Battle of Bespin - Releases

Releases

The world premiere of The Empire Strikes Back was held on May 17, 1980 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (as a special Children's World Premiere event). The film had a Royal Premiere in London three days later, and a series of other charity benefit premieres were held in numerous locations on May 19 and 20. The film went on to official general release in North America and the UK on May 21, 1980. The first wave of release included 126 70mm prints, before a wider release in June 1980 (which were mostly 35mm prints).

Simply titled The Empire Strikes Back in the publicity, the opening scroll stated "Episode V". The original Star Wars film, now known as Episode IV: A New Hope, had, at that point, not been given an episode number but this would be included from its 1981 re-release onwards. Like A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America, and certificate U in the UK. This original version was released on Capacitance Electronic Disc in 1984 and on VHS and Laserdisc several times during the 1980s and 1990s.