Most Popular Movies 1940
This chart shows the 1940 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 1940 releases.
See also: Domestic Release Schedule for 1940 - Top 1940 Worldwide
| Most Popular Overall | 1941 → |
1
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| Seven Sinners |
| Director: Tay Garnett |
| Lead Roles: John Wayne as Lt. Dan Brent, Marlene Dietrich as Bijou Blanche |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 25, 1940 (Limited) by Universal |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
2
| Fantasia |
| Initial Theatrical Release: November 13, 1940 (Wide) by Walt Disney |
| Keywords: Family Musical, Segments, Animated Inanimate Objects, Demons, Dinosaurs, Limited Dialogue |
| Classification: Compilation, Musical, Hand Animation, Multiple Creative Types |
|
Domestic BO: $83,320,000 |
|
International BO: $832 |
3
| De Mayerling à Sarajevo |
| Director: Max Ophuis |
| Lead Roles: Edwige Feuillère as Sophie Chotek, John Lodge as Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 29, 1940 (Limited) |
| Keywords: 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, Romance, Cross-Class Romance, World War I, Political Assassination |
| Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $5,247 |
4
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| Chamber of Horrors |
| Director: Norman Lee |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 12, 1940 (Limited), released as The Door With Seven Locks (United Kingdom) |
| Keywords: Underground, Heir, Inheritance, Doctors, Grave Robbers, Kidnap, Suicide |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
5
| The Great Dictator |
| Director: Charlie Chaplin |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 31, 1940 (Limited) by United Artists |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
International BO: $52,332 |
6
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| A Bill of Divorcement |
| Director: John Farrow |
| Lead Roles: Maureen O’Hara as Sydney Fairchild, Adolphe Menjou as Hilary Fairchild, Fay Bainter as Margaret Fairchild, Herbert Marshall as Gray Meredith |
| Initial Theatrical Release: May 31, 1940 (Limited) by RKO Radio Pictures |
| Classification: Remake, Drama, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
Synopsis
After fifteen years in a mental asylum, Hilary Fairfield has suddenly regained his sanity, escaped from the institution and come home. But a few things have changed in his absence. For one, his strong-willed daughter Sydney has grown up and is planning to marry. For another, his wife has divorced him and is planning to re-marry. It’s enough to drive a man crazy – or a woman, for that matter. Especially when Sydney learns it wasn’t “shell shock” that send her father to the asylum, but family madness — and now she’s sure she’s inherited it.
7
| His Girl Friday |
| Director: Howard Hawks |
| Lead Roles: Cary Grant as Walter Burns, Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 18, 1940 (Limited) |
| Classification: Based on Play, Drama, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
8
| Gli ultimi della strada |
| Director: Domenico Paolella |
| Initial Theatrical Release: March 12, 1940 (Wide) (Italy) |
|
International BO: $640,596 |
9
| The Philadelphia Story |
| Director: George Cukor |
| Lead Roles: Cary Grant as C.K. Dexter Haven, Katharine Hepburn as Tracey Samantha Lord, James Stewart as Mike Connor |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December 5, 1940 (Limited) by MGM |
| Keywords: Romance |
| Classification: Based on Play, Romantic Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $3,000,000 |
|
International BO: $7,145 |
10
| Boom Town |
| Director: Jack Conway |
| Lead Roles: Clark Gable as Big John “The Moose”, Spencer Tracy as Jonathan ‘Square John’/‘Shorty’ Sand, Claudette Colbert as Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Bartlett McMasters, Hedy Lamarr as Karen Vanmeer |
| Initial Theatrical Release: August 30, 1940 (Wide) by MGM |
| Keywords: Romance, Rags to Riches, Romantic Drama, Love Triangle, Relationships Gone Wrong, Riches to Rags, Suicide, Infidelity |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $9,172,000 |
11
| The Face at the Window |
| Director: George King |
| Lead Roles: Tod Slaughter as Chevalier Lucio del Gardo |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 23, 1940 (Limited) by Arthur Ziehm |
| Classification: Based on Play, Horror, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
12
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| The Ghost Breakers |
| Director: George Marshall |
| Lead Roles: Bob Hope as Larry Lawrence, Paulette Goddard as Mary Carter |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 21, 1940 (Limited) by Paramount Pictures |
| Keywords: Horror Comedy, Haunted House |
| Classification: Based on Play, Comedy, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |