Star Wars was a worldwide success back in the day. So much so, it was still playing in some countries as ESB was being made, and an international re-release strategy was being planned.
Well - the original Star Wars is a fairly unique event in cinema and modern pop culture history. It totally caught lightning in a bottle. I’m not even sure there are any other modern films you can compare it to… something like the Beatles might be a better comparison
I think the international market has radically changed since that time as well. It’s certainly vastly larger relative to the domestic market. I don’t think a lot of US films were being shown in China in the 70s and early 80s 😃