Film Collector Guides
1972 Box Office
Find a 1972 film
Largest reported total: The Godfather, $136,479,994
Reported domestic box office to date, in nominal US dollars. These are not earnings confined to calendar 1972.
81 films; missing amounts remain not reported.
No matching film. Clear the search to see all entries.
Download the full CSV 81 films, with source links and missing values preserved.
Source: The Numbers' 1972 North American release schedule. Film titles link to its individual records.
By Movie Collection · Last updated
How to read these figures4
The 1972 box office brings together crime films, comedies, musicals and disaster films. The Godfather leads the reported domestic totals in the release-schedule table above. The Poseidon Adventure and What's Up, Doc? follow. You can search the whole list, open each film's source record or download the data.
The table uses one measure throughout: reported domestic box office to date, in nominal US dollars. Later theatrical runs may contribute. It is a way to compare a defined group of films and find titles for a collection. The figures are not receipts earned only during 1972.
How to read this 1972 box office table
The source is The Numbers' North American release schedule for 1972. Every film listed there is included, even when its gross is blank. The default view puts the largest reported totals first and missing amounts last. A missing amount means the source does not report a figure in this table. It does not mean the film earned nothing.
Use the search field to find a title from a review, a seller's listing or an old cinema programme. Search does not depend on the first word: typing Getaway finds The Getaway. Clear the search to return to the full list. The title sort gives you an alphabetical catalog, while the two gross sorts change the order of known amounts. Films with no reported amount stay last in either gross sort.
The full CSV has the same film names, amounts and source links. Blank numeric cells remain blank. If you import it into a spreadsheet, keep those cells empty. Treating them as zero would change what the source says. The table and download are available without JavaScript; search and sorting use JavaScript.
The Getaway and historical rankings
The Getaway appears in this release schedule with a reported domestic total of $36,734,619. Its individual source record identifies the 1972 film. That is the film to match when you see Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw named in a review or on a disc listing.
Take care when an older article calls a film the eighth-highest grossing movie of 1972. A rank needs its original group, measure and reporting date. This table ranks the reported totals in the linked release schedule as they stand at the time of this reference. It does not establish that older calendar-year rank. A domestic total to date, a worldwide total and a distributor rental figure are different measures.
The same caution applies to a late release. A film first shown in December may earn much of its total in the next year. It still belongs to a release-schedule group for its original year. That does not move all of its later receipts into December. Keep a film's release date separate from the period covered by its gross.
From a film list to the right disc
Use the chart to choose a film, then match the physical edition separately. Start with the full title, year and principal cast. Next check the distributor, barcode, country, video format, region marking, cut, audio and subtitles. A film's box-office success cannot tell you whether a particular Blu-ray has the extras or soundtrack you want.
Our Blu-ray edition research guide explains how to compare release records. The physical-media case guide helps distinguish disc formats and packaging. If you keep a shelf list, store film facts and edition facts in separate fields. Two copies of the same film can differ in cut, playback requirements and included material.
For another release-year group, see the 1973 box office reference. Compare the measure before comparing the amounts. Neither table adjusts for ticket-price inflation, so a larger dollar total is not a direct count of admissions.
Sources and method
Film names, source links and reported amounts come from the linked North American release schedule at The Numbers, read on October 31, 2026. We retain every listed film and sort reported totals without filling missing values. The CSV includes the measure beside each film. Domestic means the source's North American market, not worldwide receipts. Totals are nominal dollars and may change when the source records later runs or corrections.
No estimate is added for an unreported film. The chart shows the five largest reported totals in this group; the table and CSV carry the full set. A dated calendar-year ranking requires a source that specifically measures that calendar period.