Finding box office information for movies made before 1980 is not an easy task. For somebody looking for box office information on 1964 it is very very frustrating. Over the years, we have researched and collected information on over 30,000 movies. So we figured we would show all the 1964 movies in our database.
To make this list a movie had to be made in 1964. This page will looks at 121 1964 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. This only represents about 25% of the movies made in 1963….but should cover the top box office movies.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1964
1964 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 1964 Top Box Office Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1964 Top Box Office Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1964 Top Box Office Movies by stars of the movie
- Sort 1964 Top Box Office Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1964 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 each 1964 Top Box Office Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1964 Top Box Office Movies received.
- Sort 1964 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.
Top earners in 1964 for Adjusted USA Box Office:
My Main Sources
Source 1: Variety – January 8th, 1965 Pages 6 & 36
Source 2: Twentieth Century-Fox A Corporate and Financial History by Aubrey Solomon
Source 3: Wikipedia
Source 4: IMDb.com
Source 5: BoxOfficeMojo.com
Our Yearly Review Pages
- 1931 Yearly Review
- 1932 Yearly Review
- 1933 Yearly Review
- 1934 Yearly Review
- 1935 Yearly Review
- 1936 Yearly Review
- 1936 Worldwide Gross
- 1937 Yearly Review
- 1938 Yearly Review
- 1939 Yearly Review
- Quigley Top 25 1939
- 1940 Yearly Review
- 1941 Yearly Review
- 1942 Yearly Review
- 1943 Yearly Review
- 1944 Yearly Review
- 1945 Yearly Review
- 1946 Yearly Review
- 1947 Yearly Review
- 1948 Yearly Review
- 1949 Yearly Review
- 1950 Yearly Review
- 1951 Yearly Review
- 1952 Yearly Review
- 1953 Yearly Review
- 1954 Yearly Review
- 1955 Yearly Review
- 1956 Yearly Review
- 1957 Yearly Review
- 1958 Yearly Review
- 1959 Yearly Review
- 1960 Yearly Review
- 1961 Yearly Review
- 1962 Yearly Review
- 1963 Yearly Review
- 1964 Yearly Review
This is a list of movies who were made in 1964. It does n t mean they were in cinema in 1964! With all these lists, they make constantly the same mistake!
For example Mary Poppins was the box Office champ nr. 1 of 1965 (it is only Made in 1964) Followed by the sound of music who runned in cinema for over 3 years!
Hey Bart….thanks for stopping by and commenting. When we started these yearly reviews we had to pick a rule for establishing the year the movie would appear. We picked the year that shows up on IMDb. Does it makes some of the pages out of whack? Yes….but overall….it does a pretty good job for the thousands and thousands of movies ranked on our website. Good feedback.
Hello – I am curious about your information on “Della” – being that I am a Crawford researcher and I have never found documentation, or even a newspaper article about it being released theatrically.
I have only found via vintage newspaper searching that it was released as a Made-For-TV film in 1965 (not 1964).
Also, the listing cites Dame May Whitty as Joan Crawford’s co-star. Not only was Dame May Whitty not in “Della”, but she passed away in 1948.
Can you clarify your source for the box office and theatrical release information? Thanks
Hey Bryan. As for Della/Final Confinement….in my database….it has the source for the movie as “Crawford book”. Sadly I do not remember which book….as we did most of our Crawford research seven years ago. Our Joan page. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/joan-crawford-movies/
My understanding from my readings….is it was a failed pilot….that was made in 1964 (IMDb’s year)……but repackaged and sent out as part of a double feature in theaters in 1965. A very limited run….with almost the minimum my database will accept when it comes to box office grosses…..as it can not generate our UMR score without a box office total.
The rest of sources are from the MGM Ledgers, Warner Brother Ledgers, Variety and Crawford website that is loaded with information. Using a “book source” is our least favorite way to figure out a box office gross. As for Dame May being one of the co-stars….not sure where that can from….but it has been fixed….on our Joan page….Charles Bickford was listed correctly.
I checked out your website…..very impressive. Our Joan Crawford autograph hangs proudly in our UMR office. Thanks for the questions.
HI BRUCE
1 Thanks for feedback. Big coincidence about your son coming from Mid East and your son in law going there. I hope he enjoys it. Tell him an old “desert rat” wishes him all the best. Actually I spent my time there very productively Because of the heat we had to stop work everyday at noon and I spent my afternoons studying for major education qualifications that got me a good job in the Northern Ireland Civil Service when I left the Royal Air Force.
2 I am sure that your son in law and your daughter have decided that for one family the father in law/father starts enough arguments as it is – at least on this site!
3 By the way I meant to say that Ireland is legally partitioned into 2 states, Northern and Southern Ireland. Belfast is the capital of the former and Dublin the capital of the latter. I was wondering if your views checking system takes account of that.
Hey Bob…..the amazing thing is that it looks like they might actually be in the same exact “undisclosed” location…..my new SILOC seems eager to get there so he can move the UMR needle there…he actually wanted to know the amount of views we have had from Iraq….so he would see the count go up. FYI…the count is right around 2,700 views from Iraq. I guess the desert and UMR do not go well together.
Glad the desert helped you get a good job. As for Belfast….I will have to check that out…..last night I was updating our 14 million view page (https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/6-million-views-yeah/)….and noticed that Belfast fell out of the Top 16 cities page….well Belfast was nowhere to be found on the Ireland map I was looking at….I will have to see where Belfast is in the Google Analytic world. Thanks for all the visits.
Hey Bob….so I found Belfast….it is not listed with Ireland….but in the totals with the United Kingdom….listed as Northern Ireland. So you are correct….thanks for that knowledge.
HI BRUCE
1 Thanks for keeping me informed of your progress in tracking down Belfast. You certainly do your homework when you feel something is important enough to the management of your site.
2 That we are part of the United Kingdom and not tied in with Dublin and the rest of Ireland outside the North is largely what all of the trouble here has been about. At times we have our own Government in Northern Ireland which is always subordinate to the London Parliament. At other times if our politicians can’t agree among themselves within Northern Ireland direct rule from London is imposed on us.
3 It could be heading that way again as there is political stalemate here at the moment which means that once again Englishmen like Lensman could be lording it over poor vassals like me. It’s a cruel world!
Hey Bob…..well having Belfast missing was disturbing…..lots of good people live there…and would not want them to disappear too…lol. If you would down…and Steve keeps moving up….then you guys will be neighbors soon….lol. Good feedback.
1 I am still very disappointed that even after two attempts to get at the truth nobody has explained to me why the miniature of Bogie and Bacall on the 1948 Review page is said to have been taken from Hamlet – ie did they play uncredited cameos in that movie?
2 However even when I commented on the 1963 Annual Review nobody seemed interested even though all comments from others seems to have warranted a response, so I guess I’m not the kind of guy who creates “buzz” and has “minds exploding” on this site. Indeed it would seem that to have THAT kind of impact HERE one needs to observe the very fashionable cliché currently going the rounds that “less is more!”
3 So all things considered I can emphasise with the young nobleman in Picture of Dorian Gray who suddenly realised that he had said everything worthwhile saying in life and decided to fall silent. He was just 30 something so it has taken me a long time to start catching up but I’m nearly there.
4 I’ll therefore be brief and simply observe that as the average US ticket price in 1964 was $0.93 reportedly,1964 was the officially-recorded final year in which average ticket prices remained under $1 dollar.
5 Ticket inflation was gathering pace and down the road sites like Box Office Mojo and guys like our own Bruce Cogerson would one day come into their own – the path to their emergence was being cemented even back in the 1960s! It was as if some Great Gatekeeper of the Gods like Yog-Sothoth of the Cthulhu mythology was slowly starting to open the gateway for the arrival of the Ticket Inflation Boys to enlighten modern movie buffs. And on a serious note a fine and most welcome job they’re doing even if Mo Lensman does try to spoil the party at times!
Did anyone hear anything? Oh it was Bob worried about being ignored. I\’m sure there are a few people here that read your posts Bob. I know I do and very entertaining they are too, even the serious ones. I admit that ticket price inflation on old movies doesn\’t interest me that much but I do find some of these charts \’fascinating\’, as Spock would say.
And don\’t forget the delay in our posts reaching the relevant pages has made replying, and even finding old posts, more difficult, no thanks to the spammers.
I made a reply to Bob’s comment, but it has not showed up yet except on the Forum page. I enjoy reading your exchanges about your videos.
Hi Flora, glad you like the video chit chats between me and Bob here at the UMR. And I enjoy reading your posts at my video channel. Who knows maybe one day Bob will find a way to post on youtube.
I read your comments Bob, even though I don’t always reply. I enjoy your reviews of Steve’s videos and his responses. I continue to write my responses to his videos on his YouTube channel where all comments shop up right away.
By the way, so far Bruce has not answered anyone other than Steve on this 1964 Box Office page.
Hey Flora…I did fix the error you noticed….busy Easter weekend…between church activities, Easter egg hunts and Easter food festivities….but…..I have the entire week off, as it is Spring Break here….so I will be catching up with comments….and hopefully…..finally….getting rid of all the gremlins my website provider let loose on the website….Happy Easter.
HI FLORA
1 Thanks for your kind words
2 I think it means a lot to this site generally to know that knowledgeable, long-standing and well respected viewers like yourself read the posts of other viewers such as I who compared with you are relative newcomers. I have long looked forward to seeing your own posts though I find it hard to resist winding up Bruce about missing a few of my posts. Hope you are having a good Easter.
Hey To Steve and Anyone Else Interested
1. I thought everybody knew that Bogart and Bacall played Gertrude and Claudius in 1948’s Hamlet.
2. Ok….that error has been fixed….thanks for the heads up.
3. I will have to check out your 1963 comment….sorry I missed that one….I will respond to that comment and check out Steve’s Cary Grant video after Easter service and dinner.
4. Interesting that 1964 was the last year you could see a movie for a buck….those were the days….WoC and I saw a movie last night and it cost us almost 60 bucks (counting concessions)/
5. Well thank you Gatekeeper of the Gods….it was appreciated.
Happy Easter.
HI BRUCE
1 Thanks for your feedback. I have seen 10 of the 15 best reviewed films in your 1964 survey and I think that’s good going as that year I was away from the mainstream and posted to a desert in the Middle East where I served with the British Royal Air Force. Few cinemas there and of course what there was showed films in the Arabic language.
2 We had our own cinema on the base that showed English Language films but they were all old movies.. However I still enjoyed myself because I was for once in an albeit very minor “Cogerson/Lensman” position in that I had good background knowledge of the old films concerned and because of that and my control of the base printing facilities I ran off the movie house’s weekly programmes for distribution around the camp with my own taglines attached to them. My productions were a bit like Steve’s posters but without his wonderful pictorials for which I was always allowed into the camp cinema free of charge. I was like a permanent staff member!
3 Anyway your 1964 survey shows me the kind of films that I was missing back home further down your list. Good survey all round. Hope you and family are having a good Easter.
Hey Bob
1. 10 of the Top 15 reviewed movies….mmmm….let me see….11 of the Top 15….with Zulu being one of my favorite….I have never heard of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
2. So you spent so time in the Middle East desert…..my oldest just got back from 6 months there….and now my new son-in-law is headed there on Saturday.
3. Yep….he got married a week ago today…..and on Saturday he is leaving….their first 7 months of marriage should go very well….very few arguments…lol.
4. Sorry they did not have more theaters for the servicemen…..granted 50 years later that is still a complaint of people that serve over there.
5. Good movie memory of the “Free Camp Cinema”.
6. Easter was great….thanks for checking out our latest yearly review….1930 is next then it is the 1960s to present day.
Good feedback.
I can’t believe Steven Spielberg made a movie in 1964 but there it is on the IMDB with 267 people rating it. Reminds me of that 1938 Orson Welles film they show on TCM, filmed in New York with Joseph Cotten. Neither was officially released but it would be interesting to see, they say it’s like an early version of Close Encounters.
Hey Dan….he was 18 when he made the movie. It was the first version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Apparently all complete prints are gone….but it was a finished movie….that played in a few theaters….I think Spielberg rented the theaters himself. It has a running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes…..pretty impressive for a 18 year old. Good feedback.
At first blush, 1964 does not seem like a particularly good year. Apart from the first 4 huge box office hits (Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Goldfinger and The Carpetbaggers), box office earnings continue to decline. However, as I scrolled down the list, I found a number of my favorite films and concluded that, in some ways, 1964 was a landmark year for the movies. Just a few highlights:
– James Bond goes into super mode with what many see as the best of the series: Goldfinger
– A Fistful of Dollars launches the spaghetti western genre, as well as the film careers of Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone
– Outstanding doomsday films: the hilarious, Dr Stangelove, and the depressingly dark, Fail Safe, essentially based on the same story
– Captivating political dramas: Seven Days in May and The Best Man (unfortunately a box office dud according to the list above)
– The best of the Pink Panther series: A Shot in the Dark
– One of the first modern war parodies: The Americanization of Emily – not anti-war as such, but more against the glorification of war
– The first (or at least the first important) music documentaries: A Hard Days Night (The Beatles had come to America)
– The last of the great Roman epics: The Fall of the Roman Empire (also a great money loser, despite its impressive battle scenes, interesting story, and strong cast)
– And while I would not count Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady among my favorites, they certainly deserve mention as well.
Other favorites from 1964: The Train (although technically a 1965 release in the US), Becket, Zulu, and Seance on a Wet Afternoon.
So, altogether, a great year as far as I’m concerned!
Questions: Do the box office figures for Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and Goldfinger include re-releases, and if so, do you have the numbers just for their initial releases? Thanks!
Hey PhilHoF17
1. This is a well thought out and generally an awesome comment. One of the best that I have read on the website…..and that is A LOT of comments.
2. So thanks for posting it and sharing your thoughts on 1964 movies.
3. I agree with you on almost the entire comment…..and when I do not agree it is due to the fact that I have not seen the movie.
4. I have not seen The Train, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, The Fall of the Roman Empire and The Best Man.
5. Zulu is probably the reason I like Michael Caine so much….my dad loved that movie…..my blu-ray of that movie is amazing to see…..the colors jump off the screen.
6. Mary Poppins includes all the re-releases….with the actual number being manipulated to show the total box office run.
7. Let’s see…at the time of the yearly Variety list…..January 6th, 1965 they had My Fair Lady at 5 million in rentals with predicted total unknown..In 1966 Variety has Mary Poppins as the top movie with 28 million rentals in the bank and another 5 million expected…..the number 2 movie? The Sound of Music….good year for Andrews. Goldfinger was the third ranked movie in the 1966 rental list with 19.90 million in rentals…..which translates to about $518 million in adjusted domestic gross.
Great feedback….fun comment to read.
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for your kind reply and responding to my questions on the earning of the 3 top box office hits of the year. By the way I have seen 34 films from this list, which I think is my highest for the annual pages so far… though I’m conscious this pales in comparison to the counts of some of the other film-loving followers on this site! And I agree Michael Caine was great in Zulu. It was the role that revealed him, which is interesting given he played an upper class officer in the film, while he would become more known for portraying working class types.
Hope you enjoyed a wonderful Easter!
Hey PhilHoF17…your 34 tops me……I expect that as we get closer to modern movies….the better my tally count will get….going to do 1930….and then march to 1980. Some of these yearly reviews have become very popular…looking at you 1946 and 1939. Hope your Easter was awesome too.