List of 1961 box office number-one films in the United States

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This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1961 per Variety's weekly National boxoffice survey. The results are based on a sample of 20-25 key cities and therefore, any box office amounts quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.

Contents

Number-one films

Ben-Hur became the highest grossing film of 1961, as had happened the year before. But its reign at the #1 spot was the majority of 1960, it never reached #1 during 1961.
#Week endingFilmNotesRef
1January 4, 1961 Spartacus Spartacus reached number one in its 13th week of release [1]
2January 11, 1961 [2]
3January 18, 1961 Exodus [3]
4January 25, 1961SpartacusSpartacus returned to number one in its 16th week of release [4]
5February 1, 1961 Swiss Family Robinson Swiss Family Robinson grossed $265,000 in the key cities sampled [5]
6February 8, 1961 The Misfits [6]
7February 15, 1961Exodus [6]
8February 22, 1961The Misfits [7]
9March 1, 1961Exodus [8]
10March 8, 1961 [8]
11March 15, 1961 [9]
12March 22, 1961Although Variety listed Exodus as the champ for the week based on their cities sampled, it noted that The Alamo likely grossed more nationally. [10]
13March 29, 1961 [11]
14April 5, 1961 [12]
15April 12, 1961 [13]
16April 19, 1961 The Absent-Minded Professor [14]
17April 26, 1961 [15]
18May 3, 1961 [16]
19May 10, 1961 Gone with the Wind (reissue)Gone with the Wind grossed $250,000 from 17 key cities. [17]
20May 17, 1961The Absent-Minded Professor [18]
21May 24, 1961Gone with the Wind (reissue) [19]
22May 31, 1961 The Young Savages The Young Savages grossed around $300,000 from 18 key cities. [20]
23June 7, 1961 The Pleasure of His Company [21]
24June 14, 1961 [22]
25June 21, 1961 [23]
26June 28, 1961 [24]
27July 5, 1961 The Parent Trap [25]
28July 12, 1961 Fanny Fanny opened at Radio City Music Hall where it grossed over $200,000. [26]
29July 19, 1961 [27]
30July 26, 1961Fanny was still grossing $200,000 at Radio City Music Hall [28]
31August 2, 1961 The Guns of Navarone [29]
32August 9, 1961 [30]
33August 16, 1961 [31]
34August 23, 1961 [32]
35August 30, 1961 Come September [33]
36September 6, 1961 [34]
37September 13, 1961 [34]
38September 20, 1961 [35]
39September 27, 1961 [36]
40October 4, 1961 [37]
41October 11, 1961 The Hustler The Hustler grossed over $200,000 from 11 key cities [38]
42October 18, 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's Breakfast at Tiffany's reached number one despite playing in only 5 key cities [39]
43October 25, 1961 [40]
44November 1, 1961 [40]
45November 8, 1961 [41]
46November 15, 1961 [41]
47November 22, 1961 King of Kings [42]
48November 29, 1961 The Comancheros The Comancheros grossed nearly $300,000 from 21 key cities [43]
49December 6, 1961King of Kings [44]
50December 13, 1961 [45]
51December 20, 1961 West Side Story [46]
52December 27, 1961 Flower Drum Song [47]

Highest-grossing films

The highest-grossing films during the calendar year based on theatrical rentals were as follows:

RankTitleDistributorRental [48]
1 Ben-Hur Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $14,700,000 [49] [50]
2 The Guns of Navarone Columbia Pictures $8,600,000
3 The Absent-Minded Professor Buena Vista $8,200,000
4 The Parent Trap $8,000,000
5 Swiss Family Robinson $7,500,000
6 Exodus United Artists $7,350,000
7 The World of Suzie Wong Paramount Pictures $7,300,000
8 The Alamo United Artists$7,250,000
9 Gone with the Wind Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $6,000,000
10 One Hundred and One Dalmatians Buena Vista$5,800,000

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wear, Mike (February 1, 1961). "'Spartacus' Tops Jan. Estimates; Tailed By 'Exodus' and 'Grass'; Late-Month Biz-Blitz Slows All". Variety . p. 7. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  2. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . January 11, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  3. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . January 18, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  4. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . January 25, 1961. p. 5. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  5. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . February 1, 1961. p. 7. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  6. 1 2 "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . February 15, 1961. p. 17. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  7. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . February 22, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved November 10, 2020– via Archive.org.
  8. 1 2 "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . March 8, 1961. p. 4. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  9. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . March 15, 1961. p. 6. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  10. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . March 22, 1961. p. 22. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  11. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . March 29, 1961. p. 16. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  12. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . April 5, 1961. p. 5. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  13. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . April 12, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  14. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . April 19, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  15. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . April 26, 1961. p. 19. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  16. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . May 3, 1961. p. 23. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  17. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . May 10, 1961. p. 8. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  18. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . May 17, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  19. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . May 24, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  20. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . May 31, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  21. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . June 7, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  22. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . June 14, 1961. p. 5. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  23. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . June 21, 1961. p. 7. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  24. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . June 28, 1961. p. 7. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  25. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . July 5, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  26. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . July 12, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  27. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . July 19, 1961. p. 19. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  28. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . July 26, 1961. p. 17. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  29. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . August 2, 1961. p. 4. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  30. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . August 9, 1961. p. 18. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  31. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . August 16, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  32. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . August 23, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  33. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . August 30, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  34. 1 2 "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . September 13, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  35. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . September 20, 1961. p. 17. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  36. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . September 27, 1961. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  37. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . October 4, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  38. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . October 11, 1961. p. 24. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  39. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . October 18, 1961. p. 20. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  40. 1 2 Wear, Mike (November 8, 1961). "October's Golden Glow in 'Tiffany's'; 'Splendor in Grass' & 'The Hustler' Rank 2-3, 'Devil' Following". Variety . p. 7. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  41. 1 2 "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . November 15, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  42. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . November 22, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  43. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . November 29, 1961. p. 16. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  44. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . December 6, 1961. p. 17. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  45. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . December 13, 1961. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  46. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . December 20, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  47. ↑ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety . December 27, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  48. ↑ "1961: Rentals and Potential". Variety . January 10, 1962. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org.
  49. ↑ "All-Time Top Gross Films". Variety . January 10, 1962. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2021– via Archive.org. $32,000,000 already taken
  50. ↑ "Rental Potentials of 1960". Variety . January 4, 1961. p. 47. Retrieved January 25, 2022– via Archive.org. $17,300,000

Chronology

Preceded by 1961 Succeeded by
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