1979 in film

Overview of the events of 1979 in film
Overview of the events of 1979 in film
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The year 1979 in film involved many significant events.

Highest-grossing films

United States and Canada

The top ten 1979 released films by North American gross are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1979 (United States and Canada)
Rank Title Distributor Box-office gross
1 Kramer vs. Kramer Columbia $106,260,000[1]
2 The Amityville Horror American International $86,432,520[2]
3 Rocky II United Artists $85,182,160[3]
4 Apocalypse Now $83,471,511[4]
5 Star Trek: The Motion Picture Paramount $82,258,456[5]
6 Alien 20th Century Fox $80,931,801[6]
7 10 Warner Bros. $74,865,517[7]
8 The Jerk Universal $73,691,419[8]
9 Moonraker United Artists $70,308,099[9]
10 The Muppet Movie Associated Film $65,200,000[10]

International

Highest-grossing films of 1979 (international markets)
International
market 		Title Distributor Admissions Gross revenue Production
country
Local currency US$
China Gunshots in the CIB Changchun Film Studio 600,000,000[11] CN¥180,000,000[11] $116,000,000 China
France The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials SNC 6,280,070[12] Un­known Un­known France
Germany The Jungle Book 20th Century Fox 9,103,582[13] €32,092,155[13] $44,000,000 United States
India Suhaag Sharma Cine Associates Un­known ₹100,000,000[14] $12,310,000[15] India
Italy Superman Columbia-EMI-Warner 904,000[16] Un­known Un­known United States
Japan Galaxy Express 999 Toei Un­known ¥16,500,000,000[17] $76,120,000[18] Japan
Soviet Union Sholay (Embers) R. K. Films 60,000,000[19] 15,000,000 Rbls[n 1] $28,200,000[a] India
Spain Superman Warner Bros. 4,795,628[21] ₧655,346,759[21] $9,763,080[22] United States
United Kingdom Superman Columbia-EMI-Warner 10,190,000[23] £11,547,308[23][24] $24,455,309[25]

Major events

  • March 2 – Buena Vista release their first film since the advent of U.S. movie ratings to not be G-rated, Take Down.
  • March 5 – Production begins on The Empire Strikes Back.
  • March – Frank Price becomes president of Columbia Pictures.
  • May 25 – Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released.
  • May 29 - Mary Pickford, a silent screen legend and Hollywood pioneer who was, at the height of her career, the most famous woman in the world, dies of a stroke.
  • May 31 – The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature-length motion pictures, is released in United Kingdom.
  • June 11 – John Wayne, a famous Western movie actor, dies at the age of 72 from stomach cancer.
  • June 27 – 20th Century Fox Pictures president Alan Ladd Jr. and vice-presidents Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan agree to leave Fox.
  • June 29 – Moonraker, the 11th film in the James Bond franchise, is released in the United States and goes on to become the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.
  • August 15 – Apocalypse Now is released to worldwide critical acclaim and box office success. Heralded as one of the greatest films ever made to this day.
  • September 19 – Don Bluth and a group of fellow animators resign from The Walt Disney Company's animation department to set up a rival studio, Don Bluth Productions.
  • October 1 – Alan Ladd Jr., Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan who agreed to leave Fox earlier in the year formally announce the creation of The Ladd Company.
  • October 3 – producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan purchase the film rights of Batman from DC Comics. It would be another ten years, before a Batman feature film would be fully realized.
  • November 1 – Production begins on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  • December 7 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture debuts in the United States to mixed reviews but blockbuster box office, launching a film franchise that leads to 9 sequels and 3 reboots over the next 37 years. It also leads to the creation of five spin-off television series based upon Gene Roddenberry's creation.
  • Allied Artists files for bankruptcy.

Awards

Category/Organization 37th Golden Globe Awards
January 26, 1980		 33rd BAFTA Awards
March 20, 1980		 52nd Academy Awards
April 14, 1980
Drama Musical or Comedy
Best Film Kramer vs. Kramer Breaking Away Manhattan Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Director Francis Ford Coppola
Apocalypse Now		 Robert Benton
Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Actor Dustin Hoffman
Kramer vs. Kramer		 Peter Sellers
Being There		 Jack Lemmon
The China Syndrome		 Dustin Hoffman
Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Actress Sally Field
Norma Rae		 Bette Midler
The Rose		 Jane Fonda
The China Syndrome		 Sally Field
Norma Rae
Best Supporting Actor Melvyn Douglas
Being There
Robert Duvall
Apocalypse Now		 Robert Duvall
Apocalypse Now		 Melvyn Douglas
Being There
Best Supporting Actress Meryl Streep
Kramer vs. Kramer		 Rachel Roberts
Yanks		 Meryl Streep
Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Screenplay, Adapted Robert Benton
Kramer vs. Kramer		 Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Manhattan		 Robert Benton
Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Screenplay, Original Steve Tesich
Breaking Away
Best Original Score Carmine Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola
Apocalypse Now		 Ennio Morricone
Days of Heaven		 Georges Delerue
A Little Romance
Ralph Burns
All That Jazz
Best Original Song "The Rose"
The Rose		 N/A "It Goes Like It Goes"
Norma Rae
Best Foreign Language Film La Cage aux Folles N/A The Tin Drum

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, United States
The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), directed by Volker Schlöndorff, W. Germany

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

David, directed by Peter Lilienthal, West Germany

1979 films

By country/region

By genre/medium

Births

Deaths

Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films
January 11 Jack Soo 61 US Actor
  • Flower Drum Song
  • The Oscar
16 Peter Butterworth 63 UK Actor, writer
16 Ted Cassidy 46 US Actor
18 Cyril J. Mockridge 82 UK Composer
25 Dick Crockett 63 US Stuntman, Actor
February 12 Jean Renoir 84 US Director, writer, actor
16 Louise Allbritton 58 US Actress
  • Pittsburgh
  • Sitting Pretty
17 William Gargan 73 US Actor
19 Leigh Jason 74 US Director
28 Jane Hylton 51 UK Actress
March 1 Dolores Costello 75 US Actress
  • The Magnificent Ambersons
  • Little Lord Fauntleroy
2 Edith Craig 71 US Actress
6 John Robinson 70 UK Actor
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • The Longest Day
9 Barbara Mullen 64 UK Actress
  • Jeannie
  • Thunder Rock
19 John Tate 64 UK Actor Invasion
21 Bomba Tzur 50 Israel Actor
22 Ben Lyon 78 US Actor, writer
  • Hell's Angels
  • Night Nurse
24 Yvonne Mitchell 63 UK Actress
April 4 Edgar Buchanan 76 US Actor
  • Shane
  • Wichita
6 Norman Tokar 59 US Director
10 Nino Rota 67 Italy Composer
24 John Carroll 72 US Actor
  • Go West
  • Flying Tigers
May 6 Rosemary La Planche 55 US Actress
8 Victor Saville 83 UK Producer, director
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips
  • Kim
10 Beatrice Campbell 56 UK Actress
  • Last Holiday
  • The Master of Ballantrae
11 Joan Chandler 55 US Actress
  • Humoresque
  • Rope
26 George Brent 80 US Actor
  • Jezebel
  • 42nd Street
29 Mary Pickford 87 US Actress, producer, writer
  • Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
  • Coquette
June 1 Jack Mulhall 91 US Actor
  • The Social Buccaneer
  • The Three Musketeers
2 Larisa Shepitko 41 Soviet Union Director
  • Wings
  • The Ascent
2 Jim Hutton 45 US Actor
6 Jack Haley 80 US Actor
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Alexander's Ragtime Band
11 John Wayne 72 US Actor, producer, director
12 Henry Berman 65 US Editor, Producer
  • Swing Time
  • Grand Prix
14 David Butler 84 US Director
16 Nicholas Ray 67 US Director, writer, actor
19 Nick Grinde 86 US Director
21 Julian Orchard 49 UK Actor, writer
July 2 Larisa Shepitko 41 USSR Director, writer, actress
  • The Ascent
  • Farewell
8 Michael Wilding 66 UK Actor, producer
  • Stage Fright
  • Waterloo
13 Corinne Griffith 84 US Actress
22 Kathleen Case 45 US Actress
25 Eric Pohlmann 66 Germany Actor
26 Virginia Brissac 96 US Actress
27 Ettore Manni 52 Italy Actor
27 Shirley Mason 79 US Actress
28 George Seaton 68 US Director
  • The Country Girl
  • Airport
28 Frederick Stafford 51 Czechoslovakia Actor
31 Beatrix Lehmann 76 UK Actress The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
August ?? Betty Henderson 72 UK Actress
6 Kurt Kasznar 65 Austria Actor
  • Kiss Me Kate
  • Lili
7 Vicente Salumbides 85 Philippines Actor
10 Dick Foran 69 US Actor
17 Vivian Vance 70 US Actress
21 Stuart Heisler 82 US Director
30 Jean Seberg 40 US Actress
  • Breathless
  • Airport
September 1 Doris Kenyon 81 US Actress
2 Felix Aylmer 90 UK Actor
  • Becket
  • Hamlet
12 Les Clark 71 US Animator
12 Jocelyne LaGarde 54 Tahiti Actress Hawaii
17 Willis Goldbeck 80 US Screenwriter
22 Frederick Piper 76 UK Actor
  • The 39 Steps
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much
23 Catherine Lacey 75 UK Actress
26 John Cromwell 91 US Director
  • Of Human Bondage
  • The Enchanted Cottage
26 Arthur Hunnicutt 69 US Actor
27 Gracie Fields 81 UK Actress, singer
  • Sally in Our Alley
  • Holy Matrimony
October 1 Dorothy Arzner 82 US Director
3 Dorothy Peterson 81 US Actress
12 Celia Lovsky 82 Austria Actress
17 John Stuart 81 UK Actor
  • Superman
  • Village of the Damned
25 Fernando Soler 83 Mexico Actor
30 Graham Ashley 52 UK Actor
  • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Hennessy
November 2 Saro Urzì 66 Italy Actor
5 Amedeo Nazzari 71 Italy Actor
8 Sydney Tafler 63 UK Actor
  • The Spy Who Loved Me
  • Alfie
11 Dimitri Tiomkin 85 Russia Composer
20 Michael Darbyshire 62 UK Actor, writer
21 Paul Wexler 50 US Actor
22 George Froeschel 88 US Screenwriter
23 Merle Oberon 68 India Actress, producer
  • Wuthering Heights
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel
30 Joyce Grenfell 69 UK Actress
30 Zeppo Marx 78 US Actor, director
  • Duck Soup
  • Monkey Business
December 5 Jesse Pearson 49 US Actor Bye Bye Birdie
5 Lesley Selander 70 US Director
  • Blackmail
  • Flight to Mars
9 James Neilson 70 US Director
10 Ann Dvorak 68 US Actress
11 Claire Carleton 66 US Actress
12 Jon Hall 64 US Actor, director
  • The Hurricane
  • Kit Carson
22 George Pollock 72 UK Director
23 Ernest B. Schoedsack 86 US Director, cinematographer, producer
  • King Kong
  • The Most Dangerous Game
25 Michael Collins 57 Canada Actor
  • Goldfinger
  • The Battle of the River Plate
25 Lee Bowman 79 US Actor
  • Love Affair
  • Cover Girl
25 Joan Blondell 73 US Actress

Film debuts

Notes

  1. ^ 60 million tickets sold,[19] average ticket price of 25 kopecks[20]

References

  1. ^ "Box Office Information for Kramer vs. Kramer". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  2. ^ "Box Office Information for The Amityville Horror". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Box Office Information for Rocky II". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  4. ^ "Box Office Information for Apocalypse Now". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  5. ^ "Box Office Information for Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  6. ^ "Box Office Information for Alien". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  7. ^ "Box Office Information for 10". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  8. ^ "Box Office Information for The Jerk". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  9. ^ "Box Office Information for Moonraker". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  10. ^ "The Muppet Movie". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  11. ^ a b 王伟杰 (January 2018). 冲突与引导：文化资源开发中的价值选择 (in Chinese). Social Sciences Literature Press. p. 299. ISBN 978-7-5201-2573-4.
  12. ^ "Les Entrees en France (1979)" [Entries in France (1979)]. JP's Box-Office (in French). Archived from the original on 2017-08-10. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  13. ^ a b "Top 100 Deutschland 1979" [Top 100 Germany 1979]. Inside Kino (in German). Archived from the original on 2004-05-31. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  14. ^ "Box Office 1979". Box Office India. 20 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  15. ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (8.1258 INR per USD)" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1979. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  16. ^ "Les Entrees en Italie: 1979" [Entries in Italy: 1979]. JP's Box-Office (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-04-02. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  17. ^ "FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "Animage" in August 1979". Crunchyroll. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  18. ^ "Currency converter in the past with official exchange rates from 1953". fxtop. August 4, 1979.
  19. ^ a b "«Месть и закон» (Sholay, 1975)". KinoPoisk (in Russian). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  20. ^ Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48, Cornell University Press, 2011
  21. ^ a b "Estadística por recaudacion de peliculas extranjeras durante 1979" (PDF). Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport (in Spanish). p. 741. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  22. ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (0.47218 GBP per USD)" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1979. p. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  23. ^ a b "The Ultimate Chart: 1–100". British Film Institute. 28 November 2004. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  24. ^ "UK cinema average ticket price (£1.1332 in 1979)". Terra Media. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  25. ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (0.47218 GBP per USD)" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1979. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  26. ^ Culture, Desk (27 March 2018). "Happy birthday, Shakib Khan". Daily Sun. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  27. ^ "James McAvoy · BIFA · British Independent Film Awards". BIFA · British Independent Film Awards. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  28. ^ "Martin Bourboulon". Allociné (in French). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Evangeline Lilly". BFI. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022.

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