The year 1974 in film involved some significant events. Important films released this year included The Godfather Part II, Blazing Saddles, The Towering Inferno, Chinatown, Earthquake, and Young Frankenstein. Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) celebrated their 50th anniversaries.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1974 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1974 Rank Title Distributor(s) Domestic rentals 1The Towering Inferno 20th Century Fox / Warner Bros. $50,000,000 2Blazing Saddles Warner Bros. $45,200,000 3Young Frankenstein 20th Century Fox $38,800,000 4Earthquake Universal $36,300,000 5The Trial of Billy Jack Warner Bros. $31,100,000Rental champs: Rate of return 6The Godfather Part II Paramount $30,700,000 7Airport 1975 Universal Pictures $25,800,000 8The Longest Yard Paramount $23,000,000 9Death Wish $22,000,000 10The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams Sunn Classic $21,895,000Top 20 Films of 1974 by Domestic Revenue
Events February 7 – Blazing Saddles is released in the United States. May 28 - Joseph E. Levine, the founder of Embassy Pictures, resigns as president. June 20 – Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski and featured Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston, is released to worldwide critical acclaim. September 23 – Barry Diller announced as chairman and chief executive office of Paramount Pictures. November 1 – Technicolor ceases its legendary dye-transfer printing process. November 8 – Frank Yablans announces his resignation as president of Paramount Pictures with effect from January 5, 1975. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with big fanfare, including That's Entertainment!, a retrospective documentary celebrating its prestigious musicals (e.g. The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis, Gigi, An American in Paris, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). October–December – Three "disaster films" are released in three consecutive months: Airport 1975, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno respectively. All were box office successes. December 30 – Gordon Stulberg resigns as president of 20th Century Fox. Kevin Costner made his film debut in Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., although the film was not released until 1986.
Awards
Category/Organization 32nd Golden Globe AwardsJanuary 25, 1975 28th BAFTA AwardsFebruary 18, 1975 47th Academy AwardsApril 8, 1975 Drama Comedy or Musical Best Film Chinatown The Longest Yard Lacombe, Lucien The Godfather Part II Best Director Roman PolanskiChinatown Francis Ford CoppolaThe Godfather Part II Best Actor Jack NicholsonChinatown Art CarneyHarry and Tonto Jack NicholsonThe Last Detail / Chinatown Art CarneyHarry and Tonto Best Actress Gena RowlandsA Woman Under the Influence Raquel WelchThe Three Musketeers Joanne WoodwardSummer Wishes, Winter Dreams Ellen BurstynAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Best Supporting Actor Fred AstaireThe Towering Inferno John GielgudMurder on the Orient Express Robert De NiroThe Godfather Part II Best Supporting Actress Karen BlackThe Great Gatsby Ingrid BergmanMurder on the Orient Express Best Screenplay, Adapted Chinatown<br/ >Robert Towne Chinatown / The Last DetailRobert Towne The Godfather Part IIFrancis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo Best Screenplay, Original ChinatownRobert Towne Best Original Score Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick LoeweThe Little Prince Richard Rodney BennettMurder on the Orient Express Nino Rota and Carmine CoppolaThe Godfather Part IINelson RiddleThe Great Gatsby Best Original Song "I Feel Love"Benji N/A "We May Never Love Like This Again"The Towering Inferno Best Foreign Language Film Scenes from a Marriage N/A Amarcord Best Documentary Animals Are Beautiful People Cree Hunters of Mistassini Hearts and Minds
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, United States
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, directed by Ted Kotcheff, Canada
1974 films By country/region List of American films of 1974 List of Argentine films of 1974 List of Australian films of 1974 List of Bangladeshi films of 1974 List of British films of 1974 List of Canadian films of 1974 List of French films of 1974 List of Hong Kong films of 1974 List of Indian films of 1974 List of Hindi films of 1974 List of Kannada films of 1974 List of Malayalam films of 1974 List of Marathi films of 1974 List of Tamil films of 1974 List of Telugu films of 1974 List of Japanese films of 1974 List of Mexican films of 1974 List of Pakistani films of 1974 List of South Korean films of 1974 List of Soviet films of 1974 List of Spanish films of 1974
By genre/medium List of action films of 1974 List of animated feature films of 1974 List of avant-garde films of 1974 List of comedy films of 1974 List of drama films of 1974 List of horror films of 1974 List of science fiction films of 1974 List of thriller films of 1974 List of western films of 1974
Births January 1 – Jennifer Podemski, Canadian actress January 5 Daisy Bates, English actress Jessica Chaffin, American actress, comedian and writer January 9 - Omari Hardwick, American actor January 10 Jemaine Clement, New Zealand actor, musician, comedian, singer, director and writer Kelly Marcel, English screenwriter, director and former actress Mehdi Nebbou, French actor Hrithik Roshan, Indian actor January 14 - Kevin Durand, Canadian actor January 16 - Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Vietnamese–American actor January 18 - Maulik Pancholy, American actor January 19 - Natassia Malthe, Norwegian actress and model January 21 - Vincent Laresca, American actor January 24 – Ed Helms, American actor and comedian January 28 Ty Olsson, Canadian actor Melody Perkins, American actress January 30 Christian Bale, English actor Olivia Colman, English actress January 31 - Billy MacLellan, Canadian actor February 2 - Oz Perkins, American actor, screenwriter and director February 4 – Urmila Matondkar, Indian actress February 5 - Tofiga Fepulea'i, New Zealand actor and comedian February 8 Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer and director Susan May Pratt, American actress February 9 Erra Fazira, Malaysian actress Amber Valletta, American model and actress February 10 Elizabeth Banks, American actress, director, writer and producer María Botto, Argentine-Spanish actress Tanoai Reed, American stuntman and actor February 11 - Isaiah Mustafa, American actor February 12 - Lisa Brenner, American actress February 15 Miranda July (née Grossinger), American filmmaker, performance artist and fiction writer Gina Lynn, American former pornographic actress February 16 – Mahershala Ali, American actor and rapper February 17 David Lipper, Canadian actor Jerry O'Connell, American actor February 18 – Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress, director and activist February 25 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress (d. 1993) March 5 Kevin Connolly, American actor and director Matt Lucas, English actor, comedian, writer and television presenter Eva Mendes, American actress March 7 Jenna Fischer, American actress Tobias Menzies, English actor March 8 Cesar Velasco Broca, Spanish actor and cult filmmaker Danny Corkill, American former child actor Fardeen Khan, Indian actor March 14 - Etan Cohen, Israeli-American screenwriter and director March 15 - Renoly Santiago, Puerto Rican actor, singer and writer March 21 Rhys Darby, New Zealand actor, comedian and voice actor Joseph Mawle, English actor March 23 - Randall Park, American actor, comedian and writer March 24 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress March 25 - Laz Alonso, American actor March 31 Adrian Holmes, Canadian actor Victoria Smurfit, Irish actress April 2 - Harold Hunter, American professional skateboarder and actor (d. 2006) April 10 - Omar Metwally, American actor April 11 - David Banner, American rapper and actor April 12 - Marley Shelton, American actress April 15 Fay Masterson, English actress Danny Pino, American actor April 16 - Valarie Rae Miller, American actress and television host April 18 - Edgar Wright, English filmmaker April 21 John Hasler, English actor and voice actor Tony Kgoroge, South African actor April 23 - Barry Watson, American actor April 24 – Jennifer Paz, Filipino actress April 26 – Ivana Miličević, American actress April 28 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress May 2 - Matt Berry, English actor, voice actor, comedian, writer and musician May 3 - Joseph Kosinski, American filmmaker May 7 – Breckin Meyer, American actor, voice actor, writer and producer May 10 - Craig Hall, New Zealand actor May 11 – Benoît Magimel, French actor May 14 - Carla Jimenez, American actress May 15 – Russell Hornsby, American actor May 21 Fairuza Balk, American actress Juliet Cowan, Northern Irish actress May 22 – Sean Gunn, American actor May 23 - Jewel, American singer-songwriter and actress May 24 - Dash Mihok, American actor and director May 25 - Maria Fernanda Cândido, Brazilian actress and television presenter May 28 - Romain Duris, French actor June 2 - Leah Cairns, Canadian actress June 6 - Danny Strong, American actor, writer, director and producer June 11 - Lenny Jacobson, American actor June 12 Jared Bush, American screenwriter, producer and director Jason Mewes, American actor, comedian, film producer and podcaster June 13 - Brande Roderick, American model and actress June 16 - Joseph May, British-born Canadian-American actor June 20 – Lenin M. Sivam, Sri Lankan-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter June 23 – Joel Edgerton, Australian actor June 25 Jeff Cohen, American former child actor Karisma Kapoor, Indian actress June 28 - Kirsty Mitchell, Scottish actress July 1 - Jonathan Roumie, American actor July 3 - Corey Reynolds, American actor July 4 - Mick Wingert, American voice actor July 8 – Tami Erin, American actress July 10 - Imelda May, Irish actress and singer July 14 David Mitchell, British comedian, actor and writer Maxine Peake, English actress July 16 - Robinne Lee, American actress July 20 - Simon Rex, American actor, rapper and comedian July 22 Donald Faison, American actor, comedian and voice actor Franka Potente, German actress Johnny Strong, American actor, musician and singer-songwriter July 23 - Stephanie March, American actress July 27 Amy Hathaway, American former actress Takehiro Hira, Japanese actor July 28 - Hannah Waddingham, English actress, singer and television presenter July 29 - Josh Radnor, American actor and filmmaker July 30 – Hilary Swank, American actress July 31 Emilia Fox, English actress and presenter Asher Keddie, Australian actress August 2 - Angie Cepeda, Colombian actress August 5 – Kajol, Indian actress August 7 – Michael Shannon, American actor August 8 - Enzo Cilenti, English actor August 10 - Craig Kirkwood, American former actor August 11 - Chris Messina, American actor, director, writer and producer August 14 - Tomer Sisley, Israeli-French actor and comedian August 15 – Natasha Henstridge, Canadian actress and model August 20 Amy Adams, American actress Misha Collins, American actor August 21 - Paul Chowdhry, British comedian and actor August 23 – Ray Park, Scottish actor and stuntman August 31 - Marc Webb, American music video director and filmmaker September 1 - Burn Gorman, English actor and musician September 4 - Nona Gaye, American singer and retired actress September 5 - Romina Yan, Argentine actress, screenwriter and singer (d. 2010) September 6 Sarah Danielle Madison, American actress (d. 2014) Justin Whalin, American former actor September 7 - Noah Huntley, English actor September 10 – Ryan Phillippe, American actor September 11 - Ben Best, American actor, writer, musician and producer (d. 2021) September 16 - Ed Stoppard, English actor September 18 Xzibit, American rapper, actor and broadcaster Emily Rutherfurd, American actress September 19 Jimmy Fallon, American television host, comedian and actor Victoria Silvstedt, Swedish actress and model September 30