1979 in film#Highest-grossing films

{{see also|List of 1979 box office number-one films in the United States}}

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

• 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.

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

• 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

• 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

• January 1 – Vidya Balan, Indian 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 16 – Aaliyah, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
• January 24 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
• January 26 – Sara Rue, American actress
• January 28 - 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 – 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{{cite web|url=https://www.daily-sun.com/post/298191/Happy-birthday-Shakib-Khan|title=Happy birthday, Shakib Khan|date=27 March 2018|website=Daily Sun|language=en|access-date=14 January 2020}}
• 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 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{{cite web |title=James McAvoy · BIFA · British Independent Film Awards |url=https://www.bifa.film/people/james-mcavoy/ |website=BIFA · British Independent Film Awards |access-date=8 September 2022 |date=12 October 2018}}
• 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 12 – Aaron Yoo, Korean-American actor
• 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
• 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 - Busy Philipps, American actress
• June 27
• Martin Bourboulon, French film director and screenwriter{{Cite web |title=Martin Bourboulon |url=https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne_gen_cpersonne=682356.html |access-date=17 December 2023 |website=Allociné |language=fr}}
• Benjamin Speed, Australian film composer
• 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 19 – David Sakurai, Danish-Japanese actor, director and scriptwriter
• 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{{cite web |title=Evangeline Lilly |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd0fbf6ac |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107145106/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bd0fbf6ac |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 7, 2019 |website=BFI |access-date=8 January 2022 |language=en}}
• 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 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
• 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
• October 20 – 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 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
• 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 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

{{Column list|

• 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
• 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
• Christopher Fairbank – Agatha
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Emma Suárez – Memoirs of Leticia Valle
• Patrick Swayze – Skatetown, U.S.A.
• Joey Travolta – Sunnyside
• Jean-Claude Van Damme – Woman Between Wolf and Dog
• Christoph Waltz – Breakthrough
• 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

}}

{{Reflist|group=n}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{reflist|group=n}}

• [https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature,short&release_date=1979-01-01,1979-12-31&adult=include&sort=num_votes,desc List of 1979 films] at IMDb
• [https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1979/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses 1979 Domestic Grosses] at Box Office Mojo
• [https://www.imdb.com/search/name/?death_date=1979-01-01,1979-12-31&adult=include List of 1979 deaths] at IMDb
• [https://www.imdb.com/search/name/?birth_date=1979-01-01,1979-12-31&adult=include List of 1979 births] at IMDb

{{1979 films}}

{{Portal bar|Film}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1979 In Film}}

Category:Film by year