List of 1978 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 1978 per Variety. The data was based on grosses from 20 to 22 key cities and therefore, the gross quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.

† This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year.[1][2][3]
# Week ending Film Gross Notes Ref
1January 4, 1978Close Encounters of the Third Kind$4,435,990[4]
2January 11, 1978$3,377,392[5]
3January 18, 1978$2,274,682[6]
4January 25, 1978$1,622,296[7]
5February 1, 1978$1,774,208[8]
6February 8, 1978$1,489,164[9][nb 1]
7February 15, 1978The Betsy$1,339,400The Betsy grossed $2,727,084 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 12, an opening record for Allied Artists[12][13]
8February 22, 1978Saturday Night Fever$1,605,673Saturday Night Fever reached number one in its tenth week on the chart[14]
9March 1, 1978$2,171,501Saturday Night Fever grossed $3,765,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 26[15][16]
10March 8, 1978$1,687,869[17]
11March 15, 1978$1,398,108[18]
12March 22, 1978$1,207,132[19]
13March 29, 1978The Fury$1,444,416The Fury reached number one in its second week of release grossing $2,777,291 nationally for the weekend ended March 26[20][21]
14April 5, 1978$1,257,159[22]
15April 12, 1978The Goodbye Girl$969,830The Goodbye Girl reached number one in its 19th week on the chart[23]
16April 19, 1978$788,848[24]
17April 26, 1978House Calls$949,285House Calls reached number one in its sixth week on the chart[25]
18May 3, 1978$818,620[26]
19May 10, 1978F.I.S.T.$724,367F.I.S.T. reached number one in its second week of release[27]
20May 17, 1978The Greek Tycoon$677,300[28]
21May 24, 1978$981,908[29]
22May 31, 1978American Graffiti (reissue)$1,361,800[30]
23June 7, 1978Capricorn One$1,411,600[31]
24June 14, 1978Damien: Omen II$2,216,400Damien: Omen II grossed $3,880,880 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 11[32][33][34]
25June 21, 1978Jaws 2$4,038,800Jaws 2 grossed $9.9 million nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 18, an opening weekend record[35][36][37]
26June 28, 1978Grease †$4,174,082Grease reached number one in its second week of release, grossing $7,867,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 25[38][39]
27July 5, 1978$3,518,287[40]
28July 12, 1978$2,443,707[41]
29July 19, 1978$2,129,200[42]
30July 26, 1978$1,977,551Star Wars (reissue) placed third on the chart from 166 theaters but grossed $10,166,366 nationally from 1,750 theaters in the weekend ended July 23, beating the weekend record set by Jaws 2[43][44][45]
31August 2, 1978Star Wars (reissue)$1,891,255Star Wars grossed $6,501,185 nationally in the weekend ended July 30[46][47]
32August 9, 1978Hooper$2,476,400Hooper reached number one in its third week of release. Its nationwide gross for the week was $9,437,484.[48][49]
33August 16, 1978$1,988,915[50]
34August 23, 1978$1,747,842[51]
35August 30, 1978Animal House$2,022,990Animal House reached number one in its fifth week on the chart[52]
36September 6, 1978$2,103,917[53]
37September 13, 1978$1,557,835[54]
38September 20, 1978$1,251,100[55]
39September 27, 1978$1,085,881[56]
40October 4, 1978Up in Smoke$1,109,000Up in Smoke reached number one in its second week of release[57]
41October 11, 1978Animal House$1,868,567Animal House returned to number one in its eleventh week of release[58]
42October 18, 1978$1,337,828[59]
43October 25, 1978$1,298,347[60]
44November 1, 1978Midnight Express$1,300,711Midnight Express reached number one in its fourth week of release[61]
45November 8, 1978Up in Smoke$1,443,320Up in Smoke returned to number one in its seventh week of release.[62]
46November 15, 1978Magic$1,376,000[63]
47November 22, 1978$1,177,317[64]
48November 29, 1978Midnight Express$993,743Midnight Express returned to number one in its eighth week of release[65]
49December 6, 1978$746,543[66]
50December 13, 1978$590,763[67]
51December 20, 1978Superman$3,685,756Superman grossed $7,465,343 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 17, beating King Kong's December opening record[68][69][70]
52December 27, 1978$4,171,899Superman grossed $6,535,784 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 24[71][72][nb 2]

Highest grossing films

Rank Title Distributor Rental[1][2][3]
1 Grease Paramount Pictures $83,091,000
2 Saturday Night Fever Paramount Pictures $71,463,000
3 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Columbia Pictures $54,000,000
4 Animal House Universal Pictures $52,368,000
5 Jaws 2 Universal Pictures $49,299,000
6 Heaven Can Wait Paramount Pictures $42,517,000
7 The Goodbye Girl Warner Bros. $41,000,000
8 Star Wars (reissue) 20th Century Fox $38,375,000
9 Hooper Warner Bros. $31,500,000
10 Foul Play Paramount Pictures $25,065,000

See also

Notes

References

External links

Chronology

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