1980 Top-Grossing Movies in North America

This chart ranks movies by their total cumulative North American box office earnings for movies released in 1980. Each movie is ranked by its total gross across all years it played, not just earnings during 1980.

To see the top-grossing movies that earned money during 1980 (including movies released in previous years), click the “Earned in 1980” button below.

Worldwide Domestic International

Earned in 1980

1981 →

Rank	Movie	Release Date	Distributor	Genre	1980 Domestic Gross	Tickets Sold
1	Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire S…	May 21, 1980	20th Century Fox	Adventure	$291,738,960	96,729,188
2	9 to 5	Dec 19, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$103,290,500	37,237,266
3	Stir Crazy	Dec 12, 1980	Columbia	Black Comedy	$101,300,000	37,657,992
4	Airplane!	Jul 4, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Comedy	$83,453,539	31,023,620
5	Any Which Way You Can	Dec 17, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$70,687,344	26,277,823
6	Private Benjamin	Oct 10, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$69,847,348	25,965,556
7	Coal Miner’s Daughter	Mar 7, 1980	Universal	Drama	$67,182,787	24,975,013
8	Smokey and the Bandit II	Aug 15, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$66,132,626	24,584,619
9	The Blues Brothers	Jun 20, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$57,229,890	21,284,210
10	Ordinary People	Sep 19, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Drama	$52,302,978	19,443,486
11	Popeye	Dec 12, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Musical	$49,823,037	18,521,575
12	The Shining	May 23, 1980	Warner Bros.	Horror	$49,032,044	16,678,130
13	The Blue Lagoon	Jun 20, 1980	Columbia	Drama	$47,923,795	17,815,537
14	Urban Cowboy	Jun 6, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Western	$46,918,287	17,441,742
15	Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie	Jul 18, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$41,675,194	15,492,637
16	Caddyshack	Jul 25, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$39,846,344	14,812,767
17	Friday the 13th	May 9, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Horror	$39,754,601	14,778,662
18	Brubaker	Jun 20, 1980	20th Century Fox	Drama	$37,121,708	13,799,891
19	Little Darlings	Mar 21, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Comedy	$34,326,249	12,760,687
20	Dressed to Kill	Jan 1, 1980	Filmways Pictures	Thriller/Suspense	$31,899,000	11,858,364
21	Flash Gordon	Dec 5, 1980	Universal	Action	$27,107,960	10,077,308
22	The Elephant Man	Oct 3, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Drama	$26,010,864	9,669,466
23	Bronco Billy	Jun 11, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$24,265,659	9,020,691
24	Caligula	Feb 1, 1980	Analysis	Drama	$23,400,000	8,674,028
25	Raging Bull	Nov 14, 1980	United Artists	Drama	$23,380,203	8,423,348
26	Seems Like Old Times	Dec 19, 1980	Columbia	Romantic Comedy	$23,200,000	8,624,535
27	Xanadu	Aug 8, 1980	Universal	Musical	$22,762,571	8,461,922
28	American Gigolo	Feb 1, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Thriller/Suspense	$22,743,674	8,454,897
29	My Bodyguard	Jul 11, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$22,482,952	8,357,974
30	In Search of Historic Jesus	Jan 1, 1980	Sunn Classics Pic…	Documentary	$22,000,000	8,178,438
31	The Fog	Feb 1, 1980	Avco Embassy	Horror	$21,445,318	2,354,041
32	Fame	May 16, 1980	MGM	Musical	$21,202,829	7,882,092
33	Tess	Dec 12, 1980	Columbia	Drama	$20,093,330	7,250,559
34	Altered States	Dec 25, 1980	Warner Bros.	Horror	$19,853,892	7,380,628
35	Cruising	Jan 1, 1980	United Artists	Thriller/Suspense	$19,784,223	7,354,729
36	The Octagon	Jan 1, 1980	American Cinema R…	Action	$19,000,000	7,063,197
37	Windwalker	Jan 1, 1980	Pacific Internati…	Western	$18,000,000	6,691,449
38	Hardly Working	Jan 1, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$18,000,000	6,691,449
39	Honeysuckle Rose	Jul 18, 1980	Warner Bros.	Drama	$17,815,212	6,622,755
40	Herbie Goes Bananas	Jan 1, 1980		Comedy	$17,000,000	6,319,702
41	Rough Cut	Jun 19, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Romantic Comedy	$16,656,125	6,191,868
42	The Final Countdown	Jan 1, 1980	United Artists	Action	$16,647,800	6,188,773
43	The Hunter	Jan 1, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Action	$16,647,800	6,188,773
44	A Change of Seasons	Dec 1, 1980	20th Century Fox	Drama	$16,400,000	6,096,654
45	Hero At Large	Feb 8, 1980	MGM	Comedy	$15,934,737	5,923,694
46	The Island	Jun 13, 1980	Universal	Adventure	$15,716,828	5,842,686
47	First Family	Dec 25, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$15,198,912	5,650,153
48	The Long Riders	May 16, 1980	United Artists	Western	$15,198,912	5,650,153
49	Prom Night	Aug 15, 1980	Avco Embassy	Horror	$14,796,236	5,500,459
50	The Nude Bomb	May 9, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$14,662,035	5,450,570
51	Oh, God! Book II	Oct 3, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$14,504,277	5,391,924
52	Wholly Moses!	Jun 13, 1980	Sony Pictures	Comedy	$14,155,617	5,262,311
53	The Competition	Dec 3, 1980	Columbia	Drama	$13,000,000	4,832,713
54	Hopscotch	Jan 1, 1980	Avco Embassy	Comedy	$13,000,000	4,832,713
55	Middle Age Crazy	Jan 1, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$13,000,000	4,832,713
56	The Last Married Couple in Am…	Feb 8, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$12,835,544	4,771,577
57	The Changeling	Jan 1, 1980	Associated Film D…	Horror	$12,000,000	4,460,966
58	Used Cars	Jul 18, 1980	Columbia	Comedy	$11,715,321	4,355,137
59	Hangar 18	Jan 1, 1980	Sunn Classics Pic…	Thriller/Suspense	$11,000,000	4,089,219
60	It’s My Turn	Jan 1, 1980	Columbia	Romantic Comedy	$11,000,000	4,089,219
61	The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark	Jun 25, 1980	Walt Disney	Adventure	$11,000,000	4,089,219
62	The Mirror Crack’d	Jan 1, 1980	Associated Film D…	Thriller/Suspense	$11,000,000	4,089,219
63	The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu M…	Aug 8, 1980	Orion Pictures	Comedy	$10,697,276	3,976,682
64	Stardust Memories	Sep 26, 1980	United Artists	Comedy	$10,389,003	3,862,082
65	Up the Academy	Jun 6, 1980	Warner Bros.	Comedy	$10,000,000	3,717,472
66	The Hollywood Knights	Jan 1, 1980	Columbia	Comedy	$10,000,000	3,717,472
67	Maniac	Jan 1, 1980	Analysis	Horror	$10,000,000	3,717,472
68	Serial	Mar 28, 1980	Paramount Pictures	Comedy	$9,870,727	3,669,415
69	Somewhere in Time	Oct 3, 1980	Universal	Drama	$9,709,597	3,609,515
70	Tom Horn	Jan 1, 1980		Western	$9,000,000	3,345,724
71	Tribute	Dec 19, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$9,000,000	3,345,724
72	Saturn 3	Jan 1, 1980		Thriller/Suspense	$9,000,000	3,345,724
73	The Formula	Dec 19, 1980	MGM	Thriller/Suspense	$8,894,289	3,306,427
74	Mad Max	Mar 21, 1980	Filmways Pictures	Action	$8,773,197	3,261,411
75	The Big Brawl	Aug 29, 1980	Warner Bros.	Action	$8,527,743	3,170,164
76	The Awakening	Oct 31, 1980	Warner Bros.	Horror	$8,415,112	3,128,294
77	Terror Train	Jan 1, 1980		Horror	$8,000,000	2,973,977
78	How to Beat the High Co$t of …	Jan 1, 1980	Filmways Pictures	Comedy	$7,500,000	2,788,104
79	Foxes	Feb 29, 1980	United Artists	Drama	$7,470,348	2,777,081
80	The Big Red One	Jul 18, 1980	United Artists	Drama	$7,206,220	2,678,892
81	The Stunt Man	Jun 27, 1980	20th Century Fox		$7,063,886	2,625,979
82	Fatso	Feb 1, 1980	20th Century Fox		$7,000,000	2,602,230
83	Raise the Titanic	Aug 1, 1980	Associated Film D…	Adventure	$7,000,000	2,602,230
84	Where the Buffalo Roam	Apr 25, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$6,659,377	2,475,604
85	The Gong Show Movie	May 23, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$6,621,520	2,461,531
86	Motel Hell	Oct 24, 1980	United Artists	Horror	$6,342,668	2,357,869
87	Little Miss Marker	Mar 21, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$6,321,392	2,349,959
88	Oh Heavenly Dog	Jul 11, 1980	20th Century Fox	Comedy	$6,216,067	2,310,805
89	The Mountain Men	Jan 1, 1980	Columbia		$6,000,000	2,230,483
90	Simon	Jan 1, 1980			$6,000,000	2,230,483
91	Divine Madness!	Sep 26, 1980	Warner Bros.	Concert/Performance	$5,318,098	1,976,988
92	In God We Tru$t	Sep 26, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$5,215,015	1,938,667
93	The Exterminator	Jan 1, 1980	Avco Embassy		$5,000,000	1,858,736
94	He Knows You're Alone	Aug 29, 1980	MGM	Horror	$4,875,436	1,812,429
95	Galaxina	Jun 6, 1980	Crown		$4,865,000	1,750,000
96	Coast to Coast	Oct 3, 1980	Paramount Pictures		$4,495,445	1,671,169
97	Willie and Phil	Jan 1, 1980	20th Century Fox		$4,400,000	1,635,687
98	Melvin and Howard	Oct 24, 1980	Universal	Comedy	$4,309,490	1,602,040
99	Roadie	Jun 13, 1980	United Artists	Comedy	$4,226,370	1,571,141
100	Die Laughing	Jan 1, 1980			$4,000,000	1,486,988