Most Popular Movies 1971

This chart shows the 1971 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 1971 releases.

See also: Domestic Release Schedule for 1971 - Top 1971 Worldwide

Most Popular Overall 1972 →
  1
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Director: Mel Stuart
Lead Roles: Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe, Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket
Initial Theatrical Release: June 30, 1971 (Wide)
Keywords: Spoiled Child, Food, Poverty, Rags to Riches, Remade, Family Musical, Novel or Other Work Adapted by Author
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Musical, Live Action, Kids Fiction
Domestic BO:
$4,000,000
International BO:
$65,345

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  2
Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song
Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide)
Keywords: Black Urban, African Americans, Blaxploitation
Domestic BO:
$15,200,000

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  3
Diamonds Are Forever
Director: Guy Hamilton
Initial Theatrical Release: November 26, 1971 (Wide) (Australia)
Keywords: Secret Agent
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Action, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction
Domestic BO:
$43,800,000
International BO:
$72,199,985

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  4
Big Jake
Domestic BO:
$7,500,000

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  5
Domestic BO:
$41,158,757
International BO:
$2,757

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  6
Le chagrin et la pitié
Le chagrin et la pitié
Director: Marcel Ophuls
Initial Theatrical Release: April 14, 1971 (Limited) (France)
Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Documentary, Live Action, Factual
Domestic BO:
$13,082

Synopsis

From its first release at an underground theater in Paris, this account of France's occupation under Nazi regime has been acclaimed as one of the most moving and influential films ever made. Director Marcel Ophüls interviewed the residents of Clermont-Ferrand who remembered the occupation, as well as government officials, writers, farmers, artists, and German veterans. Here, in their own words, is the story of how ordinary citizens and leaders alike behaved under military siege. Originally refused by French TV, the film garnered international success and acclaim – including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary – while shattering the myth of an undivided and universally resistant France under the Vichy government.

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  7
Wake in Fright poster
Wake in Fright
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Lead Roles: Gary Bond as John Grant
Initial Theatrical Release: July 21, 1971 (Wide) (France)
Keywords: Life in a Small Town, Addiction, Gambling, Hicksploitation, Black Out Drunk
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction
Domestic BO:
$49,458
International BO:
$65

Synopsis

John Grant is a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba, planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, as his one night stretches to five, he plunges headlong toward his own destruction. When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty, red-eyed, sitting against a tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left...

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  8
Fiddler on the Roof
Domestic BO:
$80,500,000
International BO:
$1,127

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  9
Morte a Venezia
Director: Luchino Visconti
Initial Theatrical Release: June 17, 1971 (Limited) by Warner Bros., released as Death in Venice
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction
International BO:
$69,233

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10
The Beguiled
The Beguiled
Director: Don Siegel
Lead Roles: Clint Eastwood as Corporal John McBurney
Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide) by Universal
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction
Domestic BO:
$1,100,000

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11
Il gatto a nove code
Director: Dario Argento
Lead Roles: James Franciscus as Carlo Giordani, Karl Malden as Franco “Cookie” Arnò, Catherine Spaak as Anna Terzi
Initial Theatrical Release: May 21, 1971 (Limited) by National General Pictures, released as The Cat O’Nine Tails
Keywords: Blindness, Blackmail, Surprise Twist, Voiceover/Narration, Character POV shot, Investigative Journalist, Murder Mystery, Adopted Family, Orphan, Kidnap, Car Chase
Classification: Original Screenplay, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction

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12
Yukinojo Henge
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Initial Theatrical Release: June 24, 1971 (Limited) by New Yorker, released as An Actor’s Revenge

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13
The Million Dollar Duck
Initial Theatrical Release: 1971 (Wide)
Domestic BO:
$4,000,000

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14
Doctor’s Wives
Director: George Schaefer
Lead Roles: Dyan Cannon as Lorrie
Initial Theatrical Release: February 3, 1971 (Limited) by Columbia

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15
A Town Called Hell
Director: Robert Parrish
Lead Roles: Robert Shaw, Stella Stevens, Martin Landau as The Colonel, Telly Savalas
Initial Theatrical Release: June 27, 1971 (Wide), released as A Town Called Bastard (United Kingdom)
Classification: Original Screenplay, Western, Live Action, Historical Fiction

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16
Klute
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Lead Roles: Jane Fonda as Bree Daniel, Donald Sutherland as John Klute
Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide)
Keywords: Film Noir, Crime Thriller
Classification: Original Screenplay, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction
Domestic BO:
$12,512,637

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17
È tornato Sabata hai chiuso un'altra volta!
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Initial Theatrical Release: September 3, 1971 (Wide) (Italy)
Classification: Western

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18
The Hospital
Initial Theatrical Release: December 17, 1971 (Wide) by MGM
Domestic BO:
$14,142,409

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19

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20
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Director: Gordon Hessler
Initial Theatrical Release: September, 1971 (Limited) by American International Pictures
Classification: Remake, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction

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21
Summer of '42
Initial Theatrical Release: April 30, 1971 (Wide)
Keywords: Coming of Age
Domestic BO:
$32,063,634

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22
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Director: Curtis Harrington
Initial Theatrical Release: February 11, 1971 (Limited) (United Kingdom)
Classification: Original Screenplay, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction

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23
King Lear
Director: Peter Brook
Initial Theatrical Release: November 22, 1971 (Limited)

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24
Horror of Frankenstein
Horror of Frankenstein
Director: Jimmy Sangster
Lead Roles: Ralph Bates as Victor Frankenstein
Initial Theatrical Release: June 17, 1971 (Limited) by American Continental Films, Inc.
Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Horror, Live Action, Science Fiction

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