This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekend box office in the United States during 1981.
Number-one films Week ending Film Gross Notes 1 9 to 5 $7,111,919 2 $6,388,982 3 $6,014,902 4 Stir CrazyTBD 5 The Incredible Shrinking Woman $4,279,264 6 Fort Apache, The Bronx $4,565,000 7 $4,000,000 8 TBD 9 TBD 10 TBD 11 Back Roads $3,046,339 12 Omen III: The Final Conflict $5,571,675 13 TBD 14 Hardly Working $4,160,193 15 Star Wars (reissue) $6,549,751 16 $4,564,616 17 Excalibur $3,144,818 18 Friday the 13th Part 2 $6,420,784 19 TBD 20 Happy Birthday to Me $3,712,597 21 4-day weekend Bustin' Loose $6,622,753 22 The Four Seasons $4,355,238 23 Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams $8,153,738 24 Raiders of the Lost Ark $8,305,823 25 Superman II $14,100,523 Superman II had the highest weekend debut of all-time beating the record of $11.9 million set by Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 26 $10,765,687Superman II becomes the first film to have more than one weekend with a gross over $10 million. 27 $10,905,892 28 $6,745,678 29 Raiders of the Lost Ark $6,450,189Raiders of the Lost Ark reclaimed number 1 in its sixth weekend of release. 30 Tarzan, the Ape Man $6,700,809 31 The Empire Strikes Back (reissue) $7,001,282 32 Raiders of the Lost Ark $4,046,228 Raiders of the Lost Ark reclaimed number 1 in its ninth weekend of release. 33 $5,157,432 34 $4,183,784 35 $3,909,879 36 4-day weekend $5,406,403 37 Arthur $3,002,255 38 Continental Divide $3,218,347 39 Mommie Dearest $4,667,761 40 Paternity $3,610,147 41 $3,227,174 42 $2,442,503 43 The French Lieutenant's WomanTBD 44 Halloween II $7,676,836 45 Time Bandits $6,507,356 46 $5,336,032 47 $3,700,000 48 $5,000,000 49 Raiders of the Lost Ark $2,441,000Raiders of the Lost Ark reclaimed number 1 in its 26th weekend of release. 50 Rollover $2,260,889 51 Neighbors $6,481,386 52 $5,821,835
Highest-grossing films The top ten films released in 1981 by box office gross in the United States and Canada are as follows: + Highest-grossing films of 1981 based on year of release Rank Title Distributor Domestic gross 1 Raiders of the Lost Ark Paramount $212,222,025 2 On Golden Pond Universal $119,285,432 3 Superman IIWarner Bros. $108,185,706 4 Arthur $95,461,682 5 Stripes Columbia $85,297,000 6 The Cannonball Run 20th Century Fox $72,179,579 7 Chariots of Fire Warner Bros. $58,972,904 8 For Your Eyes Only United Artists $54,812,802 9 The Four Seasons Universal $50,427,646 10 Time Bandits Embassy $42,365,581
See also List of American films — American films by year Lists of box office number-one films
Notes
References
External links Domestic Box Office Weekends For 1981 (Box Office Mojo) Theatrical Weekly Box Office Chart Calendar for 1981 (The Numbers)
Chronology