1979 in film

Highest-grossing films

United States and Canada

The top ten 1979 released films by North American gross are as follows:

International

Major events

• March 2 – Buena Vista release their first film since the advent of U.S. movie ratings to not be G-rated, Take Down.
• March 5 – Production begins on The Empire Strikes Back.
• March – Frank Price becomes president of Columbia Pictures.
• May 25 – Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released.
• May 29 - Mary Pickford, a silent screen legend and Hollywood pioneer who was, at the height of her career, the most famous woman in the world, dies of a stroke.
• May 31 – The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature-length motion pictures, is released in United Kingdom.
• June 11 – John Wayne, a famous Western movie actor, dies at the age of 72 from stomach cancer.
• June 27 – 20th Century Fox Pictures president Alan Ladd Jr. and vice-presidents Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan agree to leave Fox.
• June 29 – Moonraker, the 11th film in the James Bond franchise, is released in the United States and goes on to become the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.
• August 15 – Apocalypse Now is released to worldwide critical acclaim and box office success. Heralded as one of the greatest films ever made to this day.
• September 19 – Don Bluth and a group of fellow animators resign from The Walt Disney Company's animation department to set up a rival studio, Don Bluth Productions.
• October 1 – Alan Ladd Jr., Jay Kanter and Gareth Wigan who agreed to leave Fox earlier in the year formally announce the creation of The Ladd Company.
• October 3 – producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan purchase the film rights of Batman from DC Comics. It would be another ten years, before a Batman feature film would be fully realized.
• November 1 – Production begins on Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• December 7 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture debuts in the United States to mixed reviews but blockbuster box office, launching a film franchise that leads to 9 sequels and 3 reboots over the next 37 years. It also leads to the creation of five spin-off television series based upon Gene Roddenberry's creation.
• Allied Artists files for bankruptcy.

Awards

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): :Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, United States :The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), directed by Volker Schlöndorff, W. Germany

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): :David, directed by Peter Lilienthal, West Germany

1979 films

By country/region

• List of American films of 1979
• List of Argentine films of 1979
• List of Australian films of 1979
• List of Bangladeshi films of 1979
• List of British films of 1979
• List of Canadian films of 1979
• List of French films of 1979
• List of Hong Kong films of 1979
• List of Indian films of 1979
  • List of Hindi films of 1979
  • List of Kannada films of 1979
  • List of Malayalam films of 1979
  • List of Marathi films of 1979
  • List of Tamil films of 1979
  • List of Telugu films of 1979
• List of Japanese films of 1979
• List of Mexican films of 1979
• List of Pakistani films of 1979
• List of South Korean films of 1979
• List of Soviet films of 1979
• List of Spanish films of 1979

By genre/medium

• List of action films of 1979
• List of animated feature films of 1979
• List of avant-garde films of 1979
• List of comedy films of 1979
• List of drama films of 1979
• List of horror films of 1979
• List of science fiction films of 1979
• List of thriller films of 1979
• List of western films of 1979

Births

• January 1 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
• January 2 - Erica Hubbard, American actress
• January 6 – Cristela Alonzo, American comedian, actress, writer and producer
• January 8
  • Ashraf Barhom, Israeli-Arab actor
  • Sarah Polley, Canadian actress
• January 10 - Maximilian Brückner, German actor
• January 13 - Katy Brand, English actress, comedian and writer
• January 16 – Aaliyah, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
• January 24 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
• January 25 - Christine Lakin, American actress
• January 26 – Sara Rue, American actress
• January 27 – Rosamund Pike, English actress and producer
• January 28
  • Adam Bartley, American actor
  • Angelique Cabral, American actress
• January 29 – Andrew Keegan, American actor
• February 1 – Rachelle Lefevre, Canadian actress
• February 2 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
• February 3 – Costa Ronin, Australian actor and cinematographer
• February 7 - Cerina Vincent, American actress
• February 8 - Josh Keaton, American actor and musician
• February 9 – Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and dancer
• February 11 – Brandy Norwood, American actress and singer
• February 12 - Angus Sampson, Australian actor and filmmaker
• February 13 – Mena Suvari, American actress
• February 19 - Andrew Buchan, English actor and writer
• February 21
  • Tituss Burgess, American actor and singer
  • Maryke Hendrikse, Bahamian-born Canadian voice actress
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and singer
  • Jordan Peele, American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer
• March 3
  • Bonnie Mbuli, South African actress
  • Patrick Renna, American actor
• March 5 – Riki Lindhome, American actress, comedian and musician
• March 9 – Oscar Isaac, Guatemalan-American actor
• March 10
  • Edi Gathegi, Kenyan-American actor
  • Danny Pudi, American actor
• March 12 - Rhys Coiro, American actor
• March 14 - Chris Klein, American actor
• March 17 – Stephen Kramer Glickman, Canadian actor, music producer and stand-up comedian
• March 18 – Adam Levine, American singer, songwriter, musician and actor
• March 19 - Abby Brammell, American actress
• March 20
  • Freema Agyeman, British actress
  • Bianca Lawson, American actress
• March 24 – Lake Bell, American actress, director and screenwriter
• March 25 – Lee Pace, American actor
• March 28 – Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi film actor, producer, singer, film organiser and media personalities
• March 29 – De'Angelo Wilson, American actor and rapper (d. 2008)
• March 30
  • Jose Pablo Cantillo, American actor
  • Pete Holmes, American comedian, actor, writer, producer and podcaster
• April 4
  • Bunko Kanazawa, Japanese actress
  • Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
  • Natasha Lyonne, American actress
• April 5 – Josh Boone, American filmmaker
• April 7 - Nico Santos, Filipino-American actor
• April 9 - Edward Bennett, English actor
• April 10 - Paul Fox, English actor
• April 11 – Josh Server, American actor
• April 12
  • Claire Danes, American actress
  • Jennifer Morrison, American actress, director and producer
  • Paul Nicholls, English actor
• April 15
  • Karen David, Canadian actress and singer-songwriter
  • Luke Evans, Welsh actor and singer
• April 17
  • Mylene Dinh-Robic, Canadian actress
  • Ken Duken, German actor and director
  • Tate Ellington, American actor
• April 19 – Kate Hudson, American actress
• April 21 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
• April 23 – Jaime King, American actress
• April 26 – Klára Issová, Czech actress
• April 27 - Tom Davis, English actor and comedian
• May 5 – Vincent Kartheiser, American actor
• May 6 - Kerry Ellis, English actress and singer
• May 7 – Yōsuke Kubozuka, Japanese actor
• May 9 – Rosario Dawson, American actress
• May 11 - Mary Elizabeth Ellis, American actress
• May 12 – Aaron Yoo, Korean-American actor
• May 17 - Lyne Renée, Belgian actress
• May 19 – Bérénice Marlohe, French actress
• May 20 - Jana Pallaske, German actress and singer
• May 22 – Maggie Q, American actress
• May 23 – Josh Cooley, American animator, screenwriter, director and voice actor
• May 24 - Panos Mouzourakis, Greek singer-songwriter and actor
• May 25 - Corbin Allred, American actor
• May 28
  • Jesse Bradford, American actor
  • Monica Keena, American actress
• May 30
  • Jenny Mollen, American actress and writer
  • Tadhg Murphy, Irish actor
• June 2
  • Morena Baccarin, Brazilian actress
  • James Ransone, American actor (d. 2025)
• June 7 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
• June 12 - Wil Horneff, American former child actor
• June 17 – Young Maylay, American rapper, producer and voice actor
• June 20 - Sarah Stiles, American singer and actress
• June 21 – Chris Pratt, American actor
• June 24 – Mindy Kaling, American writer and actress
• June 25
  • Hong Chau, American actress
  • Busy Philipps, American actress
• June 27
  • Martin Bourboulon, French film director and screenwriter
  • Benjamin Speed, Australian film composer
• June 28 - Elaine Tan, English actress
• June 30 - Rick Gonzalez, American actor and musician
• July 3 – Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
• July 5 – Eva Maria Daniels, Icelandic film producer (d. 2023)
• July 6
  • Kevin Hart, American actor
  • Abdul Salis, British actor
• July 7 - Benjamin Mitchell, New Zealand actor
• July 10 – Gong Yoo, South Korean actor
• July 12 – Omid Abtahi, Iranian-American actor
• July 14 – Scott Porter, American actor
• July 16
  • Jayma Mays, American actress
  • Gerard Monaco, British actor
• July 17 – Mike Vogel, American actor and former model
• July 18 = Jason Weaver, American actor and singer
• July 19 – David Sakurai, Danish-Japanese actor, director and scriptwriter
• July 24 - Rose Byrne, Australian actress
• July 25 - Juan Pablo Di Pace, Argentine actor, director, singer and musician
• July 26 - Mageina Tovah, American actress
• July 30 - Lucas Babin, American actor
• July 31
  • Dana Gourrier, American actress
  • B. J. Novak, American writer and actor
• August 1 – Jason Momoa, American actor and filmmaker
• August 3 – Evangeline Lilly, Canadian actress
• August 6 – Dayahang Rai, Nepalese actor
• August 10 – JoAnna Garcia Swisher, American actress
• August 12 - Keith Powell, American actor, writer and director
• August 13 - Kasia Smutniak, Polish-Italian actress and model
• August 14 - Jamie Parker, English actor and singer
• August 21 - Kevin Janssens, Belgian actor
• August 22 – Brandon Adams, American actor
• August 23 – Claire Grant, American actress, model and producer
• August 24 – Fabienne Carat, French actress and singer
• August 25 – Şebnem Bozoklu, Turkish actress
• August 26 – Erik Valdez, American actor
• August 27 – Aaron Paul, American actor
• August 28 - Melody Kay, American actress
• August 29 – Dan Harris, American screenwriter and director
• August 31 – Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian film composer
• September 1 - Camille Chen, American actress
• September 4 - Max Greenfield, American actor
• September 8 – Pink, American singer and actress
• September 11
  • Ariana Richards, American actress
  • Cameron Richardson, American actress and producer
  • Hu Ting-ting, English-born Taiwanese actress
• September 17
  • Neill Blomkamp, South African and Canadian director and screenwriter
  • Kat Coiro, American director
  • Billy Miller, American actor (d. 2023)
• September 18 – Alison Lohman, American former actress
• September 19 – Noémie Lenoir, French model and actress
• September 20 – Chris Tardio, American actor
• September 22 – MyAnna Buring, Swedish-born British actress
• September 23 – Lisa Loven Kongsli, Norwegian actress
• September 25 - Stephen Rider, American actor
• September 26
  • Mark Famiglietti, American actor, screenwriter and producer
  • Susanne Wuest, Austrian actress
• September 27 – Jad Saxton, American voice actress
  • Alicyn Packard, American actress, singer, and writer
• September 30 – Jonathan Kasdan, American screenwriter, director, producer and actor
• October 1 – Marielle Heller, American film director
• October 4
  • Caitríona Balfe, Irish actress
  • Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
• October 6 – Sareh Bayat, Iranian actress
• October 7
  • Tang Wei, Chinese actress
  • Aaron Ashmore and Shawn Ashmore, Canadian actors
• October 8 – Kristanna Loken, American actress
• October 9
  • Alex Greenwald, American musician and actor
  • Chris O'Dowd, Irish actor and comedian
  • Brandon Routh, American actor
  • Zachary Ty Bran, American actor
• October 20
  • Nargis Fakhri, American actress
  • John Krasinski, American actor and filmmaker
• October 22 - Tony Denman, American actor
• October 28 – Natina Reed, American singer-songwriter, rapper and actress (d. 2012)
• October 29 – Maya Karin, Malaysian actress
• October 30 - James A. Woods, Canadian actor
• October 31 – Erica Cerra, Canadian actress
• November 2 - Jon M. Chu, American director, producer and screenwriter
• November 5 - Leonardo Nam, Australian actor
• November 8 – Dania Ramirez, Dominican actress
• November 9
  • Cory Hardrict, American actor
  • Matt McCarthy, American comedian, actor and writer
• November 13 – Riccardo Scamarcio, Italian actor and producer
• November 14 – Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian-French actress
• November 19 – Barry Jenkins, American film director
• November 20 - Jacob Pitts, American actor
• November 22
  • Andrew Knott, British actor
  • Leeanna Walsman, Australian actress
• November 23 – Jonathan Sadowski, American actor
• November 25
  • Jerry Ferrara, American actor
  • Joel Kinnaman, Swedish-American actor
• November 28 – Daniel Henney, American actor and model
• November 29 - Timo Vuorensola, Finnish director, singer and actor
• November 30 - Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Irish actress
• December 3 – Tiffany Haddish, American comedian and actress
• December 5 – Nick Stahl, American actor
• December 7
  • Eric Bauza, Canadian-born American voice actor, stand-up comedian and animation artist
  • Sara Bareilles, American actress and singer
• December 11 – Rider Strong, American actor
• December 15 – Adam Brody, American actor, writer, musician and producer
• December 17 - Lil Rel Howery, American actor and comedian
• December 19 - Tara Summers, English actress
• December 20 - Ramón Rodríguez, Puerto Rican actor
• December 21 - Daniel Brocklebank, British actor
• December 23 – Summer Altice, American model and actress
• December 26 – Chris Daughtry, American actor and singer
• December 28
  • André Holland, American actor
  • Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress
• December 29 – Diego Luna, Mexican actor, director and producer

Deaths

Film debuts

• Sam Anderson – The Swap
• Rosanna Arquette – More American Graffiti
• Jean-Pierre Bacri – The Medic
• G. W. Bailey – A Force of One
• Talia Balsam – Sunnyside
• Tobin Bell – Manhattan
• Lorraine Bracco – Duos sur canapé
• David Bradley – The Frisco Kid
• Patrick Bruel – Le coup de sirocco
• Grand L. Bush – Hair
• Yancy Butler – Savage Weekend
• Gordon Clapp – Running
• Frances Conroy – Manhattan
• Matt Craven – Meatballs
• Denise Crosby – 10
• Ted Danson – The Onion Field
• Jean-Pierre Darroussin – Coup de tête
• Keith David – Disco Godfather
• David DeLuise – Hot Stuff
• Matt Dillon – Over the Edge
• Lisa Eichhorn – The Europeans
• Cary Elwes – Yesterday's Hero
• Giancarlo Esposito – Running
• Craig Fairbrass – Scum
• Christopher Fairbank – Agatha
• Jim Fitzpatrick – Glory Days
• Danny Glover – Escape from Alcatraz
• Erin Gray – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Bruce Greenwood – Bear Island
• Linda Hamilton – Night Flowers
• Melora Hardin – The North Avenue Irregulars
• Dennis Haysbert – Scoring
• Stephen McKinley Henderson – A Pleasure Doing Business
• James Horner (film composer) – The Lady in Red
• Anna Maria Horsford – An Almost Perfect Affair
• Gary Hudson – Skatetown, U.S.A.
• Hawthorne James – Disco Godfather
• Lucinda Jenney – Impostors
• Michael Jeter – Hair
• Sam J. Jones – 10
• David Keith – The Great Santini
• David Patrick Kelly – The Warriors
• Wayne Knight – The Wanderers
• Christine Lahti – ...And Justice for All
• Laurene Landon – Bitter Heritage
• Diane Lane – A Little Romance
• Fredric Lehne – Being There
• Eugene Lipinski – Hanover Street
• Carl Lumbly – Escape from Alcatraz
• Tzi Ma – Cocaine Cowboys
• Hayao Miyazaki (director) – The Castle of Cagliostro
• Bill Nighy – The Bitch
• Will Patton – Minus Zero
• David Paymer – The In-Laws
• Elizabeth Peña – El Super
• Chris Penn – Charlie and the Talking Buzzard
• Rhea Perlman – Swap Meet
• Clarke Peters – The Music Machine
• CCH Pounder – All That Jazz
• Mickey Rourke – 1941
• Zelda Rubinstein – Americathon
• Jay O. Sanders – Starting Over
• Al Sapienza – Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula
• Raynor Scheine – Something Short of Paradise
• Wallace Shawn – Manhattan
• Martin Short – Lost and Found
• J. Smith-Cameron – Gal Young Un
• Timothy Spall – Quadrophenia
• Vincent Spano – Over the Edge
• Mike Starr – Squeeze Play!
• Daniel Stern – Breaking Away
• Ewan Stewart – That Summer!
• Emma Suárez – Memoirs of Leticia Valle
• Patrick Swayze – Skatetown, U.S.A.
• R. H. Thomson – Jigsaw
• Joey Travolta – Sunnyside
• Jean-Claude Van Damme – Woman Between Wolf and Dog
• Christoph Waltz – Breakthrough
• Timothy Webber – The Prize Fighter
• Peter Weller – Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
• Joanne Whalley – Birth of the Beatles
• JoBeth Williams – Kramer vs. Kramer
• Mykelti Williamson – Sunnyside
• Michael Wincott – Title Shot
• Ray Winstone – That Summer!
• Michael Wright – The Wanderers
• Daniel Zacapa – Boulevard Nights

Notes

References

References

1. "Box Office Information for ''Kramer vs. Kramer''".
2. "Box Office Information for The Amityville Horror".
3. "Box Office Information for ''Rocky II''".
4. "Box Office Information for ''Apocalypse Now''".
5. "Box Office Information for ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''".
6. "Box Office Information for ''Alien''".
7. The Numbers]]. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
8. "Box Office Information for ''10''".
9. "Box Office Information for ''The Jerk''".
10. "Box Office Information for ''Moonraker''".
11. 王伟杰. (January 2018). "冲突与引导：文化资源开发中的价值选择". [[Social Sciences Literature Press]].
12. "Les Entrees en France (1979)".
13. "Top 100 Deutschland 1979".
14. (20 October 2013). "Box Office 1979".
15. (1979). "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (8.1258 INR per USD)". [[University of British Columbia]].
16. "Les Entrees en Italie: 1979".
17. "FEATURE: Japanese Anime Magazine Retrospective: "Animage" in August 1979".
18. (August 4, 1979). "Currency converter in the past with official exchange rates from 1953".
19. "«Месть и закон» (Sholay, 1975)".
20. [https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/podzim2015/FAV291/um/Roth-Ey-Moscow_Prime_Time.pdf#page=7 ''Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War'', page 48], [[Cornell University Press]], 2011
21. "Estadística por recaudacion de peliculas extranjeras durante 1979".
22. (1979). "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (0.47218 GBP per USD)". [[University of British Columbia]].
23. (28 November 2004). "The Ultimate Chart: 1–100". [[British Film Institute]].
24. (1979). "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (0.47218 GBP per USD)". [[University of British Columbia]].
25. (27 March 2018). "Happy birthday, Shakib Khan".
26. (12 October 2018). "James McAvoy · BIFA · British Independent Film Awards".
27. "Martin Bourboulon".
28. "Evangeline Lilly".