Revenge of the Sith

Revenge of the Sith premiered on May 16, 2005, at the Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 19. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise for the mature themes, darker tone, emotional depth, soundtrack and action sequences, although some criticism was reserved towards Lucas's screenplay; most considered it the best installment of the prequel trilogy. It broke several box-office records during its opening week and earned $850 million worldwide during its initial run, making it the second-highest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise at the time. It was the highest-grossing film in the U.S. and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 2005. It also holds the record for the highest opening-day gross on a Thursday, at $50 million. It was the last Star Wars film distributed by 20th Century Fox, although the company (and, by extension, the film) was acquired by Disney several years after it acquired Lucasfilm. It also serves as Lucas' most recent directorial credit.