List of 1972 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 1972 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.

Contents

Number-one films

†This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. [nb 1]
#Week endingFilmGrossNotesRef
1January 5, 1972 Diamonds Are Forever $1,551,359 [1]
2January 12, 1972$1,717,800 [2]
3January 19, 1972$963,450 [3]
4January 26, 1972$834,600 [4]
5February 2, 1972$660,962 [5]
6February 9, 1972 The French Connection $769,200The French Connection returned to number one in its 18th week on the chart [6]
7February 16, 1972$711,400 [7]
8February 23, 1972 Dirty Harry $601,500Dirty Harry reached number one in its ninth week on the chart [8]
9March 1, 1972 The Last Picture Show $465,350The Last Picture Show reached number one in its 21st week on the chart [9]
10March 8, 1972 The Hospital $623,380The Hospital reached number one in its twelfth week on the chart [10]
11March 15, 1972Dirty Harry$726,500Dirty Harry returned to number one in its twelfth week on the chart [11]
12March 22, 1972 The Godfather †$568,800 [12]
13March 29, 1972$2,698,500 [13]
14April 5, 1972$2,495,100 [14]
15April 12, 1972$2,348,100 [15]
16April 19, 1972$1,978,300 [16]
17April 26, 1972$1,775,800 [17]
18May 3, 1972$1,574,200 [18]
19May 10, 1972$1,313,600 [19]
20May 17, 1972$1,164,700 [20]
21May 24, 1972$3,188,000First film to gross over $3 million in a week in the cities sampled [21]
22May 31, 1972$2,976,600 [22]
23June 7, 1972$2,691,200 [23]
24June 14, 1972$1,814,100 [24]
25June 21, 1972$1,633,600 [25]
26June 28, 1972$1,687,800 [26]
27July 5, 1972$1,398,541 [27]
28July 12, 1972$1,112,900 [28]
29July 19, 1972$1,811,400 [29]
30July 26, 1972$1,316,800 [30]
31August 2, 1972$1,275,435 [31]
32August 9, 1972$895,500 [32]
33August 16, 1972$719,200 [33]
34August 23, 1972$610,810 [34]
35August 30, 1972 Butterflies Are Free $678,900Butterflies Are Free reached number one in its eighth week on the chart [35]
36September 6, 1972The Godfather †$1,029,900The Godfather returned to number one in its 25th week of release [36]
37September 13, 1972$668,000 [37]
38September 20, 1972$456,150 [38]
39September 27, 1972 Super Fly $625,500Super Fly reached number one in its eighth week on the chart [39]
40October 4, 1972$457,050 [40]
41October 11, 1972 The New Centurions $652,550The New Centurions reached number one in its tenth week on the chart [41]
42October 18, 1972$429,950 [41]
43October 25, 1972 Slaughter $525,000Slaughter reached number one in its tenth week on the chart [42]
44November 1, 1972 Deliverance $324,720Deliverance reached number one in its thirteenth week on the chart [43]
45November 8, 1972 The Valachi Papers $749,000The Valachi Papers reached number one in its third week on the chart [44]
46November 15, 1972$740,300 [45]
47November 22, 1972 Lady Sings the Blues $868,300Lady Sings the Blues reached number one in its fifth week on the chart [46]
48November 29, 1972$924,250 [47]
49December 6, 1972$581,600 [48]
50December 13, 1972$468,245 [49]
51December 20, 1972 Man of La Mancha $365,996 [50]
52December 27, 1972 The Poseidon Adventure $777,700The Poseidon Adventure reached number one in its second week of release [51]

Highest-grossing films

Highest-grossing films of 1972 by calendar year gross based on the cities covered by Variety for the weekly charts. [nb 2] [52] [53]

RankTitleStudioPlaying weeks [nb 3] Gross ($)
1. The Godfather Paramount 2,17643,170,087
2. Fiddler on the Roof United Artists 92013,714,068
3. Cabaret Allied Artists 1,25410,869,847
4. The French Connection 20th Century Fox 1,27910,868,314
5. What's Up, Doc? Warner Bros. 7338,714,177
6. A Clockwork Orange Warner Bros.6118,039,240
7. Diamonds Are Forever United Artists6837,526,861
8. The Hospital United Artists9536,878,594
9. The Last Picture Show Columbia 9116,824,005
10. Dirty Harry Warner Bros.7506,392,199
11. Super Fly Warner Bros.3996,279,996
12. Butterflies Are Free Columbia6395,092,177
13. Lady Sings the Blues Paramount4354,874,806
14. Frenzy Universal 6014,819,132
15. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) United Artists5334,718,382
16. Play It Again, Sam Paramount4424,700,092
17. The New Centurions Columbia6284,629,644
18. Nicholas and Alexandra Columbia4634,311,812
19. Deliverance Warner Bros.2654,048,073
20. The Valachi Papers Columbia2723,713,719
21. Fritz the Cat Cinemation 3883,683,108
22. Midnight Cowboy United Artists103,335,739
23. Shaft's Big Score Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 2253,151,923
24. Buck and the Preacher Columbia2763,089,286
25. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes 20th Century Fox3752,638,754

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Playing weeks represent one film in one theatre for one week
  2. ↑ Variety noted that the total grosses that they collated represented about one-third of total U.S. grosses as defined by the US Department of Commerce. The grosses of the top 25 films represented 48% of the total grosses collated. Variety noted that the grosses they reported were based on mostly first-run theatres in major metropolitan markets and that the performance of films from distributors such as Walt Disney Studios and Universal Pictures, which sought out smaller markets and subsequent run marketing strategies for their films, were not fully reflected in their charts.
  3. ↑ Playing weeks represent one film in one theatre for one week

References

  1. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . January 12, 1972. p. 11.
  2. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . January 19, 1972. p. 17.
  3. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . January 26, 1972. p. 9.
  4. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . February 2, 1972. p. 9.
  5. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . February 9, 1972. p. 11.
  6. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . February 16, 1972. p. 13.
  7. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . February 23, 1972. p. 16.
  8. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . March 1, 1972. p. 9.
  9. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . March 8, 1972. p. 11.
  10. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . March 15, 1972. p. 9.
  11. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . March 22, 1972. p. 9.
  12. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . March 29, 1972. p. 21.
  13. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . April 5, 1972. p. 11.
  14. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . April 12, 1972. p. 13.
  15. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . April 19, 1972. p. 9.
  16. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . April 26, 1972. p. 14.
  17. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . May 3, 1972. p. 17.
  18. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . May 10, 1972. p. 17.
  19. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . May 17, 1972. p. 13.
  20. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . May 24, 1972. p. 9.
  21. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . May 31, 1972. p. 11.
  22. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . June 7, 1972. p. 9.
  23. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . June 14, 1972. p. 9.
  24. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . June 21, 1972. p. 10.
  25. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . June 28, 1972. p. 9.
  26. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . July 5, 1972. p. 9.
  27. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . July 12, 1972. p. 9.
  28. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . July 19, 1972. p. 9.
  29. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . July 26, 1972. p. 12.
  30. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . August 2, 1972. p. 9.
  31. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . August 9, 1972. p. 11.
  32. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . August 16, 1972. p. 11.
  33. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . August 23, 1972. p. 11.
  34. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . August 30, 1972. p. 9.
  35. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . September 6, 1972. p. 11.
  36. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . September 13, 1972. p. 10.
  37. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . September 20, 1972. p. 11.
  38. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . September 27, 1972. p. 9. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
  39. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . October 4, 1972. p. 9. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
  40. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . October 11, 1972. p. 9.
  41. 1 2 "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . October 25, 1972. p. 17.
  42. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 1, 1972. p. 11.
  43. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 8, 1972. p. 10.
  44. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 15, 1972. p. 9.
  45. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 22, 1972. p. 9.
  46. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 29, 1972. p. 21.
  47. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . December 6, 1972. p. 9. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  48. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . December 13, 1972. p. 11. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
  49. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . December 20, 1972. p. 9.
  50. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . December 27, 1972. p. 11.
  51. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . January 10, 1973. p. 9.
  52. ↑ Silverman, Syd (May 9, 1973). "77 Films Over $1mil In U.S." Variety . p. 44.
  53. ↑ "The Top 25 Films Of 1972". Variety . May 9, 1973. p. 44.

Chronology

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