Finding box office information for movies made before 1980 is not an easy task. For somebody looking for box office information on 1970 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 1971 movies in our database.
To make this list a movie had to be made in 1971. This page will looks at 127 1971 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 40% of the movies made in 1971….but should cover the top box office movies.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1971
1971 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 1971 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1971 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1971 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1971 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 1971 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1971 Movies received.
- Sort 1971 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 1971 for Adjusted USA Box Office:
My Main Sources
Source 1: Variety – January 5th, 1972, January 7th, 1973
Source 2: Twentieth Century-Fox A Corporate and Financial History by Aubrey Solomon
Source 3: Wikipedia
Source 4: IMDb.com
Source 5: BoxOfficeMojo.com
Roger Ebert gave 25 1971 movies 4 stars, his highest rating
ALEX IN WONDERLAND
BLEAK MOMENTS
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
CLAIRE’S KNEE
COLD TURKEY
DERBY
EMIGRANTS, THE
FRENCH CONNECTION
GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS
GOIN’ DOWN THE ROAD
I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN
LAST PICTURE SHOW
LITTLE MURDERS
MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER
MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ
MURMOR OF THE HEART
NEW LEAF
PETER RABBIT AND TALES OF BEATRIX POTTER
PLAY MISTY FOR ME
SUCH GOOD FRIENDS
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
THIS MAN MUST DIE
WALKABOUT
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Hey Dan….thanks for the Roger Ebert 4 star movies of 1971. I have only seen 10 of them. Many I have never even heard of before. Little Murders is horrible. So even though he is my all-time favorite critic….I did not always agree with him. I think Cold Turkey is the biggest surprise…at least of the movies I am aware of……though Little Murders is right there as well. Good information.
Because of the glut of big grossers in the seventies some historians have dubbed it The Decade of the Blockbuster [up until then]. If the CPI method of inflation adjustment is used which calculates the purchasing power of actual grosses the results do give some credence to the contentions of the historians.
Total purchasing power in 2018 dollars of actual domestic grosses of Top 15 films in the 1950s entire DECADE= $4.95 billion [Average per movie $330 million approx.]
Total purchasing power in 2018 dollars of actual domestic grosses of Top 15 films in the 1970s entire DECADE = $11.3 billion [average per movie $750 million approx. ]
Anyway this 1971 Cogerson Review is another valuable document which diagnoses in great and meticulous detail the health of the 1971 movies box office particularly in the US. It, like the rest of these brilliant Cogerson annual reviews, is a document that I shall be using as a permanent source of reference. Indeed as I have often conceded it would not be possible to make comparisons like the ones above without Cogerson as source of detailed information. Much appreciated by buffs like me.
Just for information, there are two new kindle books on amazon titled “Annual US Top Films Rentals 1912-1979” and “Annual US Top Film Grosses 1980-2016” …. This could be very useful to consult as they seem very complete …. They contain and classify all films that have reported at least 1 million $ in usa year after year, even specifying the figures of the re-releases …
Hello Bruce,
I’m so glad you started the 1970’s. The 1970’s have always been the hardest years to find box office information. Be it Rentals, gross or budgets. 1971 was perhaps my favorite year of the 1970’s because it had many unusual films released in the year. Some of my favorites are BROTHER JOHN, DUCK YOU SUCKER, HAROLD AND MAUDE, THX 1138, DIRTY HARRY, PLAY MISTY FOR ME, THE OMEGA MAN, MAN IN THE WILDERNESS, GET CARTER, THE LAST VALLEY, THE HORSEMEN, VANISHING POINT, THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, THE HOSPITAL, FOOLS’ PARADE, WILD ROVERS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, LE MANS, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE FRENCH CONNECTION and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Not all of these film were successful at the box office or well received by film critics but I liked them all.
Hey Lyle
1. Good to hear from you.
2. Yep….the goal is work through the 1970s….that would then give us 50 years of consecutive yearly reports…..which I think would be pretty cool…and hopefully helpful.
3. I agree…the 1960s and 1970s might have the least amount of information out there…..Variety Yearly Grossers is the best source I have…..lots of other numbers come from books or sources that do not say where they got the number.
4. Glad to see you mention The Last Valley among your favorites….the first time I saw the movie I was blown away….not so much on the second viewing…but that DVD has a place on my DVD shelf….and it is itching to be watched again.
5. I have seen 15 of the movies that are in your favorites….with the exception of Le Mans, I enjoyed them all.
6. Glad you liked our 1971 page….and good to know it is your favorite of that decade.
Good stuff.
Saw 37. 2 favorites fiddler on the roof and play misty for me. 3 10s French connection, fiddler on the roof, a clockwork orange( too weird to ever recommend). hidden gem, play misty for me. I love eastwood. dan is the man. thanks steve and flora and cogerson.
Hey bob cox. Thanks for the visit, tally and comment….all greatly appreciated. Not being a musical fan….I though Fiddler on the Roof was ok….so long of a movie…..gotta admit I was glad when it FINALLY ended. Love Play Misty For Me…..growing up that movie was pretty well known…..seems since Fatal Attraction that it has faded away from people’s memories. A Clockwork Orange can be recommended….as long as you include a warning for the weirdness that is coming….lol. Good feedback.