Raiders of the Lost Ark, the blockbuster collaboration between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, was released into theaters June 12, 1981. The film is a throwback to the black & white cliffhangers of previous years. It follows Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an archaeologist, who tries to keep the Ark of the Covenant, the last known resting place of the original ten commandments, from getting into the hands of the Nazis.
Raiders of the Lost Ark was the number one at the box office the weekend it opened. It dropped from the #1 spot for a few weeks, but by the sixth weekend it was back at #1. It spent most of the next nine weeks at the number one spot, and was the top box office film of the summer.
Raiders won five Oscars and seven Saturn Awards. Om 1999, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
