This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1970 per Variety. The data was based on grosses from 20 to 24 key cities and therefore, the gross quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.
| Week ending | Film | Gross | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | $1,209,000 | [1] | ||
| 2 | $614,700 | [2] | |||
| 3 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | $500,489 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid returned to number one after 17 weeks of release | [3] | |
| 4 | $384,598 | [4] | |||
| 5 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria | $401,500 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria reached number one in its 16th week of release | [5] | |
| 6 | Funny Girl | $795,000 | Funny Girl returned to number one after 73 weeks of release | [6] | |
| 7 | $596,000 | [7] | |||
| 8 | $729,500 | [8] | |||
| 9 | $480,750 | [9] | |||
| 10 | Cactus Flower | $936,200 | Cactus Flower reached number one in its 12th week of release | [10] | |
| 11 | $660,500 | [11] | |||
| 12 | Airport | $741,500 | Airport reached number one in its third week of release | [12] | |
| 13 | $747,400 | [13] | |||
| 14 | Marooned | $758,000 | Marooned reached number one in its 17th week of release | [14] | |
| 15 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (double bill) | $650,000 | [15] | ||
| 16 | $553,000 | [16] | |||
| 17 | Airport | $502,500 | Airport returned to number one after 8 weeks of release | [17] | |
| 18 | $426,500 | [18] | |||
| 19 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones | $532,400 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones reached number one in its eighth week of release | [19] | |
| 20 | Airport | $409,250 | Airport returned to number one after 11 weeks of release | [20] | |
| 21 | $400,000 | [21] | |||
| 22 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | $1,064,100 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice reached number one in its 34th week of release | [22] | |
| 23 | $914,100 | [23] | |||
| 24 | A Man Called Horse | $549,500 | A Man Called Horse reached number one in its eighth week of release | [24] | |
| 25 | Jenny | $380,000 | Jenny reached number one in its 26th week of release | [25] | |
| 26 | Airport | $1,015,000 | Airport returned to number one after 17 weeks of release | [26] | |
| 27 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | $863,500 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes reached number one in its sixth week of release | [27] | |
| 28 | Airport | $631,600 | Airport returned to number one after 19 weeks of release | [28] | |
| 29 | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | $707,000 | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls reached number one in its fifth week of release | [29] | |
| 30 | Patton | $500,600 | Patton reached number one in its 25th week of release | [30] | |
| 31 | Z | $540,000 | Z reached number one its 34th week of release | [31] | |
| 32 | The Out-of-Towners | $550,237 | The Out-of-Towners reached number one in its 11th week on release | [32] | |
| 33 | Getting Straight | $589,400 | Getting Straight reached number one in its 14th week of release | [33] | |
| 34 | Woodstock | $746,500 | Woodstock reached number one in its 22nd week of release | [34] | |
| 35 | Getting Straight | $568,500 | Getting Straight returned to number one in its 16th week of release | [35] | |
| 36 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | $741,500 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever reached number one in its twelfth week of release | [36] | |
| 37 | $415,100 | [37] | |||
| 38 | MASH | $463,100 | MASH reached number one in its 34th week of release | [38] | |
| 39 | $371,700 | [39] | |||
| 40 | Hello, Dolly! | $345,000 | Hello, Dolly! reached number one in its 42nd week of release | [40] | |
| 41 | The Bird with the Crystal Plumage | $727,200 | The Bird with the Crystal Plumage reached number one in its twelfth week of release | [41] | |
| 42 | C.C. and Company | $532,000 | [42] | ||
| 43 | The Professionals/In Cold Blood (reissues double bill) | $334,490 | [43] | ||
| 44 | Trog/Taste the Blood of Dracula (double bill) | $300,000 | [44] | ||
| 45 | Sunflower | $308,000 | Sunflower reached number one in its seventh week of release | [45] | |
| 46 | Five Easy Pieces | $382,314 | Five Easy Pieces reached number one in its ninth week of release | [46] | |
| 47 | Lovers and Other Strangers | $521,200 | Lovers and Other Strangers reached number one in its 15th week of release | [47] | |
| 48 | Scrooge | $604,100 | Scrooge reached number one in its fourth week of release | [48] | |
| 49 | Lovers and Other Strangers | $515,900 | Lovers and Other Strangers returned to number one in its 17th week of release | [49] | |
| 50 | Scrooge | $475,800 | Scrooge returned to number one in its sixth week of release | [50] | |
| 51 | $555,500 | [51] | |||
| 52 | Love Story | $983,770 | Love Story reached number one in its second week of release. For the weekend ending December 27, 1970, Love Story grossed $2,363,767 from all markets in the United States and Canada. | [52] [53] | |
Highest-grossing films of 1970 by calendar year gross based on the cities covered by Variety for the weekly charts.[54] [55]
| Rank | Title | Studio | Playing weeks | Gross ($) | Rank on 1970 rental chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Airport | 629 | 12,378,259 | 1 | |
| 2. | MASH | 20th Century Fox | 932 | 12,186,906 | 2 |
| 3. | Patton | 20th Century Fox | 832 | 9,327,636 | 3 |
| 4. | Hello, Dolly! | 20th Century Fox | 739 | 9,078,338 | 6 |
| 5. | Z | C5 | 928 | 7,919,478 | 14 |
| 6. | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | Columbia | 748 | 7,160,506 | 4 |
| 7. | Woodstock | Warner Bros. | 536 | 7,108,600 | 5 |
| 8. | Catch-22 | Paramount | 391 | 5,982,490 | 8 |
| 9. | Cactus Flower | Columbia | 486 | 5,167,043 | 7 |
| 10. | Lovers and Other Strangers | CRC | 478 | 4,496,608 | 34 |
| 11. | Cotton Comes to Harlem | United Artists | 303 | 4,458,401 | 22 |
| 12. | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | 20th Century Fox | 717 | 4,413,816 | N/A |
| 13. | The Out-of-Towners | Paramount | 286 | 4,411,683 | 13 |
| 14. | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | CRC | 468 | 4,317,835 | 15 |
| 15. | Getting Straight | Columbia | 451 | 4,298,712 | 23 |
| 16. | Midnight Cowboy | United Artists | 551 | 4,036,491 | N/A |
| 17. | Paint Your Wagon | Paramount | 444 | 3,919,143 | N/A |
| 18. | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | 20th Century Fox | 331 | 3,822,161 | 12 |
| 19. | Funny Girl | Columbia | 343 | 3,800,202 | N/A |
| 20. | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | Paramount | 336 | 3,737,760 | 29 |
| 21. | Joe | Cannon | 371 | 3,553,283 | 42 |
| 22. | Marooned | Columbia | 327 | 3,370,833 | 33 |
| 23. | The Adventurers | Paramount | 338 | 3,292,310 | 11 |
| 24. | Darling Lili | Paramount | 184 | 3,226,802 | 37 |
| 25. | The Boys in the Band | National General Pictures | 436 | 3,216,380 | 36 |
Highest-grossing films of 1970 by rental in the United States and Canada accruing to the distributor to the end of 1970 (not total receipts as listed above for a selection of cities and includes rentals from December 1969).[56]
| Rank | Title | Studio | Director | Producer | Rental ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Airport | George Seaton | Ross Hunter | 37,650,796 | |
| 2. | MASH | 20th Century Fox | Robert Altman | Ingo Preminger | 22,000,000 |
| 3. | Patton | 20th Century Fox | Franklin J. Schaffner | Frank McCarthy | 21,000,000 |
| 4. | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | Columbia | Paul Mazursky | Larry Tucker | 13,900,000 |
| 5. | Woodstock | Warner Bros. | Michael Wadleigh | Bob Maurice | 13,500,000 |
| 6. | Hello, Dolly! | 20th Century Fox | Gene Kelly | Ernest Lehman | 13,000,000 |
| 7. | Cactus Flower | Columbia | Gene Saks | M. J. Frankovich | 11,300,000 |
| 8. | Catch-22 | Paramount | Mike Nichols | John Calley | 9,250,000 |
| 9. | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | United Artists | Peter R. Hunt | Albert R. Broccoli Harry Saltzman | 9,000,000 |
| 10. | The Reivers | Cinema Center Films National General Pictures | Mark Rydell | Irving Ravetch | 8,000,000 |