The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.
Events January – Paramount Pictures sets up a separate motion picture division and names David V. Picker as president. March 22 – Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film. In one of the most lucrative business decisions in film history, Lucas declines his directing fee of $500,000 in exchange for complete ownership of merchandising and sequel rights. April 1 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show is officially re-released as a midnight movie at the Waverly Theater (Now the IFC Center) in Greenwich Village in New York City, starting through the run and still being shown in there all around the world.rock Horror Picture Show film booking in Feb 2011 April 9 – Alfred Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot, is released. August 11 – John Wayne appears in his final film, The Shootist. August 26 – Alan Ladd Jr. is promoted from head of worldwide production to president of 20th Century Fox's film division. November 15 – Michael Eisner is brought in as president and CEO of Paramount Pictures. November 21 – Rocky, the first in the film series opens. It becomes the highest-grossing film released in the year and goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. December 5 – Bound for Glory debuts and is the first motion picture in which inventor/operator Garrett Brown used his new Steadicam for filming moving scenes, although its use had already been seen in Marathon Man and Rocky which were filmed later but released earlier. December 17 - King Kong opens to the year's highest opening weekend gross and overall box office success.
Awards
Category/Organization 34th Golden Globe AwardsJanuary 29, 1977 30th BAFTA AwardsMarch 24, 1977 49th Academy AwardsMarch 28, 1977 Drama Musical or Comedy Best Film Rocky A Star Is Born One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Rocky Best Director Sidney LumetNetwork Miloš FormanOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest John G. AvildsenRocky Best Actor Peter FinchNetwork Kris KristoffersonA Star Is Born Jack NicholsonOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Peter FinchNetwork Best Actress Faye DunawayNetwork Barbra StreisandA Star Is Born Louise FletcherOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Faye DunawayNetwork Best Supporting Actor Laurence OlivierMarathon Man Brad DourifOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Jason RobardsAll the President's Men Best Supporting Actress Katharine RossVoyage of the Damned Jodie FosterTaxi Driver and Bugsy Malone Beatrice StraightNetwork Best Screenplay, Adapted Paddy ChayefskyNetwork Alan ParkerBugsy Malone William GoldmanAll the President's Men Best Screenplay, Original Paddy ChayefskyNetwork Best Original Score Kenneth Ascher and Paul WilliamsA Star Is Born Bernard HerrmannTaxi Driver Jerry GoldsmithThe OmenLeonard RosenmanBound for Glory Best Original Song "Evergreen"A Star Is Born N/A "Evergreen"A Star Is Born Best Foreign Language Film Face to Face N/A Black and White in Color
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, United States
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, directed by Robert Altman, United States
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1976 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1976 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1 Rocky United Artists $55,900,000 2 A Star Is Born Warner Bros. $37,100,000 3 King Kong Paramount $36,900,000 4 Silver Streak 20th Century Fox $30,018,000Top 20 Films of 1976 by Domestic Revenue 5 All the President's Men Warner Bros. $30,000,000 6 The Omen 20th Century Fox $28,500,000 7 The Bad News Bears Paramount $24,800,000 8 The Enforcer Warner Bros. $24,000,000 9 In Search of Noah's Ark Sunn Classic $23,800,000 10 Midway Universal $21,610,435
1976 films By country/region List of American films of 1976 List of Argentine films of 1976 List of Australian films of 1976 List of Bangladeshi films of 1976 List of British films of 1976 List of Canadian films of 1976 List of French films of 1976 List of Hong Kong films of 1976 List of Indian films of 1976 List of Hindi films of 1976 List of Kannada films of 1976 List of Malayalam films of 1976 List of Marathi films of 1976 List of Tamil films of 1976 List of Telugu films of 1976 List of Japanese films of 1976 List of Mexican films of 1976 List of Pakistani films of 1976 List of South Korean films of 1976 List of Soviet films of 1976 List of Spanish films of 1976
By genre/medium List of action films of 1976 List of animated feature films of 1976 List of avant-garde films of 1976 List of comedy films of 1976 List of drama films of 1976 List of horror films of 1976 List of science fiction films of 1976 List of thriller films of 1976 List of western films of 1976
Births January 2 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress January 6 Johnny Yong Bosch, American actor, voice actor Danny Pintauro, American actor January 8 - Jenny Lewis, American singer-songwriter, musician and actress January 13 Alice Winocour, French screenwriter and director Michael Peña, American actor January 15 - Dorian Missick, American actor January 18 - Derek Richardson, American actor January 20 - Wayne Bastrup, American actor and musician January 21 – Lars Eidinger, German film, television and stage actor January 28 – Lee Ingleby, English film, television and stage actor January 31 - Paul Scheer, American actor, comedian February 2 - Lori Beth Denberg, American actress and comedian February 3 Isla Fisher, Australian actress Tim Heidecker, American comedian, writer, director, actor and musician February 5 Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor Tony Jaa, Thai actor, martial artist, director and stuntman February 8 - Sharon Duncan-Brewster, British actress February 9 – Charlie Day, American actor, screenwriter, producer, comedian, director and musician February 10 – Keeley Hawes, English actress February 11 – Brice Beckham, American actor February 14 – Erica Leerhsen, American actress February 23 Aaron Aziz, Singaporean actor, singer and film director Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress February 25 – Rashida Jones, American actress, director, writer, and producer February 28 - Ali Larter, American actress March 5 - Neil Jackson, English actor, musician and writer March 8 – Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor, voice actor, writer and producer March 13 – Danny Masterson, American actor and DJ March 14 Daniel Gillies, New Zealand-Canadian actor, producer, director and screenwriter Corey Stoll, American actor March 16 – Paul Schneider, American actor March 19 - De'Aundre Bonds, American actor March 21 – Rachael MacFarlane, American voice actress, singer and writer March 22 – Reese Witherspoon, American actress and producer March 23 Michelle Monaghan, American actress Keri Russell, American actress March 25 - Domenick Lombardozzi, American actor March 26 – Amy Smart, American actress March 27 - Craig Wayans, American writer, producer and actor March 30 - Jessica Cauffiel, American actress and singer April 1 Troy Baker, American voice actor Evan Jones, American actor David Oyelowo, English actor, producer, director April 5 – Sterling K. Brown, American actor April 6 - Candace Cameron Bure, American actress, producer, author, and talk show panelist April 13 Glenn Howerton, American actor, writer, producer Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003) April 15 – Susan Ward, American actress and model April 16 – Lukas Haas, American actor April 17 Maïwenn, French actress and filmmaker Monet Mazur, American actress April 18 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress April 20 – Joey Lawrence, American actor April 23 – Gabriel Damon, American actor April 26 Elisabet Reinsalu, Estonian actress Thurop Van Orman, American cartoonist, animator, voice actor, producer and director April 27 – Sally Hawkins, English actress May 1 Darius McCrary, American actor, rapper, singer and producer Violante Placido, Italian actress and singer May 5 Dieter Brummer, Australian actor (d. 2021) Sage Stallone, American actor (d. 2012) May 14 - Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer May 22 – Külli Teetamm, Estonian actress May 25 Erinn Hayes, American actress and comedian Cillian Murphy, Irish actor Ethan Suplee, American film and television actor J. Michael Tatum, American voice actor May 28 - Liam O'Brien, American voice actor, writer and director May 29 – Yûsuke Iseya, Japanese actor May 30 – Omri Katz, American retired actor May 31 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor June 4 - Damion Poitier, American actor and stuntman June 6 - Jonathan Nolan, British-American screenwriter, producer and director June 8 Eion Bailey, American actor Elliot Graham, American editor and producer (d. 2026) June 10 - Simon Fenton, English actor June 17 - Scott Adkins, British actor, producer and martial artist June 19 - Ryan Hurst, American actor June 21 – Dan Scanlon, American animator, storyboard artist, director and screenwriter June 28 - Lorraine Stanley, English actress June 29 Omar Doom, American actor, musician and artist Bret McKenzie, New Zealand musician, comedian and actor July 1 - Thomas Sadoski, American actor July 3 - Andrea Barber, American actress and comedian July 5 Jamie Elman, Canadian-American actor Liberty Phoenix, American former actress July 6 - Bashir Salahuddin, American actor, writer and comedian July 7 - Hamish Linklater, American actor July 9 Krondon, American actor and rapper Fred Savage, American actor July 12 - Anna Friel, English actress July 15 Gabriel Iglesias, American stand-up comedian and actor Diane Kruger, German actress July 17 - Dagmara Dominczyk, Polish-American actress July 18 – Elsa Pataky, Spanish-Australian actress July 19 Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor Vinessa Shaw, American actress and model July 24 - Grégory Gadebois, French actor July 31 – Mela Lee, American voice actress August 2 – Sam Worthington, Australian actor August 8 - Nigél Thatch, American actor August 9 Rhona Mitra, British actress Audrey Tautou, French actress August 23 - Scott Caan, American actor, director and writer August 25 – Alexander Skarsgard, Swedish actor August 26 – Byron Lawson, Canadian actor August 27 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress, model and voice artist August 30 - Lillo Brancato, American actor September 3 – Vivek Oberoi, Indian actor September 5 – Carice van Houten, Dutch actress and singer September 6 Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, American actress Robin Atkin Downes, English actor and voice actor Naomie Harris, English actress September 7 - Oliver Hudson, American actor September 9 Emma de Caunes, French actress Lúcia Moniz, Portuguese singer and actress September 13 - Colin Trevorrow, American filmmaker September 20 Jon Bernthal, American actor Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress September 22 - Sala Baker, New Zealand actress and stuntman September 24 Ian Bohen, American actor Matthew Gravelle, Welsh actor September 26 – Kersti Heinloo, Estonian actress October 3 – Seann William Scott, American actor, comedian and producer October 4 – Alicia Silverstone, American actress October 6 - Brett Gelman, American actor and comedian October 9 Sam Riegel, American voice actor, director and writer Nick Swardson, American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter and producer October 11 - Emily Deschanel, American actress October 14 - Chang Chen, Taiwanese actor October 20 – Dan Fogler, American actor, comedian and writer October 21 – Andrew Scott, Irish actor October 23 – Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor and film producer October 26 - Florence Kasumba, Ugandan-born German actress October 31 – Piper Perabo, American actress November 1 - Logan Marshall-Green, American actor and filmmaker November 5 - Sebastian Arcelus, American actor November 7 - Melyssa Ade, Canadian actress November 24 Coralie Fargeat, French film director and screenwriter Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Japanese actor November 28 - Ryan Kwanten, Australian actor and producer November 29 Chadwick Boseman, American actor and playwright (d. 2020)