Box Office
Worldwide box office · 1981
The top-grossing releases of the year. Switch between worldwide, domestic, and international — every figure shown both as reported and adjusted for inflation, so films from any era are directly comparable.
| # | Title | Worldwide | Adjusted for inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superman II | $216.4M | $785.6M |
| 2 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | $212.3M | $770.6M |
| 3 | On Golden Pond | $119.3M | $433.0M |
| 4 | Arthur | $95.5M | $346.6M |
| 5 | Stripes | $85.3M | $309.7M |
| 6 | The Cannonball Run | $72.2M | $262.0M |
| 7 | Chariots of Fire | $59.0M | $214.1M |
| 8 | For Your Eyes Only | $54.8M | $199.0M |
| 9 | The Four Seasons | $50.4M | $183.1M |
| 10 | Time Bandits | $42.4M | $153.8M |
| 11 | Clash of the Titans | $41.1M | $149.2M |
| 12 | Absence of Malice | $40.7M | $147.8M |
| 13 | Reds | $40.4M | $146.6M |
| 14 | The Fox and the Hound | $39.9M | $144.9M |
| 15 | Tarzan the Ape Man | $36.6M | $132.7M |
| 16 | Taps | $35.9M | $130.2M |
| 17 | Sharky's Machine | $35.6M | $129.3M |
| 18 | Excalibur | $35.0M | $126.9M |
| 19 | Endless Love | $32.5M | $118.0M |
| 20 | History of the World: Part I | $31.7M | $115.0M |
| 21 | Bustin' Loose | $31.3M | $113.5M |
| 22 | The Great Muppet Caper | $31.2M | $113.3M |
| 23 | An American Werewolf in London | $30.7M | $111.6M |
| 24 | Neighbors | $29.9M | $108.6M |
| 25 | Fort Apache the Bronx | $29.2M | $106.0M |
| 26 | Cinderella 1981 Re-release | $28.0M | $101.8M |
| 27 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | $26.9M | $97.6M |
| 28 | Private Lessons | $26.3M | $95.4M |
| 29 | Modern Problems | $26.2M | $94.9M |
| 30 | Halloween II | $25.5M | $92.7M |
| 31 | Only When I Laugh | $25.5M | $92.7M |
| 32 | Escape from New York | $25.2M | $91.7M |
| 33 | Body Heat | $24.1M | $87.3M |
| 34 | Ghost Story | $23.4M | $84.8M |
| 35 | Friday the 13th: Part 2 | $21.7M | $78.9M |
| 36 | The Final Conflict | $20.5M | $74.3M |
| 37 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | $20.3M | $73.6M |
| 38 | Mommie Dearest | $19.0M | $69.1M |
| 39 | Paternity | $18.8M | $68.4M |
| 40 | Under the Rainbow | $18.8M | $68.3M |
| 41 | The Howling | $18.0M | $65.3M |
| 42 | Eye of the Needle | $17.6M | $63.8M |
| 43 | Take This Job and Shove It | $17.6M | $63.8M |
| 44 | Outland | $17.4M | $63.1M |
| 45 | The Devil and Max Devlin | $16.0M | $58.1M |
| 46 | Caveman | $16.0M | $58.0M |
| 47 | Continental Divide | $15.6M | $56.6M |
| 48 | The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia | $14.9M | $54.2M |
| 49 | Ragtime | $14.9M | $54.2M |
| 50 | Nighthawks | $14.9M | $54.1M |
| 51 | S.O.B. | $14.9M | $54.0M |
| 52 | Rich and Famous | $14.5M | $52.6M |
| 53 | Scanners | $14.2M | $51.6M |
| 54 | Dragonslayer | $14.1M | $51.2M |
| 55 | True Confessions | $12.9M | $46.7M |
| 56 | Atlantic City | $12.7M | $46.2M |
| 57 | The Legend of the Lone Ranger | $12.6M | $45.8M |
| 58 | First Monday in October | $12.5M | $45.3M |
| 59 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | $12.4M | $45.0M |
| 60 | Blow Out | $12.0M | $43.6M |
| 61 | Back Roads | $11.8M | $42.9M |
| 62 | Thief | $11.5M | $41.7M |
| 63 | Victory | $10.9M | $39.4M |
| 64 | Rollover | $10.9M | $39.4M |
| 65 | Wolfen | $10.6M | $38.6M |
| 66 | Carbon Copy | $9.6M | $34.7M |
| 67 | Pennies from Heaven | $9.2M | $33.3M |
| 68 | Deadly Blessing | $8.3M | $30.1M |
| 69 | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | $8.2M | $29.8M |
| 70 | Prince of the City | $8.1M | $29.5M |
| 71 | The Funhouse | $7.9M | $28.6M |
| 72 | Buddy Buddy | $7.3M | $26.4M |
| 73 | La Cage aux Folles II | $7.0M | $25.2M |
| 74 | ...All the Marbles | $6.5M | $23.5M |
| 75 | Eyewitness | $6.4M | $23.2M |
| 76 | Gallipoli | $5.7M | $20.8M |
| 77 | My Bloody Valentine | $5.7M | $20.6M |
| 78 | Going Ape! | $5.5M | $20.0M |
| 79 | The Dogs of War | $5.5M | $19.9M |
| 80 | Student Bodies | $5.2M | $18.8M |
| 81 | The Watcher in the Woods | $5.0M | $18.2M |
| 82 | All Night Long | $4.5M | $16.2M |
| 83 | The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper | $3.7M | $13.4M |
| 84 | Zoot Suit | $3.3M | $11.8M |
| 85 | The Fan | $3.1M | $11.2M |
| 86 | The Last Metro | $3.0M | $10.9M |
| 87 | Gas | $2.9M | $10.4M |
| 88 | Modern Romance | $2.9M | $10.4M |
| 89 | The Hand | $2.4M | $8.9M |
| 90 | Heartbeeps | $2.2M | $7.8M |
| 91 | This Is Elvis | $2.0M | $7.4M |
| 92 | Sphinx | $2.0M | $7.3M |
| 93 | Honky Tonk Freeway | $2.0M | $7.3M |
| 94 | Raggedy Man | $2.0M | $7.2M |
| 95 | King of the Mountain | $1.8M | $6.5M |
| 96 | Cutter's Way | $1.7M | $6.3M |
| 97 | Silence of the North | $1.6M | $5.9M |
| 98 | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China | $1.2M | $4.4M |
| 99 | Night School | $1.2M | $4.2M |
| 100 | Eyes of a Stranger | $1.1M | $4.1M |
“Adjusted for inflation” restates each gross in today’s dollars using US CPI-U annual averages. Domestic and international views are re-ranked from the year’s top releases; some early years report domestic-only figures.