"The Empire Strikes Back" opened mid-week across 126 theaters prior to the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. Compared to "Star Wars" $1.5million Memorial Day opening weekend, "The Empire Strikes Back" earned $4.9million during the weekend—an average of $38,972 per theater. This figure increased a further $1.5 million during the holiday Monday to a total of $6.4million—an average of $50,919 per theater—making it the number one film of the weekend, ahead of counterprogrammed debuting films, the comedy "The Gong Show Movie" ($1.5million) and psychological horror "The Shining" ($600K).