Then 34-year-old director Steven Spielberg reportedly drew on
his own experiences as an unusually imaginative, often-lonely
child of divorce for his science-fiction classic E.T. the Extra-
Terrestrial, which was released on June 11, 1982.

For Spielberg, E.T. marked a return to territory he had first
visited with the classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977).

E.T. had stupendous success at the box office, eventually
raking in some $435 million (it was re-released in 1985 and
a special 20th-anniversary edition was issued in 2002).

Steven Spielberg with E.T.

On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opened with an
intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster
Star Wars movies hit American theaters.

The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars,
and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close
to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox,
months before the movie’s release date.

On May 8, 1963, with the American release of Dr. No, North
American moviegoers get their first look down the barrel
of a gun—at the super-spy James Bond (codename: 007),         
the immortal character created by Ian Fleming in his now-
famous series of novels and portrayed onscreen by the
relatively unknown Scottish actor Sean Connery.

Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.

Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020)

Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title
role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation Spider-Man 
was released on Friday, May 3, 2002, and quickly became the
fastest movie ever to earn more than $100 million at the box
office, raking in a staggering $114.8 million by Sunday, May 5.

Tobey Maguire

Citizen Kane, now revered as one of the greatest movies in
history, made its debut at the RKO Palace Theater on May
1, 1941.

It had originally been intended to open at Manhattan’s Radio
City Music Hall. But months before its release, Orson Welles’
landmark film began generating such controversy that the
venue eventually refused to show it.