Prior to the film's release, the directors were apprehensive following a mediocre audience response at a pre-screening, but the film earned its entire budget of about $3.5 million in its first five days of wide release.
Airplane! opened on June 27, 1980, in seven theatres in Toronto, grossing $83,058 in its opening weekend.[1][32] It also opened in two theaters in Buffalo, grossing $14,000 in its first week.[33] The film then expanded on Wednesday, July 2 to 705 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $6,052,514 in its first five days of wide release, finishing second for the weekend with a gross of $4,540,000.[34] Overall, it grossed $83 million at the US and Canadian box office and returned $40 million in rentals,[9] making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1980.[35] Worldwide, the film earned $130 million in its initial release,[36] and by 2002 it had made $171 million.[4]
