Harrison Ford Blockbuster Run 1980-1984

I love researching filmographies. I can go down a rabbit hole on IMDB.com and forget what I originally went to look for in the first place. Usually, I think of an actor and dive into their film history to find their best string of hit movies. I’ve written about this before on consecutive runs of Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, two of the all-timers. Recently, I found myself on Harrison Ford’s page and gazed upon what is probably the greatest blockbuster run of all time.

1980: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back 

1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark 

1982: Blade Runner 

1983: Star Wars Episode VI – Return of the Jedi 

1984: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 

Ford was an absolute MACHINE during this run. He continues his run as Han Solo, kicks off the Indiana Jones run, and introduces the world to Rick Deckard. This is Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals. 

With the volume of blockbusters and superhero movies saturating the cinema landscape today, runs like this are more common (ex. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man), but Ford did it starting over 40 years ago. He was the face of the blockbuster before blockbusters were blockbusters.

Star Wars is now three trilogies deep, with a couple of non-episodic films thrown in. There are now four Indiana Jones films, which a potential fifth on the way. And most recently, Ford reprised his original Blade Runner role.

BREAK IT DOWN!

Rotten Tomato scores:

Box Office totals for each movie, as well as the total for the franchise.

Franchise totals YTD:

And to follow up to this, he stars in ‘Witness’ in 1985, earning himself an Oscar nomination for best actor.

Impressive, Mr. Ford.