This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1970 per Variety . The data was based on grosses from 20 to 24 key cities and therefore, the gross quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.
# | Week ending | Film | Gross | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | January 7, 1970 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | $1,209,000 | [1] | |
2 | January 14, 1970 | $614,700 | [2] | ||
3 | January 21, 1970 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | $500,489 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid returned to number one after 17 weeks of release | [3] |
4 | January 28, 1970 | $384,598 | [4] | ||
5 | February 4, 1970 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria | $401,500 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria reached number one in its 16th week of release | [5] |
6 | February 11, 1970 | Funny Girl | $795,000 | Funny Girl returned to number one after 73 weeks of release | [6] |
7 | February 18, 1970 | $596,000 | [7] | ||
8 | February 25, 1970 | $729,500 | [8] | ||
9 | March 4, 1970 | $480,750 | [9] | ||
10 | March 11, 1970 | Cactus Flower | $936,200 | Cactus Flower reached number one in its 12th week of release | [10] |
11 | March 18, 1970 | $660,500 | [11] | ||
12 | March 25, 1970 | Airport | $741,500 | Airport reached number one in its third week of release | [12] |
13 | April 1, 1970 | $747,400 | [13] | ||
14 | April 8, 1970 | Marooned | $758,000 | Marooned reached number one in its 17th week of release | [14] |
15 | April 15, 1970 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/ The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (double bill) | $650,000 | [15] | |
16 | April 22, 1970 | $553,000 | [16] | ||
17 | April 29, 1970 | Airport | $502,500 | Airport returned to number one after 8 weeks of release | [17] |
18 | May 6, 1970 | $426,500 | [18] | ||
19 | May 13, 1970 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones | $532,400 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones reached number one in its eighth week of release | [19] |
20 | May 20, 1970 | Airport | $409,250 | Airport returned to number one after 11 weeks of release | [20] |
21 | May 27, 1970 | $400,000 | [21] | ||
22 | June 3, 1970 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | $1,064,100 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice reached number one in its 34th week of release | [22] |
23 | June 10, 1970 | $914,100 | [23] | ||
24 | June 17, 1970 | A Man Called Horse | $549,500 | A Man Called Horse reached number one in its eighth week of release | [24] |
25 | June 24, 1970 | Jenny | $380,000 | Jenny reached number one in its 26th week of release | [25] |
26 | July 1, 1970 | Airport | $1,015,000 | Airport returned to number one after 17 weeks of release | [26] |
27 | July 8, 1970 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | $863,500 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes reached number one in its sixth week of release | [27] |
28 | July 15, 1970 | Airport | $631,600 | Airport returned to number one after 19 weeks of release | [28] |
29 | July 22, 1970 | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | $707,000 | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls reached number one in its fifth week of release | [29] |
30 | July 29, 1970 | Patton | $500,600 | Patton reached number one in its 25th week of release | [30] |
31 | August 5, 1970 | Z | $540,000 | Z reached number one its 34th week of release | [31] |
32 | August 12, 1970 | The Out-of-Towners | $550,237 | The Out-of-Towners reached number one in its 11th week on release | [32] |
33 | August 19, 1970 | Getting Straight | $589,400 | Getting Straight reached number one in its 14th week of release | [33] |
34 | August 26, 1970 | Woodstock | $746,500 | Woodstock reached number one in its 22nd week of release | [34] |
35 | September 2, 1970 | Getting Straight | $568,500 | Getting Straight returned to number one in its 16th week of release | [35] |
36 | September 9, 1970 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | $741,500 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever reached number one in its twelfth week of release | [36] |
37 | September 16, 1970 | $415,100 | [37] | ||
38 | September 23, 1970 | MASH | $463,100 | MASH reached number one in its 34th week of release | [38] |
39 | September 30, 1970 | $371,700 | [39] | ||
40 | October 7, 1970 | Hello, Dolly! | $345,000 | Hello, Dolly! reached number one in its 42nd week of release | [40] |
41 | October 14, 1970 | The Bird with the Crystal Plumage | $727,200 | The Bird with the Crystal Plumage reached number one in its twelfth week of release | [41] |
42 | October 21, 1970 | C.C. and Company | $532,000 | [42] | |
43 | October 28, 1970 | The Professionals / In Cold Blood (reissues double bill) | $334,490 | [43] | |
44 | November 4, 1970 | Trog / Taste the Blood of Dracula (double bill) | $300,000 | [44] | |
45 | November 11, 1970 | Sunflower | $308,000 | Sunflower reached number one in its seventh week of release | [45] |
46 | November 18, 1970 | Five Easy Pieces | $382,314 | Five Easy Pieces reached number one in its ninth week of release | [46] |
47 | November 25, 1970 | Lovers and Other Strangers | $521,200 | Lovers and Other Strangers reached number one in its 15th week of release | [47] |
48 | December 2, 1970 | Scrooge | $604,100 | Scrooge reached number one in its fourth week of release | [48] |
49 | December 9, 1970 | Lovers and Other Strangers | $515,900 | Lovers and Other Strangers returned to number one in its 17th week of release | [49] |
50 | December 16, 1970 | Scrooge | $475,800 | Scrooge returned to number one in its sixth week of release | [50] |
51 | December 23, 1970 | $555,500 | [51] | ||
52 | December 30, 1970 | Love Story | $983,770 | Love Story reached number one in its second week of release. For the weekend ending December 27, 1970, Love Story grossed $2,363,767 from all markets in the United States and Canada. | [52] [53] |
Highest-grossing films of 1970 by calendar year gross based on the cities covered by Variety for the weekly charts. [nb 1] [54] [55]
Rank | Title | Studio | Playing weeks [nb 2] | Gross ($) | Rank on 1970 rental chart [56] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Airport | Universal | 629 | 12,378,259 | 1 |
2. | MASH | 20th Century Fox | 932 | 12,186,906 | 2 |
3. | Patton | 20th Century Fox | 832 | 9,327,636 | 3 |
4. | Hello, Dolly! | 20th Century Fox | 739 | 9,078,338 | 6 |
5. | Z | C5 | 928 | 7,919,478 | 14 |
6. | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | Columbia | 748 | 7,160,506 | 4 |
7. | Woodstock | Warner Bros. | 536 | 7,108,600 | 5 |
8. | Catch-22 | Paramount | 391 | 5,982,490 | 8 |
9. | Cactus Flower | Columbia | 486 | 5,167,043 | 7 |
10. | Lovers and Other Strangers | CRC | 478 | 4,496,608 | 34 |
11. | Cotton Comes to Harlem | United Artists | 303 | 4,458,401 | 22 |
12. | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [nb 3] | 20th Century Fox | 717 | 4,413,816 | N/A [nb 4] |
13. | The Out-of-Towners | Paramount | 286 | 4,411,683 | 13 |
14. | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | CRC | 468 | 4,317,835 | 15 |
15. | Getting Straight | Columbia | 451 | 4,298,712 | 23 |
16. | Midnight Cowboy | United Artists | 551 | 4,036,491 | N/A [nb 5] |
17. | Paint Your Wagon | Paramount | 444 | 3,919,143 | N/A [nb 6] |
18. | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | 20th Century Fox | 331 | 3,822,161 | 12 |
19. | Funny Girl | Columbia | 343 | 3,800,202 | N/A [nb 7] |
20. | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | Paramount | 336 | 3,737,760 | 29 |
21. | Joe | Cannon | 371 | 3,553,283 | 42 |
22. | Marooned | Columbia | 327 | 3,370,833 | 33 |
23. | The Adventurers | Paramount | 338 | 3,292,310 | 11 |
24. | Darling Lili | Paramount | 184 | 3,226,802 | 37 |
25. | The Boys in the Band | National General Pictures | 436 | 3,216,380 | 36 |
Highest-grossing films of 1970 by rental in the United States and Canada accruing to the distributor to the end of 1970 (not total receipts as listed above for a selection of cities and includes rentals from December 1969). [56]
Rank | Title | Studio | Director | Producer | Rental ($) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Airport | Universal | George Seaton | Ross Hunter | 37,650,796 |
2. | MASH | 20th Century Fox | Robert Altman | Ingo Preminger | 22,000,000 |
3. | Patton | 20th Century Fox | Franklin J. Schaffner | Frank McCarthy | 21,000,000 |
4. | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | Columbia | Paul Mazursky | Larry Tucker | 13,900,000 * |
5. | Woodstock | Warner Bros. | Michael Wadleigh | Bob Maurice | 13,500,000 |
6. | Hello, Dolly! | 20th Century Fox | Gene Kelly | Ernest Lehman | 13,000,000 * |
7. | Cactus Flower | Columbia | Gene Saks | M. J. Frankovich | 11,300,000 * |
8. | Catch-22 | Paramount | Mike Nichols | John Calley | 9,250,000 |
9. | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | United Artists | Peter R. Hunt | Albert R. Broccoli Harry Saltzman | 9,000,000 * |
10. | The Reivers | Cinema Center Films National General Pictures | Mark Rydell | Irving Ravetch | 8,000,000 * |
*Includes December 1969 rental
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy, and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid", who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place, flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.
Airport is a 1970 American air disaster–drama film written and directed by George Seaton and starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin. Based on Arthur Hailey's 1968 novel of the same name, it originated the 1970s disaster film genre. It is also the first of four films in the Airport film series. Produced on a $10 million budget, it earned over $128 million. The supporting cast features Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Barry Nelson, Lloyd Nolan, Dana Wynter and Barbara Hale.
Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Wild Bunch" in the Old West.
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is frequently used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a metonym for the amount of business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show, receives. The term is also used to refer to a ticket office at an arena or a stadium.
Charles Richard Dierkop was an American character actor. He is most recognized for his supporting roles in the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973) and the television series Police Woman (1974-1978).
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days is a 1979 American Western film and prequel to the 1969 film. It stars Tom Berenger as Butch Cassidy and William Katt as the Sundance Kid, with Jeff Corey reprising his role as Sheriff Bledsoe.
Variety is an American magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, Daily Variety was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. Variety's website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realizing that "it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me."