This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1978.
Number-one films †This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. Week ending Film Gross Notes 1 Close Encounters of the Third Kind$4,435,990 2 $3,377,392 3 $2,274,682 4 $1,622,296 5 $1,774,208 6 $1,489,164 7 The Betsy $1,339,400The Betsy grossed $2,727,084 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 12, an opening record for Allied Artists 8 Saturday Night Fever $1,605,673Saturday Night Fever reached number one in its tenth week on the chart 9 $2,171,501Saturday Night Fever grossed $3,765,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 26 10 $1,687,869 11 $1,398,108 12 $1,207,132 13 The Fury$1,444,416The Fury reached number one in its second week of release grossing $2,777,291 nationally for the weekend ended March 26 14 $1,257,159 15 The Goodbye Girl$969,830The Goodbye Girl reached number one in its 19th week on the chart 16 $788,848 17 House Calls$949,285 House Calls reached number one in its sixth week on the chart 18 $818,620 19 F.I.S.T.$724,367F.I.S.T. reached number one in its second week of release 20 The Greek Tycoon$677,300 21 $981,908 22 American Graffiti (reissue)$1,361,800 23 Capricorn One $1,411,600 24 Damien: Omen II$2,216,400Damien: Omen II grossed $3,880,880 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 11 25 Jaws 2$4,038,800 Jaws 2 grossed $9.9 million nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 18, an opening weekend record 26 Grease †$4,174,082Grease reached number one in its second week of release, grossing $7,867,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 25 27 $3,518,287 28 $2,443,707 29 $2,129,200 30 $1,977,551Star Wars (reissue) placed third on the chart from 166 theaters but grossed $10,166,366 nationally from 1,750 theaters in the weekend ended July 23, beating the weekend record set by Jaws 2 31 Star Wars (reissue) $1,891,255Star Wars grossed $6,501,185 nationally in the weekend ended July 30 32 Hooper$2,476,400Hooper reached number one in its third week of release. Its nationwide gross for the week was $9,437,484. 33 $1,988,915 34 $1,747,842 35 Animal House$2,022,990 Animal House reached number one in its fifth week on the chart 36 $2,103,917 37 $1,557,835 38 $1,251,100 39 $1,085,881 40 Up in Smoke$1,109,000 Up in Smoke reached number one in its second week of release 41 Animal House$1,868,567Animal House returned to number one in its eleventh week of release 42 $1,337,828 43 $1,298,347 44 Midnight Express$1,300,711Midnight Express reached number one in its fourth week of release 45 Up in Smoke$1,443,320Up in Smoke returned to number one in its seventh week of release. 46 Magic$1,376,000 47 $1,177,317 48 Midnight Express$993,743Midnight Express returned to number one in its eighth week of release 49 $746,543 50 $590,763 51 Superman$3,685,756 Superman grossed $7,465,343 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 17, beating King Kongs December opening record 52 $4,171,899Superman grossed $6,535,784 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 24
Highest grossing films RankTitleDistributorRental1GreaseParamount Pictures$83,091,0002Saturday Night FeverParamount Pictures$71,463,0003Close Encounters of the Third KindColumbia Pictures$54,000,0004Animal HouseUniversal Pictures$52,368,0005Jaws 2Universal Pictures$49,299,0006Heaven Can WaitParamount Pictures$42,517,0007The Goodbye GirlWarner Bros.$41,000,0008Star Wars (reissue)20th Century Fox$38,375,0009HooperWarner Bros.$31,500,00010Foul PlayParamount Pictures$25,065,000
See also List of American films — American films by year Lists of box office number-one films
Notes
References
External links Domestic Box Office Weekends For 1978 (Box Office Mojo) Theatrical Weekly Box Office Chart Calendar for 1978 (The Numbers)
Chronology