Most Popular Movies 1970
This chart shows the 1970 movie releases that have attracted the most interest on The Numbers web site over the past 24 hours. A share of 100 corresponds to 1 percent of the total views for all 1970 releases.
See also: Domestic Release Schedule for 1970 - Top 1970 Worldwide
| Most Popular Overall | 1971 → |
1
| Un tranquillo posto di campagna |
| Director: Elio Petri |
| Initial Theatrical Release: August 28, 1970 (Limited) by United Artists, released as A Quiet Place in the Country |
| Classification: Horror |
2
| Brewster McCloud |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December 5, 1970 (Limited) by MGM |
| Classification: Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
3
| THX 1138 |
| Director: George Lucas |
| Lead Roles: Donald Pleasance as SEN 5241 |
| Initial Theatrical Release: March 11, 1970 (Wide) by Warner Bros. |
| Classification: Based on Short Film, Science Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $5,000 |
4
| Ryan's Daughter |
| Director: David Lean |
| Initial Theatrical Release: November 9, 1970 (Wide) by MGM |
| Keywords: Romance, World War I, Set in Ireland, Romantic Drama, Relationships Gone Wrong, PTSD, 1910s, Suicide, Falsely Accused |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $30,846,306 |
|
International BO: $410 |
5
| Tora! Tora! Tora! |
| Director: Richard Fleischer |
| Lead Roles: Martin Balsam as Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Joseph Cotten as Henry L. Stimson, E.G. Marshall as Lt. Col. Rufus G. Bratton, James Whitmore as Admiral William F. Halsey, Jason Robards, Jr. as Lt. General Walter C. Short, Soh Yamamura as Admiral Yamamoto, Takahiro Tamura as Lt. Cdr Fuchida, Eijiro Tono as Adm. Nagumo, Koreya Senda as Prince Konoye |
| Initial Theatrical Release: September 23, 1970 (Wide) by 20th Century Fox |
| Keywords: Historical Battles, World War II, War, 1930s, In a Plane, On a Boat, Ensemble, War Drama |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $29,548,291 |
6
| A Man Called Horse |
| Director: Elliot Silverstein |
| Initial Theatrical Release: April 23, 1970 (Special Engagement) by National General Pictures |
| Keywords: Prologue, Intertitle, Foreign Language, Culture Clash, Slavery, Romance, Cross-Class Romance, Based on an UNTRUE Story, Visual Effects |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
7
| Catch-22 |
| Director: Mike Nichols |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 24, 1970 (Wide) by Paramount Pictures |
| Keywords: World War II, War, Anti-war, Black Comedy, Satire, 1940s, In a Plane, Plane Crash, Sex Crimes, Prostitution, Revenge, Death of a Girlfriend / Boyfriend, AWOL |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Black Comedy, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $24,911,670 |
8
| King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis |
| Initial Theatrical Release: March 24, 1970 (Special Engagement) |
| Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Documentary, Live Action, Factual |
Synopsis
Produced for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation by Ely Landau (The American Film Theater collection), KING is an epic document of the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., from the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott to his assassination in 1968. Both a historiography of the non-violent, civil rights movement and a portrait of the movement's inspiring leader, KING is comprised of original footage captured during those turbulent years. "The events are allowed to speak for themselves," wrote The New York Times' Ellen Holly. "The roar of police motorcycles, bombs, burning crosses, ambulances, gospel, shouts, the massed crowds before the Lincoln Memorial at the 1963 March on Washington, and, most thrilling of all, the speeches of the man himself." Without any voice-over narration, KING uses contemporary film/newsreel and video/television footage to brilliantly convey the boiling indignation of an oppressed people and their revolutionary organizing. Juxtaposed over this footage are dramatic readings by actors
9
| Joe |
| Director: John G. Avildsen |
| Initial Theatrical Release: July 15, 1970 (Wide) by Cannon |
| Keywords: Crime Drama, Political, Dysfunctional Family, Death of a Son or Daughter, Mass Shooting, Narcotics, Drug Overdose |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Drama, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $19,319,254 |
10
| House of Dark Shadows |
| Director: Dan Curtis |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 28, 1970 (Limited) |
| Classification: Based on TV, Horror, Live Action, Fantasy |
11
| Beyond the Valley of the Dolls |
| Director: Russ Meyer |
| Lead Roles: Dolly Read as Kelly MacNamara, Cynthia Myers as Casey Anderson, Marcia McBroom as Petronella Danforth |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 17, 1970 (Wide) by 20th Century Fox |
| Keywords: Satirical Comedy, Satire, Prescription Drug Abuse, Addiction, Relationships Gone Wrong, Suicide, Domestic Abuse, LGBTQ+, Abortion, Musicians, Inheritance, Cult Movie, Ensemble |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $9,000,000 |
12
| The Dunwich Horror |
| Director: Daniel Haller |
| Lead Roles: Sandra Dee |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 14, 1970 (Limited) by American International Pictures |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
13
| The Aristocats |
| Director: Wolfgang Reitherman |
| Lead Roles: Phil Harris as J. Thomas O'Malley, Eva Gabor as Duchess |
| Initial Theatrical Release: April 24, 1970 (Wide) by Walt Disney |
| Keywords: Animal Lead, Talking Animals, Cross-Class Romance, Romance, Inheritance, Musicians, Jazz, Country Mouse, City Mouse, Family Musical, 1910s |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Musical, Hand Animation, Kids Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $55,675,257 |
|
International BO: $269 |
14
| Little Big Man |
| Director: Arthur Penn, Michael Zinberg, Matthias Glasner |
| Lead Roles: Dustin Hoffman as Jack Crabb |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December 14, 1970 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Culture Clash, Old Age Makeup, Revisionist Western, Non-Chronological, Native Americans, Adopted Family, 1850s, 1860s, Dysfunctional Family, 1870s, Genocide |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Western, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $31,559,552 |
15
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| Hopper/Welles |
| Director: Orson Welles |
| Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Documentary, Live Action, Factual |
16
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| M*A*S*H |
| Director: Robert Altman |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1970 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Military Life, Korean War, War, 1971 Oscars Best Picture Nominee |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Black Comedy, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $81,600,000 |
|
International BO: $193 |
17
| The Boys in the Band |
| Director: William Friedkin |
| Lead Roles: Kenneth Nelson as Michael, Frederick Combs as Donald |
| Initial Theatrical Release: March 17, 1970 (Wide) |
| Classification: Based on Play, Drama, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
18
| Airport |
| Director: George Seaton |
| Lead Roles: Dean Martin as Capt. Vernon Demerest, Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfield |
| Initial Theatrical Release: March 5, 1970 (Wide) by Universal |
| Keywords: Disaster, In a Plane, Ensemble, 1971 Oscars Best Picture Nominee |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $100,489,150 |
19
| Husbands |
| Director: John Cassavetes |
| Lead Roles: Ben Gazzara as Harry, Peter Falk as Archie Black, John Cassavetes as Gus Demetri |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December 8, 1970 (Limited) by Columbia |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
International BO: $626 |
20
| L'Enfant sauvage |
| Director: François Truffaut |
| Lead Roles: Jean-Pierre Cargol as Victor, l'enfant sauvage |
| Initial Theatrical Release: September 9, 1970 (Limited) by The Film Desk, released as The Wild Child |
| Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Drama, Live Action, Dramatization |
|
Domestic BO: $62,943 |
21
| I Drink Your Blood |
| Director: David Durston |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December, 1970 (Limited) by Cinemation Industries |
22
| The Molly Maguires |
| Director: Martin Ritt |
| Initial Theatrical Release: 1970 (Wide) |
| Classification: Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $2,200,000 |
23
| Multiple Maniacs |
| Director: John Waters |
| Lead Roles: Divine as Divine |
| Initial Theatrical Release: April 10, 1970 (Limited) |
| Keywords: Circus, Infidelity, Revenge, LGBTQ+, Narcotics, Spoof, Surrealism / Absurdism, Cannibalism, Transexual |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $33,036 |
|
International BO: $5,367 |
Synopsis
The Cavalcade of Perversion is a traveling side-show put on by a troupe of misfits whose shocking proclivities are topped only by those of their leader: the glammer-than-glam, larger-than- life Divine, who’s out for blood after discovering her lover’s affair.
24
| The Ballad of Cable Hogue |
| Director: Sam Peckinpah |
| Initial Theatrical Release: May 13, 1970 (Wide) by Warner Bros. |
| Keywords: Comedy Westerns, 1900s, Betrayal, Prostitution, Romance, Relationships Gone Wrong, Widow/Widower, Killing in Self Defence, Accidental Death |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Western, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $3,500,000 |
|
International BO: $1,500,000 |