This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1972.
Number-one films †This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. Week ending Film Gross Notes 1 Diamonds Are Forever$1,551,359 2 $1,717,800 3 $963,450 4 $834,600 5 $660,962 6 The French Connection $769,200 The French Connection returned to number one in its 18th week on the chart 7 $711,400 8 Dirty Harry $601,500Dirty Harry reached number one in its ninth week on the chart 9 The Last Picture Show $465,350The Last Picture Show reached number one in its 21st week on the chart 10 The Hospital $623,380The Hospital reached number one in its twelfth week on the chart 11 Dirty Harry $726,500Dirty Harry returned to number one in its twelfth week on the chart 12 The Godfather † $568,800 13 $2,698,500 14 $2,495,100 15 $2,348,100 16 $1,978,300 17 $1,775,800 18 $1,574,200 19 $1,313,600 20 $1,164,700 21 $3,188,000First film to gross over $3 million in a week in the cities sampled 22 $2,976,600 23 $2,691,200 24 $1,814,100 25 $1,633,600 26 $1,687,800 27 $1,398,541 28 $1,112,900 29 $1,811,400 30 $1,316,800 31 $1,275,435 32 $895,500 33 $719,200 34 $610,810 35 Butterflies Are Free $678,900 Butterflies Are Free reached number one in its eighth week on the chart 36 The Godfather † $1,029,900 The Godfather returned to number one in its 25th week of release 37 $668,000 38 $456,150 39 Super Fly $625,500 Super Fly reached number one in its eighth week on the chart 40 $457,050 41 The New Centurions $652,550 The New Centurions reached number one in its tenth week on the chart 42 $429,950 43 Slaughter$525,000Slaughter reached number one in its tenth week on the chart 44 Deliverance $324,720Deliverance reached number one in its thirteenth week on the chart 45 The Valachi Papers $749,000The Valachi Papers reached number one in its third week on the chart 46 $740,300 47 Lady Sings the Blues $868,300Lady Sings the Blues reached number one in its fifth week on the chart 48 $924,250 49 $581,600 50 $468,245 51 Man of La Mancha $365,996 52 The Poseidon Adventure $777,700 The Poseidon Adventure reached number one in its second week of release
Highest-grossing films Highest-grossing films of 1972 by calendar year gross based on the cities covered by Variety for the weekly charts. Rank Title StudioPlaying weeks Gross ($)1.The GodfatherParamount2,17643,170,0872.Fiddler on the RoofUnited Artists920 13,714,068 3. CabaretAllied Artists1,254 10,869,847 4.The French Connection 20th Century Fox1,27910,868,314 5.What's Up, Doc? Warner Bros.733 8,714,177 6.A Clockwork Orange Warner Bros.611 8,039,240 7.Diamonds Are ForeverUnited Artists683 7,526,861 8.The HospitalUnited Artists953 6,878,594 9.The Last Picture ShowColumbia911 6,824,005 10.Dirty HarryWarner Bros.750 6,392,199 11.Super FlyWarner Bros.399 6,279,996 12.Butterflies Are FreeColumbia 639 5,092,177 13.Lady Sings the BluesParamount435 4,874,806 14.FrenzyUniversal601 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, SamParamount 442 4,700,092 17.The New CenturionsColumbia 628 4,629,644 18.Nicholas and AlexandraColumbia 463 4,311,812 19.DeliveranceWarner Bros. 265 4,048,073 20.The Valachi Papers Columbia 272 3,713,719 21.Fritz the Cat Cinemation 388 3,683,108 22.Midnight Cowboy United Artists 10 3,335,739 23.Shaft's Big Score Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer225 3,151,923 24.Buck and the Preacher Columbia 276 3,089,286 25.Conquest of the Planet of the Apes20th Century Fox375 2,638,754
See also List of American films — American films by year Lists of box office number-one films
Notes
References
Chronology