Jabarkan Pendapatan dari Raiders of the Lost Ark

Di Amerika Serikat dan Kanada, Raiders of the Lost Ark ditayangkan pada 12 Juni 1981 di 1.078 bioskop. Film ini meraih $8,3 juta, dengan rata-rata $7.705 tiap bisokop, dan tamat sebagai Daftar film berpendapatan tertinggi di Amerika Serikat 1981 pada akhir pekan, menjelang penayangan Clash of the Titans ($6,6 juta) dan History of the World, Part I ($4,9 juta). The film fell to the number three position in its second weekend with an additional gross of $8million—a decline of only four percent—behind the debuts of The Cannonball Run ($11.8million) and Superman II ($14.1million). By its fourth week, Raiders began climbing box office charts, reaching the number two position with a gross of $7.3million, behind Superman II ($10.9million). In its sixth week, it regained the number one position with $6.4million. The film spent most of the following nine weeks as the number one film, and forty-weeks straight as one of the top ten highest-grossing films. It was declared the top box office film of the summer by early September, with a total approximate gross of $125million. Of this figure, $72 million was estimated to have been returned to the studio; the profit-sharing deal with Spielberg and Lucas meant that after marketing costs, Paramount had earned $23million in profit.

Film ini tetap berhasil dengan meyakinkan. Enam bulan selepas penayangan, eksekutif industri perfilman berkelakar Raiders of the Lost Ark akan menjadi film Natal terlaris pada tahun itu. The film officially left theaters on March18, 1982, although some were still playing it by July. Raiders earned an approximate total box office gross of $212.2million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1981, ahead of On Golden Pond ($119.3million), Superman II ($108.1million), and Stripes ($85.3million). An estimate by Box Office Mojo suggests over 77million tickets were bought to see the film. Raiders remains the "leggiest" film ever released, referring to the difference between the highest-weekend gross and the time taken to achieve the overall total gross.

Di luar Amerika Serikat dan Kanada, Raiders of the Lost Ark meraup $141.7 juta, sehingga menjadikannya film terlaris, mengalahkan For Your Eyes Only ($140.5 juta) and Superman II ($82.2 juta). In total, the film earned a worldwide gross of $354million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1981 worldwide, again ahead of For Your Eyes Only ($195.3million) and Superman II ($190.4million).

Raiders of the Lost Ark telah ditayangkan kembali beberapa kali, yang pertama pada Juli 1982, yang menghasilkan tambahan $21.4 juta dan selanjutnya pada Maret 1983, when the film earned an additional  $11.4million. A remastered IMAX version, supervised by Spielberg, was released in 267 U.S. and Canadian theaters. The success of the release led to the run being extended to 300 additional theaters. These releases have raised the film's worldwide theatrical gross to an estimated $389.9million.

Rekor pendapatan musim panas tahun 1981 senilai $1,95 miliar menunjukkan peningkatan sebesar 15,6% dibandingkan tahun 1980, dengan peningkatan penjualan tiket sebesar 22,5%. Keberhasilan ini terutama disebabkan oleh Raiders of the Lost Ark dan Superman II. The most successful film genres of the year offered fun, comedy, and escapism. Superman II broke box office records, but it was Raiders that earned the most money and played in theaters for over a year. The New York Times reported that audiences only considered other films if both Superman II and Raiders were sold out. It became one of the top-four highest-grossing films ever, a list dominated by Lucas and Spielberg with The Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, and Star Wars.