List of 1972 box office number-one films in the United States explained

This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1972 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.

Number-one films

	Week ending	Film	Gross	Notes
1		Diamonds Are Forever	$1,551,359		^[1]
2			$1,717,800		^[2]
3			$963,450		^[3]
4			$834,600		^[4]
5			$660,962		^[5]
6		The French Connection	$769,200	The French Connection returned to number one in its 18th week on the chart	^[6]
7			$711,400		^[7]
8		Dirty Harry	$601,500	Dirty Harry reached number one in its ninth week on the chart	^[8]
9		The Last Picture Show	$465,350	The Last Picture Show reached number one in its 21st week on the chart	^[9]
10		The Hospital	$623,380	The Hospital reached number one in its twelfth week on the chart	^[10]
11		Dirty Harry	$726,500	Dirty Harry returned to number one in its twelfth week on the chart	^[11]
12		The Godfather	$568,800		^[12]
13			$2,698,500		^[13]
14			$2,495,100		^[14]
15			$2,348,100		^[15]
16			$1,978,300		^[16]
17			$1,775,800		^[17]
18			$1,574,200		^[18]
19			$1,313,600		^[19]
20			$1,164,700		^[20]
21			$3,188,000	First film to gross over $3 million in a week in the cities sampled	^[21]
22			$2,976,600		^[22]
23			$2,691,200		^[23]
24			$1,814,100		^[24]
25			$1,633,600		^[25]
26			$1,687,800		^[26]
27			$1,398,541		^[27]
28			$1,112,900		^[28]
29			$1,811,400		^[29]
30			$1,316,800		^[30]
31			$1,275,435		^[31]
32			$895,500		^[32]
33			$719,200		^[33]
34			$610,810		^[34]
35		Butterflies Are Free	$678,900	Butterflies Are Free reached number one in its eighth week on the chart	^[35]
36		The Godfather	$1,029,900	The Godfather returned to number one in its 25th week of release	^[36]
37			$668,000		^[37]
38			$456,150		^[38]
39		Super Fly	$625,500	Super Fly reached number one in its eighth week on the chart	^[39]
40			$457,050		^[40]
41		The New Centurions	$652,550	The New Centurions reached number one in its tenth week on the chart
42			$429,950		^[41]
43		Slaughter	$525,000	Slaughter reached number one in its tenth week on the chart	^[42]
44		Deliverance	$324,720	Deliverance reached number one in its thirteenth week on the chart	^[43]
45		The Valachi Papers	$749,000	The Valachi Papers reached number one in its third week on the chart	^[44]
46			$740,300		^[45]
47		Lady Sings the Blues	$868,300	Lady Sings the Blues reached number one in its fifth week on the chart	^[46]
48			$924,250		^[47]
49			$581,600		^[48]
50			$468,245		^[49]
51		Man of La Mancha	$365,996		^[50]
52		The Poseidon Adventure	$777,700	The Poseidon Adventure reached number one in its second week of release	^[51]

Highest-grossing films

Highest-grossing films of 1972 by calendar year gross based on the cities covered by Variety for the weekly charts.^{[52] [53]}

Rank	Title	Studio	Playing weeks	Gross ($)
1.	The Godfather	Paramount	2,176	43,170,087
2.	Fiddler on the Roof	United Artists	920	13,714,068
3.	Cabaret	Allied Artists	1,254	10,869,847
4.	The French Connection	20th Century Fox	1,279	10,868,314
5.	What's Up, Doc?	Warner Bros.	733	8,714,177
6.	A Clockwork Orange	Warner Bros.	611	8,039,240
7.	Diamonds Are Forever	United Artists	683	7,526,861
8.	The Hospital	United Artists	953	6,878,594
9.	The Last Picture Show	Columbia	911	6,824,005
10.	Dirty Harry	Warner Bros.	750	6,392,199
11.	Super Fly	Warner Bros.	399	6,279,996
12.	Butterflies Are Free	Columbia	639	5,092,177
13.	Lady Sings the Blues	Paramount	435	4,874,806
14.	Frenzy	Universal	601	4,819,132
15.	Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)	United Artists	533	4,718,382
16.	Play It Again, Sam	Paramount	442	4,700,092
17.	The New Centurions	Columbia	628	4,629,644
18.	Nicholas and Alexandra	Columbia	463	4,311,812
19.	Deliverance	Warner Bros.	265	4,048,073
20.	The Valachi Papers	Columbia	272	3,713,719
21.	Fritz the Cat		388	3,683,108
22.	Midnight Cowboy	United Artists	10	3,335,739
23.	Shaft's Big Score	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	225	3,151,923
24.	Buck and the Preacher	Columbia	276	3,089,286
25.	The Other	20th Century Fox	375	2,638,754

See also

• List of American films - American films by year
• Lists of box office number-one films

Notes and References

1. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. January 12, 1972. 11.
2. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. January 19, 1972. 17.
3. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. January 26, 1972. 9.
4. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. February 2, 1972. 9.
5. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. February 9, 1972. 11.
6. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. February 16, 1972. 13.
7. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. February 23, 1972. 16.
8. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. March 1, 1972. 9.
9. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. March 8, 1972. 11.
10. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. March 15, 1972. 9.
11. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. March 22, 1972. 9.
12. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. March 29, 1972. 21.
13. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. April 5, 1972. 11.
14. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. April 12, 1972. 13.
15. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. April 19, 1972. 9.
16. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. April 26, 1972. 14.
17. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. May 3, 1972. 17.
18. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. May 10, 1972. 17.
19. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. May 17, 1972. 13.
20. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. May 24, 1972. 9.
21. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. May 31, 1972. 11.
22. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. June 7, 1972. 9.
23. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. June 14, 1972. 9.
24. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. June 21, 1972. 10.
25. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. June 28, 1972. 9.
26. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. July 5, 1972. 9.
27. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. July 12, 1972. 9.
28. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. July 19, 1972. 9.
29. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. July 26, 1972. 12.
30. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. August 2, 1972. 9.
31. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. August 9, 1972. 11.
32. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. August 16, 1972. 11.
33. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. August 23, 1972. 11.
34. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. August 30, 1972. 9.
35. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. September 6, 1972. 11.
36. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. September 13, 1972. 10.
37. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. September 20, 1972. 11.
38. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. September 27, 1972. 9. December 10, 2023.
39. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. October 4, 1972. 9. December 10, 2023.
40. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. October 11, 1972. 9.
41. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. October 25, 1972. 17.
42. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. November 1, 1972. 11.
43. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. November 8, 1972. 10.
44. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. November 15, 1972. 9.
45. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. November 22, 1972. 9.
46. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. November 29, 1972. 21.
47. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. December 6, 1972. 9. March 16, 2024.
48. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. December 13, 1972. 11. December 10, 2023.
49. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. December 20, 1972. 9.
50. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. December 27, 1972. 11.
51. Variety. 50 Top-Grossing Films. January 10, 1973. 9.
52. Variety. 77 Films Over $1mil In U.S.. Silverman. Syd. Syd Silverman. May 9, 1973. 44.
53. Variety. The Top 25 Films Of 1972. May 9, 1973. 44.