teamed for the first time and the excitement is palpable among millions of fans lined up around the hundreds of theaters across the country. Only one question still lingers in the air of fan frenzy.
Just what the heck is a raider of a lost ark, anyway? The answer to that question was delivered in the form of the first iconic movie of the 1980’s, an archaeologist who wielded a whip as sharply as he delivered quips and whose fear of snakes only made him more lovable. By summer’s end, Indiana Jones had literally toppled James Bond as the king of summer adventure heroes. Raiders of the Lost Ark nearly quadrupled the box office take of the 1981 Bond offering, For Your Eyes Only.
What many who were there the day Raiders of the Lost Ark opened may have forgotten in the wake of everything since is that the film opened amid tense expectations that was seen as a do-or-die for director Steven Spielberg. After making Jaws the biggest box office hit in history when he was just 25, Spielberg struck gold again two years later with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Such success breeds either two things: a long and fruitful career or a high-profile fall from grace greeted (at least secretly) with satisfaction by many. In 1979, Spielberg not only experienced his first box office bomb but compounded the perception of failure by going wildly over-budget with 1941, a World War II comedy featuring an all-start cast.
June, 1981. Hollywood watches with interest to see if the expectations stimulated by the collaboration of the two young bearded rebels responsible for creating the new paradigm of the “summer blockbuster” will be enough to overcome the weirdly unclear title Raiders of the Lost Ark. If a failure, produce George Lucas will likely remain unaffected as he still has one more Star Wars sequel to come. For Spielberg, however, two box office disappointments in a row—especially such high profile movies which arrived amid such high anticipation—will be widely viewed with a sense of satisfaction as something of a “comeuppance” for the kid wonder. High-flying careers have come back down to earth in Hollywood over a lot less.
Raiders of the Lost Ark pretty much equaled the box office figures enjoyed by Close Encounter and earned Spielberg his second Oscar nomination for Best Director. Following the even greater success of E.T. one year later the director has never again been considered on the verge of a career slide and is, in fact, arguably the most successful director in Hollywood history. Three sequels have already been made featuring the further adventures of Indiana Jones and as of 2019 rumors continue to swirl that the series has not yet reached its end. Perhaps the most remarkable example of just how profound an influence the film has had on American culture is that it inspired three young fans to spend several years of their childhood and adolescence literally making a shot-by-shot remake of the movie that has itself since been screened in theaters.
