This page looks at the 1946 Top Box Office Movies. World War II ended in 1945 and as the soldiers returned home…they did two things….one they made lots of babies and two they went to lots of movies. 1946 was the peak of people going to movies. In 1946 an average of 90 million admissions were sold on a weekly basis. That 90 million represented almost 60% of the population of the United States. As a comparison, we can look at our current movie going habits…weekly admissions are now roughly 27 million and represent 10% of the population.
This page will look at the biggest box office hits during the biggest box office year ever.I thought when I came up with this idea of doing the biggest box office hits of 1946 that it would be an easy movie page to write. I already had the January 8th 1947 Variety magazine that listed the Top 60 hits of the year so I figured I could knock out the movie page in a few hours….boy was I wrong. The first thing I noticed was that many of top box office hits of 1946 were actually made in 1945.
The second thing I noticed was many of the top box office hits of 1947 were really made in 1946. The third thing I noticed was many of the Oscar® nominated and Oscar® winning films did not make the Variety Top Box Office charts. The final thing I noticed was an issue with foreign films…it sometimes took years after a foreign movie was made for it to make it to North America….the best example of this is Henry V…it was made in 1944 yet it took 2 years to reach North America.
Here is how I came up with the 113 movies on the Ultimate Movie Rankings list…..any box office hit on the Variety lists made in 1946 or was released for the first time in 1946 in North America made the list , and any movie that got an Oscar® nomination or Oscar® win for the 1946 year made the list.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1946
1946 Top Box Office Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort by the stars of the 1946 Top Box Office Movies.
- Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each 1946 Top Box Office Movies received.
- Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About 1946 Top Box Office Movies
1. The five films that received Oscar® nominations for Best Picture were: The Best Years of Our Lives, Henry V, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Razor’s Edge and The Yearling….the winner was The Best Years of Our Lives.
2. Disabled veteran Harold Russell actually won two Oscars® for his performance in The Best Years of Our Lives….one for Best Supporting Actor and a Special Award for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.
3. Other Oscar® acting winners in 1946 were Frederic March as Best Actor for Best Years of Our Lives, Olivia de Havilland as Best Actress for To Each His Own, and Anne Baxter as Best Supporting Actress for The Razor’s Edge.
4. The biggest Oscar® snubs in 1946? I vote three movies/performances…..#1 Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious should have either gotten a Best Picture nomination or a Best Director nomination. 2.Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine gave one of his greatest screen performances in that movie…… and finally 3. Myrna Loy in The Best Years of Our Lives. During Loy’s long and successful career she never got an Oscar® nomination…this would have been the perfect movie to right that wrong.
5. According to Variety the Top Box Office Movie Stars of 1946 were: #1 Bing Crosby, #2 Ingrid Bergman. #3 Fred Astaire, #4 Dorothy Lamour and #5 Gregory Peck.
6. Actors/actresses that made their screen debuts in 1946: Burt Lancaster (The Killers #28), Kirk Douglas (The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers #22), Alec Guinness (Great Expectations #36), Dean Martin and Natalie Wood.
7. Two famous entertainers who passed away in 1946….W.C. Fields and H.G. Wells.
8. Currently a successful box office mark to cross is 100 million... in 2011 thirty movies crossed $100 million, in 2012 thirty-one movies crossed that mark, in 2013 thirty-five got there and in 2014 thirty-three did it. In 1946…when looking at adjusted box office numbers…..an incredible 65 movies would have crossed $100 million.
1946 Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Hi Mr. Cogerson,
Here are 6 films for your review to add to the year 1946.
1946 Bedelia $350,000 (US) Wikipedia-source-Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 32
1946 The Cockeyed Miracle $846,000 Wikipedia-source-The Eddie Mannix Ledger
1946 I Live in Grosvenor Square 1,000,000 Wikipedia-source-“Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History
1946 Paisan $1.4 million (US) Wikipedia-source-Influx of British Stars Continuing Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 11 Mar 1951: D3.
1946 Boys’ Ranch $1,502,000 Wikipedia-source-The Eddie Mannix Ledger
1946 Gallant Bess $2,011,000 Wikipedia-source-The Eddie Mannix Ledger
Please review and advise
Thx
“Nocturne”: George Raft and Lynn Bari were the stars. RKO
“Thrill of Brazil”: Evelyn Keyes, Keenan Wynn and Ann Miller starred. Columbia
“Crack-up” and “Perilous Holiday” both starred Pat O’Brien. RKO
“White Tie and Tails” and “Black Angel” both starred Dan Duryea. Universal
“A Letter for Evie” starred Marsha Hunt and John Carroll. MGM
“Janie Gets Married” starred Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton. Warner Bros.
“Her Kind of Man” featured Dane Clark and Janie Paige. Warner Bros.
“Shadow of a Woman” starred Helmut Dantine and Andrea King, Warner Bros.
“Criminal Court” starred Tom Conway and Martha O’Driscoll. Likely RKO
Thanks Anonymous….I added many of these suggested co-stars….and now all the 1946 movies have co-stars listed in them….thanks so much….your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Also added in a “dynamic” worldwide box office table…49 1946 movies with adjusted worldwide box office grosses.
Since we were talking about G rated films in 1969 let’s go back to your first yearly review. From the “National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures Film Catalog 1936 – 1965” these are the Catholic Legion of Decency ratings for most of the films you had on the list. In 1946 they had only 4 ratings;
A-1 = MORALLY UNOBJECTIONABLE FOR GENERAL PATRONAGE
A-2 = SUITABLE FOR ADULTS AND ADOLESCENTS
B = OBJECTIONABLE IN PART FOR ALL
C = CONDEMNED
A-3 & A-4 RATINGS ADDED IN 1958 (came between A-2 and B)
NR – FILM NOT IN BOOK
In 1946 155 films got an A-1 rating, 176 received an A-2, 60 were rated B and none that year got C or condemned.
The films you had on your list are here with their rating. For films with a B the reason they gave it is listed.
A Night in Casablanca (1946) A-2
A Stolen Life (1946) A-2
Anna and the King Siam (1946) A-1
Bad Bascomb (1946) A-1
Blue Skies (1946) B ACCEPTABILITY OF DIVORCE, SUGGESTIVE DANCING
Brief Encounter (1946) A-2
California (1946) A-2
Canyon Passage (1946) A-2
Centennial Summer (1946) A-2
Children of Paradise (1946) B SUGGESTIVE SEQUENCES AND DIALOGUE
Cloak and Dagger (1946) A-2
Courage of Lassie (1946) A-1
Deadline At Dawn (1946) A-2
Deception (1946) A-2
Devotion (1946) A-1
Do You Love Me? (1946) A-1
Dragonwyck (1946) A-2
Duel in the Sun (1946) B IMMODESTLY SUGGESTIVE SEQUENCES, GLORIFICATION OF ILLICIT LOVE
Easy to Wed (1946) B LIGHT TREATMENT OF MARRIAGE; DIVORCE IN PLOT SOLUTION
Gilda (1946) B SUGGESTIVE RENDITION OF A SONG; SUGGESTIVE COSTUMES, DIALOGUE AND DANCE
Great Expectations (1946) A-1
Henry V (1946) NR
Holiday in Mexico (1946) A-1
Humoresque (1946) B SUICIDE IN PLOT SOLUTION
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) A-2
Kitty (1946) B LACK OF ADEQUATE MORAL COMPENSATION
Little Giant (1946) A-2
Make Mine Music (1946) A-1
Margie (1946) A-1
Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) A-2
My Darling Clementine (1946) A-2
My Reputation (1946) A-2
Never Say Goodbye (1946) B SUGGESTIVE DIALOGUE’
Night and Day (1946) A-2
No Leave No Love (1946) A-1
Notorious (1946) A-2
OSS (1946) A-1
Road to Utopia (1945) B SUGGESTIVE SONG AND DIALOGUE
Rome Open City (1946) NR
Sailor Takes a Wife (1946) B SUGGESTIVE SEQUENCES
Saratoga Trunk (1946) B LACK OF ADEQUATE MORAL COMPENSATION
Sentimental Journey (1946) A-2
Sister Kenny (1946) A-1
Smoky (1946) A-1
So Goes My Love (1946) A-1
Song of the South (1946) A-1
The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) A-1
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) B REFLECTS THE ACCEPTABILITY OF DIVORCE; CONCLUSION OF FILM IMPLIES DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
The Big Sleep (1946) B SUGGESTIVE DIALOGUE AND SITUATIONS
The Blue Dahlia (1946) A-2
The Bride Wore Boots (1946) B REFLECTS THE ACCEPTABILITY OF DIVORCE
The Dark Corner (1946) A-2
The Dark Mirror (1946) A-2
The Green Years (1946) A-1
The Harvey Girls (1946) A-2
The Jolson Story (1946) A-1
The Kid From Brooklyn (1946) A-2
The Killers (1946) A-2
The Locket (1946) A-2
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) B THE RETRIBUTION IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO COUNTERACT THE EFFECT OF THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE STORY, AND IT IS NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE CRIME COMMITTED.
The Razor’s Edge (1946) A-2
The Secret Heart (1946) A-2
The Seventh Veil (1946) B LACK OF ADEQUATE MORAL COMPENSATION
The Spiral Staircase (1946) A-2
The Stork Club (1946) A-2
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) B INADEQUATE MORAL COMPENSATION; SORDID ATMOSPHERE; PLOT SOLUTION BY SUICIDE
The Strange Woman (1946) A-2
The Strangers (1946) NR
The Time the Place and the Girl (1946) A-2
The Virginian (1946) A-1
The Well-Groomed Bride (1946) A-2
The Yearling (1946) A-1
Three Little Girls in Blue (1946) A-1
Till The Clouds Roll By (1946) A-1
Till the End of Time (1946) A-2
To Each His Own (1946) A-2
Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) A-2
Two Guys From Milwaukee (1946) A-1
Two Sisters From Boston (1946) A-2
Two Years Before The Mast (1946) A-1
Undercurrent (1946) A-2
Wake Up and Dream (1946) A-1
Without Reservations (1946) A-2
Ziegfeld Follies (1946) A-2
Hey Dan….this is awesome information. Thanks for taking the time to share it. So I guess a “C” ” was like today’s NC17….death at the box office. Looks like many of my favorite movies of 1946…..Notorious, Best Years of Our Lives, Duel in the Sun and The Big Sleep would have some concerns…..with Notorious being the one that got a A-2 rating. Seems Hitch jammed in lots of sex subtext in that one…lol.
Comments like this one are one of the reasons …”the comment” section is one of my favorite parts of the website…..as comments like this are interesting and educational….job well done my friend.
amazing post
veteransday2017.wordpress.com
Hey Damien Xia….thanks for the kind words about our UMR page.
The Movie “California” with Barbara Stanywick. I show it as being released on Jan 14, 1947 and cannot find a source where it was released in 1946, not even overseas. I have done research, and I just don’t see anything before 1947. Would you be able to let me know on this? Thank you
Hey Chris…..it looks like you are 100% correct…..I will have to fix that when I get back home. Putting it in my notebook of things to fix. Your “eagle eye” is greatly appreciated. There is no sarcasm in that at all. When you make as many mistakes like we have…..we have to embrace the notices we get about our errors. Thanks again…and sorry it took so long to comment back…somehow this comment made it past us.
Still need to fix.