The Fifth Element(1997)

2h 6m

Release Date: May 9, 1997

In the colorful future, cabdriver Korben Dallas unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep the great evil and Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg at bay.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | May 9, 1997

2017 Re-release (Fathom Entertainment) | May 14, 2017

2024 Re-release (Fathom Entertainment) | Nov 17, 2024

2026 Re-release | Jul 26, 2026

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Box Office Results

Updated as of Mar 10, 2026 11:48 AM ET

All Releases (4)
Total US & Canada:
$63,820,180
Total International
$200,100,000
Total Worldwide:
$263,920,180

Total US & Canada:
$62,951,133
Total International
$10,667
Total Worldwide:
$62,961,800

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Luc Besson
Director

Bruce Willis
Korben Dallas

Milla Jovovich
Leeloo

Gary Oldman
Zorg

Ian Holm
Cornelius

Chris Tucker
Ruby Rhod

Luke Perry

Billy

Brion James

General Munro

Tom Lister Jr.

President Lindberg

Lee Evans

Fog

Charlie Creed-Miles

David

Tricky

Right Arm

John Neville

General Staedert

John Bluthal

Professor Pacoli

Mathieu Kassovitz

Mugger

Christopher Fairbank

Mactilburgh

Kim Chan

Thai

Richard Leaf

Neighbour

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: SDDS,Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: France

Language: English,Swedish,German,Arabic,Egyptian (Ancient)

Summaries

Plot Summary

The story's premise is that every five thousand years, in conjunction with a planetary arrangement, the "Great Evil" appears whose purpose is to destroy life. In preparation for the next appearance, a group of aliens called the Mondoshawan arrive on Earth in 1914 to extract the only weapon capable of defeating the Great Evil, a collection of four stones representing the Classical Elements (Water, Fire, Earth and Air) and the eponymous Fifth Element that conjugates the other four into organic life. The stones are kept in a hidden chamber inside a small temple in Egypt, where an archaeologist has been studying the hieroglyphs that tell their history. After taking the stones and a sarcophagus housing the fifth element, the Mondoshawans present a key to a priest and tell him to pass the information about their mission through future generations in preparation for the Evil's arrival.Three hundred years later, In 2263, the Great Evil appears in the form of a fiery planet and destroys a fleet of interplanetary battleships. When the battleships fire missiles on the planet, the planet doubles in size. On Earth, the president of the Federated Territories (Tom Lister Jr.) consults with his military and science advisers about the approaching planetoid. When the Mondoshawans attempt to deliver the Elements back to Earth, they are ambushed by another alien race, the shape-shifting Mangalores, who drive their immense ship into the surface of the Moon. The president is informed that the stones are not at the crash site but instead were given by the Mondoshawans to someone they could trust, the Diva Plavalaguna (Maïwenn), who will be performing on the leisure planet, Fhloston Paradise.ParadisEarthly scientists are able to recover a portion of the Fifth Element and use a reconstitution device to recreate it, whereupon it takes the form of a human woman named "Leeloo" (Milla Jovovich) described as "the perfect being". Terrified of her unfamiliar environs, Leeloo escapes the scientists and crashes through the roof of a taxicab belonging to taxicab driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a former major in the Federated Army's Special Forces. Dallas, who is instantly smitten with her, helps her evade the police then delivers her to Priest Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm), the current guardian of the Mondoshawans' knowledge. Dallas, Cornelius, and his acolyte David (Charlie Creed-Miles) help Leeloo recover, though Dallas is forced out of Cornelius' apartment before learning her purpose. Cornelius learns from Leeloo that the four Elements were not held by the Mondoshawans and that Leeloo must recover the stones from the diva. Meanwhile, wealthy industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) has attempted to gain the stones as urged by communication with the Great Evil. After learning that the Mangalores' attack on the Mondoshawans was unsuccessful in recovering the stones, while flamboyantly demonstrating his corporation's latest weapon, the ZF-1, Zorg betrays and ambushes many of them, whereupon the surviving Mangalores and their leader Aknot, decide to exact revenge and gain the stones for themselves.Dallas is later met at his apartment by his General Munro (Brion James), who informs him that he has been drafted back into the Army to travel to meet the Diva at Fhloston, having rigged an international contest as cover to allow Dallas to win. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Cornelius and Leeloo. Dallas, learning of Leeloo's need, offers to help, but is knocked out by Cornelius, who steals his winning transportation tickets and departs. Dallas accepts the job from General Munro and travels to John F. Kennedy International Airport, intercepting Cornelius, David and Leeloo before they board their flight, and escorts Leeloo. The Mangalores and Zorg's assistant (Tricky) are rebuffed by the ticketing agent when they try to pose as Dallas. Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple in Egypt and then sneaks aboard the passenger space-plane before it leaves.On the flight, Dallas meets interstellar radio personality Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker), who escorts him as the contest winner. Upon arrival at a flying cruise liner at Fhloston Paradise, Dallas is taken by Ruby to prepare for the show, while Leeloo waits near the Diva's quarters to retrieve the stones from her after her performance. The Diva's show is interrupted by the Mangalores, and the Diva is fatally gunned down. Dallas learns from her dying words that the Diva has hidden the stones inside her body; after she dies, Dallas removes them from her abdomen, giving them to Ruby to hold as he defeats the Mangalores and saves the rest of the passengers and crew. Leeloo is able to defeat the Mangalores who attempt to ransack the Diva's quarters. Having flown himself to Fhloston, Zorg ambushes Leeloo at the Diva's quarters, injuring her and forcing her to retreat to the liner's air ducts. He takes the case he believes contains the stones while planting a time bomb. When Dallas goes to recover Leeloo, Zorg finds the case to be empty. Zorg re-boards the liner just as Dallas, Leeloo, Cornelius and Ruby leave her on Zorg's ship while the rest of the passengers escape in the liner's emergency craft. Zorg is able to stop his bomb; but the defeated Mangalores activate another bomb, destroying Zorg and the liner.The four return to the temple on Earth as the Great Evil rushes towards the planet. Onboard, Leeloo continues to study human history, finding much about the wars humankind has waged, millions of deaths and genocide. At the temple, Dallas finds Leeloo disillusioned and unwilling to perform her role, believing that humans will destroy themselves despite her rescue of them. As the group arrange the stones in the temple to form their weapon, they are briefly baffled by their ignorance of the weapon's operation but discover that each stone is triggered by the presence of the classical element to which it corresponds: David figures out the key by breathing lightly on the Wind stone, activating it. Sand is poured on the Earth stone, perspiration is dropped on Water and Korben himself activates the Fire stone with his last match. Dallas then convinces Leeloo to perform her role, embraces her, and kisses her. At this, Leeloo releases the weapon's Divine Light, a large and powerful beam that strikes the Great Evil, solidifying it 62 miles from the Earth's surface. Later, the President and General Munro go to the reconstitution laboratory to congratulate Dallas on his successful mission, but he and Leeloo are unavailable, despite the president's assertion that he is in an extreme hurry. Viewers then see he and Leeloo are making love in the resurrection chamber.

Storyline

In the 23rd century, the universe is threatened by evil. The only hope for mankind is the Fifth Element, which comes to Earth every 5,000 years to protect humans with stones of the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. A Mondoshawan spacecraft is bringing the Fifth Element back to Earth but it is destroyed by the cruel Mangalores. However, a team of scientists use the DNA of the remains of the Fifth Element to rebuild the perfect being called Leeloo. She escapes from the laboratory and stumbles upon taxicab driver and former elite commando Major Korben Dallas who helps her to escape from the police. Leeloo informs him that she must meet space priest Father Vito Cornelius to accomplish her mission. Meanwhile, the Evil uses the cruel Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg and a team of mercenary Mangalores to retrieve the stones and avoid the protection of Leeloo. But the experienced Korben Dallas has fallen in love with Leeloo and decides to help her retrieve the stones. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In the 23rd century. For former elite commando Korben Dallas, life has become tediously repetitive: he drives a taxicab for a living and eats takeaway from the same Chinese restaurant, which delivers directly to his window every day. Without his knowledge, Dallas now finds himself caught into the middle of an eons-old war when the immaculate being Leeloo crashes into his taxicab. In search of the perfect weapon that can save humanity from an all-powerful force of pure evil, Korben, Leeloo, and space priest Vito Cornelius struggle to unearth the mysterious Fifth Element, as the cruel Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg is already after the other four. But little does Korben know that the great extraterrestrial evil has teamed up with Zorg and threatens to destroy the Earth. In the ultimate battle between good and evil, Leeloo now seems to hold the key to Earth's salvation; however, is the world worth saving? — Nick Riganas There are cycles in the universe when great evil threatens all life in the Universe. The ultimate weapon against evil, devised long ago, is called the Fifth Element, stored on Earth for safekeeping. When a professor discovered this in 1914, he found this very astonishing. However, a group of beings known as the Mondoshawans came to Earth to take the fifth element for safekeeping, promising to return it in time for the next cycle. In the distant future of the 23rd century, the Earth is a very dissimilar place, yet much the same. People smoke, break laws, make messes. In the megalopolis of New York City, former elite commando Korben Dallas is now a taxicab driver. As the Mondoshawans were returning the Fifth Element to Earth to fend off the Evil, they are destroyed by a cruel race of beings known as Mangalores. Discovered in the remains of the Mondoshawans' ship is a remnant of the Fifth Element, from which they re-create the perfect being, the Fifth Element named Leeloo, who drops in on Korben Dallas in his taxicab, literally. Dallas keeps her free from government control and brings her to space priest Vito Cornelius, who, seeing the great evil in the prophecies, is attempting to find the elemental stones needed to power the Fifth Element. However, he is getting into the way of the cruel Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg, who is already operating under the sway of the Evil. — John Wiggins