1930 Top Grossing Movies

This movie page looks at 1930 Top Box Office Movies.  Finding box office information for movies made in the 1930s and 1940s is extremely difficult.   For somebody looking for box office information on 1930 it is very very frustrating.  Over the years, we have researched and collected information on over 36,000 movies.  So we figured we would show all the 1930 movies in our database.

To make this list a movie had to be made in 1930.  Obviously many movies made in 1929 earned box office dollars in 1930.  On the other side many movies made in 1930 made money in 1931 and later.  This page looks at 130 1930 Top Box Office Movies.  The movies are listed in a massive table that lets you rank the movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.

The following massive table only includes the movies made in 1930 that are in our database.  Since we are constantly adding new movies to our database….this page will quickly become obsolete.  We will try and update this page on a regular basis.

Hell’s Angels was the biggest box office hit of the year

Our UMR Top 50 of 1930

1930 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 1930 Top Box Office Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
  • Sort 1930 Top Box Office Movies by domestic actual box office grosses
  • Sort 1930 Top Box Office Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort 1930 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 1930 Top Box Office Movies received.
  • Sort 1930 Top Box Office Movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking Score (UMR).  Our UMR score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

John Wayne starred in 1930’s The Big Trail

Top earners in 1930 for Adjusted USA Box Office:

Adjusted Worldwide Box Office:

  1.  Hell’s Angels (1930) $551,999,968.00
  2. Check and Double Check (1930) $249,779,965.00
  3. Min and Bill (1930) $242,880,008.00
  4. The Big House (1930) $236,669,987.00
  5. Dawn Patrol (1930) $224,111,997.00
  6. Call Of The Flesh (1930) $223,835,990.00
  7. The Rogue Song (1930) $222,180,038.00
  8. Anna Christie (1930) $206,862,014.00
  9. Disraeli (1930) $206,724,010.00
  10. No No Nanette (1930) $200,237,982.00
  11. Son of the Gods (1930) $197,616,007.00
  12. Hold Everything (1930) $183,954,024.00
  13. General Crack (1930) $182,159,979.00
  14. The Vagabound King (1930) $179,400,000.00
  15. Romance (1930) $174,570,014.00
  16. Paid (1930) $169,877,987.00
  17. Our Blushing Brides (1930) $167,118,007.00
  18. New Moon (1930) $138,552,010.00
  19. Montana Moon (1930) $132,479,993.00
  20. Viennese Nights (1930) $131,100,003.00
  21. Mammy (1930) $130,685,993.00
  22. Half Shot at Sunrise (1930) $127,512,003.00
  23. The Cuckoos (1930) $119,094,018.00
  24. Billy the Kid (1930) $115,919,982.00
  25. Under a Texas Moon (1930) $114,264,031.00
  26. The Green Goddess (1930) $111,228,000.00
  27. Moby Dick (1930) $109,985,969.00
  28. Dixiana (1930) $107,640,000.00
  29. Hook Line and Sinker (1930) $107,640,000.00
  30. A Lady’s Morals (1930) $105,017,980.00
  31. She Couldn’t Say No (1930) $99,084,010.00
  32. The Lash (1930) $98,808,004.00
  33. Sunny (1930) $95,220,004.00
  34. Doorway To Hell (1930) $94,943,997.00
  35. The Office Wife (1930) $93,702,011.00
  36. Bright Lights (1930) $92,321,976.00
  37. The Bad Man (1930) $88,871,979.00
  38. Passion Flower (1930) $88,596,017.00
  39. Way For A Sailor (1930) $87,492,034.00
  40. Sin Takes A Holiday (1930) $85,973,997.00
  41. Three Faces East (1930) $85,559,986.00
  42. Showgirl in Hollywood (1930) $80,315,990.00
  43. The Silver Horde (1930) $77,556,010.00
  44. Old English (1930) $75,348,000.00
  45. Bride of the Regiment (1930) $74,244,018.00
  46. Maybe It’s Love (1930) $70,517,969.00
  47. Big Boy (1930) $68,723,969.00
  48. Going Wild (1930) $67,757,990.00
  49. Love Comes Along (1930) $65,963,990.00
  50. Sweethearts and Wives (1930) $63,893,983.00
  51. Kismet (1930) $63,756,024.00
  52. Scarlet Pages (1930) $63,479,972.00
  53. The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930) $62,928,004.00
  54. Lovin’ the Ladies (1930) $59,064,042.00
  55. Second Choice (1930) $58,926,038.00
  56. Shooting Straight (1930) $57,684,006.00
  57. Conspiracy (1930) $57,546,003.00
  58. River’s End (1930) $53,267,986.00
  59. The Other Tomorrow (1930) $50,507,962.00
  60. The Man from Blankley’s (1930) $49,679,987.00
  61. Loose Ankles (1930) $49,128,017.00
  62. Spring Is Here (1930) $48,990,013.00
  63. The Flirting Widow (1930) $48,023,990.00
  64. The Widow From Chicago (1930) $44,988,003.00
  65. The Way Of All Men (1930) $41,814,014.00
  66. Murder Will Out (1930) $41,123,997.00
  67. The Gorilla (1930) $40,985,993.00
  68. Isle of Escape (1930) $38,916,031.00
  69. The Truth About Youth (1930) $38,777,983.00
  70. College Lovers (1930) $35,328,031.00
  71. Sinner’s Holiday (1930) $34,914,021.00
  72. The Matrimonial Bed (1930) $33,809,993.00
  73. Dumbbells in Ermine (1930) $33,672,034.00
  74. Strictly Unconventional (1930) $32,844,014.00
  75. Outward Bound (1930) $32,843,969.00
  76. The Furies (1930) $32,429,958.00
  77. Divorce Among Friends (1930) $29,118,011.00
  78. A Soldier’s Plaything (1930) $28,565,996.00
  79. Runaway Bride (1930) $28,152,031.00
  80. He Knew Women (1930) $26,634,038.00
  81. Back Pay (1930) $26,634,038.00
  82. Captain Thunder (1930) $26,219,983.00
  83. On The Border (1930) $25,668,014.00
  84. The Man Hunter (1930) $19,595,997.00
  85. Rough Waters (1930) $17,801,997.00

My Main Sources

Source 1: Eddie Mannix MGM Ledgers

Source 2: C.J. Tevlin RKO Ledgers

Source 3: William Schaefer Warner Brothers Ledgers

Source 4: Year In Review Variety Editions

Source 5: Grand Design: Hollywood As A Modern Business Enterprise 1930-1942 by Tino Balio

Source 6: Twentieth Century-Fox A Corporate and Financial History by Aubrey Solomon

Source 7:  Wikipedia

Source 8:  IMDb.com

Source 9:  “Revenue sharing and the coming of sound” by H. Mark Glancy

Source 10: Hollywood Power Stats by Christopher Reynolds

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36 thoughts on “1930 Top Grossing Movies”

  1. Is there any ETA on when all these yearly pages can have their worldwide numbers hooked up to the database so they’re consistent and updated? Thanks!

    Reply

  2. Mr. Cogerson,

    Please add the following movie
    Ingagi (1930), starring-Sir Hubert Winstead $4 million box office. source-Wikipedia

    Thx
    Mike

    Reply

  3. Mr. Cogerson,

    Please add the following movie
    Ingagi (1930), starring-Sir Hubert Winstead $4 million box office.

    Thx
    Mike

    Reply

  4. HI Bruce ; i just wanted to know where the box office data from “Tom Sawyer” came from …. Because the movie didn’t appear on Variety yearly rentals from 1930…

    I also have a question about the ledgers from Eddie Mannix ; William Schaefer and C J Tevlin…
    Did you have collected all the box office grosses domestic and foreign available from all the movies they have collected ? …. Did they always have foreign earnings or not always?
    Why don’t you make an article or a list with all the rough data that they contains (foreign and domestic rentals) ?… It will make a great addition to your website and the only place to see those numbers .. It seems impossible to find a book or any data/website that collects all those 3 ledgers..

    Reply

    1. Tom Sawyer grosses? Pretty sure that came from a Variety all-time grossing movie list from the 1930s….they did not publish that annually back then….but released the lists at the craziest times…like May of 1934. I did notice that on this link…Tom Sawyer did not get mentioned. http://filmindex.0catch.com/boxoffice.htm

      As for the ledgers…at this point….my box office movie notebook is pretty much on the website now…I still need to go back and include a worldwide box office table on many of the yearly reviews. I did not get all the information out of the ledgers….time is limited…and it is by appointment only….they require somebody to be in the room with you while you look at the ledgers. Most of the ledgers have both domestic and international rentals…..Warner’s does not list profit margin….Fox’s information only lists domestic rentals…..MGM and RKO have cost, domestic rentals, international rentals, profit dollars and profit margin.

      Percentage wise…I would say the ledgers have about 90% of the movies made by the studios….while I feel I have about 70% of those 90%. I feel the best about the MGM movies. Warner Brothers has lots of information on 1920s…movies….but I decided to go with 1930s through 1950s when I was last there. In the future I will be returning for another viewing. If they let me in…..they seem to be slightly mad…that I revealed the wizard behind the curtain….with requires to the ledgers. I had to sign lots of paperwork about showing the ledgers….which is why I never show the actual rentals in the ledgers.

      To read about my one and only trip to the Warner Brothers Ledgers…you can read this…https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/william-schaefer-warner-brothers-ledgers/

      Reply

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