You know how BOM has yearly charts for all years after 1980. Well, I did some research on some years before that, and I can make out most of the movie's grosses (mostly estimated) from sources like variety, movietime, and the ultimate movie theasaurus to come up with a Yearly Chart. If you have more to add, please do, as these charts will become very interesting. Well, here they are.

1979

1 Kramer Vs. Kramer $106,260,000
2 The Amityville Horror $86,432,000
3 Rocky II $85,182,160
4 Apocalypse Now $83,471,511
5 Star Trek: The Motion Picture $82,258,456
6 Alien $80,930,630
7 10 $74,865,517
8 The Jerk $73,691,419
9 Moonraker $70,308,099
10 The Muppet Movie $65,200,000
11 The Electric Horseman $61,801,971
12 The China Syndrome $51,718,367
13 Love at First Bite $43,885,000
14 Meatballs $43,046,003
15 Escape from Alcatraz $43,000,000
16 The Main Event $42,800,000
17 Manhattan $39,946,780
18 All That Jazz $37,823,676
19 The Black Stallion $37,799,643
20 The Black Hole $35,841,901
21 Starting Over $35,649,012
22 ...And Justice for All $33,300,000
23 1941 $31,755,742
24 The Champ $30,441,738
25 Being There $30,177,511
26 The Rose $29,174,648
27 Going in Style $26,869,286
28 North Dallas Forty $26,079,312
29 The Warriors $22,490,039
30 Norma Rae $22,228,000
31 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century $21,671,241
32 When a Stranger Calls $21,411,158
33 The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again $20,931,111
34 La Cage aux Folles $20,424,259
35 Dracula (1979) $20,158,970
36 Monty Python's Life of Brian $20,045,115
37 Same Time Next Year $19,703,082
38 The Seduction of Joe Tynan $19,595,168
39 Prophecy $18,389,402
40 Breaking Away $16,424,918
41 Hair $15,284,643
42 More American Graffiti $15,014,674
43 Roller Boogie $13,253,715
44 The Great Train Robbery $13,027,857
45 The Concorde: Airport '79 $13,015,688
46 Phantasm $11,988,469
47 The Promise $11,606,005
48 The Legacy $11,364,985
49 Fiddler on the Roof (Re-issue) $10,404,330
50 The Onion Field $9,890,597
51 The Frisco Kid $9,346,177
52 Meteor $8,400,000
53 The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh $8,281,246
54 Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline $8,218,695
55 The Prisoner of Zenda $7,650,600
56 Agatha $7,500,000
57 Americathon $6,171,763
58 Running $6,012,556
59 Cuba $5,610,280
60 Butch and Sundance: The Early Days $5,136,913
61 Players $4,896,094
62 The Great Santini $4,702,575
63 Yanks $3,931,010
64 Lost and Found (1979) $3,223,197
65 Hanover Street $3,000,000
66 Voices $2,631,244
67 Wanda Nevada $2,411,145
68 Sunburn $2,410,776
69 Rich Kids $1,856,122
70 Walk Proud $1,675,040
71 Last Embrace $1,537,125
72 Goldengirl $1,247,376
73 The Passage $1,101,186
74 Winter Kills $1,083,799
75 City on Fire $784,181
76 A Man, a Woman and a Bank $683,353
77 Five Days from Home $641,768
78 Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider $444,334
79 The Human Factor $376,050
80 Real Life $364,642
81 An Almost Perfect Affair $85,493
82 Nest of Vipers $27,182


1978

1 Grease $188,389,888
2 National Lampoon's Animal House $141,600,000
3 Superman $134,218,018
4 Every Which Way But Loose $85,196,485
5 Jaws 2 $81,766,007
6 Heaven Can Wait $81,640,278
7 Hooper $78,000,000
8 Revenge of the Pink Panther $49,579,269
9 The Deer Hunter $48,979,328
10 Halloween $47,000,000
11 Foul Play $44,999,621
12 The End $44,917,151
13 Up in Smoke $44,364,244
14 California Suite $42,900,000
15 The Midnight Express $35,000,000
16 Coming Home $32,653,905
17 The Lord of the Rings (1978) $30,471,420
18 House Calls $28,460,702
19 The Cheap Detective $28,200,000
20 Damien: The Omen Part II $26,518,355
21 Invasion of the Body Snatchers $24,946,533
22 Convoy $22,765,081
23 The Wiz $21,049,053
24 F.I.S.T. $20,388,920
25 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band $20,378,470
26 The One and Only $16,928,137
27 The Greek Tycoon $14,672,713
28 Death on the Nile $14,560,084
29 The Buddy Holly Story $14,363,400
30 The Big Fix $13,062,708
31 The Other Side of the Mountain Part II $11,565,678
32 Moment by Moment $10,963,824
33 Interiors $10,432,366
34 Straight Time $9,900,000
35 Comes a Horseman $9,585,769
36 American Hot Wax $7,932,571
37 The Brink's Job $7,909,950
38 Goin' South $7,435,671
39 King of the Gypsies $7,325,177
40 Force 10 From Navarone $7,230,000
41 Paradise Alley $7,185,518
42 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan $7,092,495
43 International Velvet $7,009,238
44 Blue Collar $6,521,083
45 Pretty Baby $5,786,368
46 Gray Lady Down $5,438,927
47 Brass Target $5,011,158
48 Caravans $3,930,501
49 Days of Heaven $3,446,749
50 Our Winning Season $1,997,705
51 I Wanna Hold Your Hand $1,944,682
52 Skateboard $1,318,823
53 Uncle Joe Shannon $494,797
54 Nunzio $52,195


1977

1. Star Wars - $307,263,857
2. Smokey and the Bandit - $126,737,428
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - $116,395,460
4. Saturday Night Fever - $94,213,184
5. The Goodbye Girl - $83,700,000
6. A Bridge Too Far - $50,750,000
7. The Rescuers - $$48,775,599
8. The Deep - $47,346,365
9. The Spy Who Loved Me - $46,838,673
10. Oh, God! - $41,687,243
11. In Search of Noah's Ark - $38,530,940
12. Annie Hall - $38,251,425
13. Semi-Tough - $37,187,139
14. Pete's Dragon - $36,000,000
15. The Gauntlet - $35,400,000
16. Heroes - $33,500,000
17. Slap Shot - $28,000,000
18. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo - $28,000,000
19. High Anxiety - $31,063,000
20. Airport '77 - $30,000,000
21. The Exorcist II - $25,011,000
22. The Other Side of Midnight - $24,652,021
23. Turning Point - $25,933,445
24. Looking for Mr. Goodbar - $22,500,000
25. The World's Greatest Lover - $21,000,000
26. Julia - $20,700,000
27. The Bad News Bears Two - $19,100,000
28. For the Love of Benji - $17,700,000
29. Kingdom of Spiders - $17,000,000
30. Which Way is Up? - $17,000,000
31. New York, New York - $16,400,000
32. Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger - $16,000,000
33. Black Sunday - $15,800,000
34. Kentucky Fried Movie - $15,000,000
35. Orca - $14,717,854
36. The Sorcerer - $12,000,000


1976

1 Rocky - $117,200,000
2 To Fly - $86,700,000
3 A Star is Born - $80,000,000
4 All the Presidents Men - $70,600,000
5 The Omen - $60,900,000
6 King Kong - $52,600,000
7 Silver Streak - $51,079,000
8 The Enforcer - $46,236,000
9 Midway - $43,220,000
10 Silent Movie - $36,146,000
11 The Pink Panther Strikes Again - $33,833,000
12 Carrie - $33,800,000
13 Murder By Death - $32,500,000
14 The Bad News Bears - $32,000,000
15 The Outlaw Josey Wales - $31,800,000
16 Marathon Man - $28,200,000
17 Taxi Driver - $27,300,000
18 Freaky Friday - $25,942,000
19 Logan's Run - $25,000,000
20 Network - $23,690,000
21 Gus - $21,873,000


Those are all the available grosses (if there are movies missing from this chart, add them here, because I will be very interested in looking at them). Enjoy.

Updated with 1978.

Hey Scott, for 1979, I have:


1 Kramer Vs. Kramer $106,260,000
2 The Amityville Horror $86,432,000
3 Rocky II $85,182,160
4 Apocalypse Now $83,471,511
5 Star Trek: The Motion Picture $82,258,456
6 Alien $80,930,630
7 10 $74,865,517
8 The Jerk $73,691,419
9 Moonraker $70,308,099
10 The Muppet Movie $65,200,000
11 The Electric Horseman $61,801,971
12 The China Syndrome $51,718,367
13 Love at First Bite $43,885,000
14 Meatballs $43,046,003
15 Escape from Alcatraz $43,000,000
16 The Main Event $42,800,000
17 Manhattan $39,946,780
18 All That Jazz $37,823,676
19 The Black Stallion $37,799,643
20 The Black Hole $35,841,901
21 Starting Over $35,649,012
22 ...And Justice for All $33,300,000
23 1941 $31,755,742
24 The Champ $30,441,738
25 Being There $30,177,511
26 The Rose $29,174,648
27 Going in Style $26,869,286
28 North Dallas Forty $26,079,312
29 The Warriors $22,490,039
30 Norma Rae $22,228,000
31 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century $21,671,241
32 When a Stranger Calls $21,411,158
33 The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again $20,931,111
34 La Cage aux Folles $20,424,259
35 Dracula (1979) $20,158,970
36 Monty Python's Life of Brian $20,045,115
37 Same Time Next Year $19,703,082
38 The Seduction of Joe Tynan $19,595,168
39 Prophecy $18,389,402
40 Breaking Away $16,424,918
41 Hair $15,284,643
42 More American Graffiti $15,014,674
43 Roller Boogie $13,253,715
44 The Great Train Robbery $13,027,857
45 The Concorde: Airport '79 $13,015,688
46 Phantasm $11,988,469
47 The Promise $11,606,005
48 The Legacy $11,364,985
49 Fiddler on the Roof (Re-issue) $10,404,330
50 The Onion Field $9,890,597
51 The Frisco Kid $9,346,177
52 Meteor $8,400,000
53 The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh $8,281,246
54 Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline $8,218,695
55 The Prisoner of Zenda $7,650,600
56 Agatha $7,500,000
57 Americathon $6,171,763
58 Running $6,012,556
59 Cuba $5,610,280
60 Butch and Sundance: The Early Days $5,136,913
61 Players $4,896,094
62 The Great Santini $4,702,575
63 Yanks $3,931,010
64 Lost and Found (1979) $3,223,197
65 Hanover Street $3,000,000
66 Voices $2,631,244
67 Wanda Nevada $2,411,145
68 Sunburn $2,410,776
69 Rich Kids $1,856,122
70 Walk Proud $1,675,040
71 Last Embrace $1,537,125
72 Goldengirl $1,247,376
73 The Passage $1,101,186
74 Winter Kills $1,083,799
75 City on Fire $784,181
76 A Man, a Woman and a Bank $683,353
77 Five Days from Home $641,768
78 Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider $444,334
79 The Human Factor $376,050
80 Real Life $364,642
81 An Almost Perfect Affair $85,493
82 Nest of Vipers $27,182


And 1978:


1 Grease $188,389,888
2 National Lampoon's Animal House $141,600,000
3 Superman $134,218,018
4 Every Which Way But Loose $85,196,485
5 Jaws 2 $81,766,007
6 Heaven Can Wait $81,640,278
7 Hooper $78,000,000
8 Revenge of the Pink Panther $49,579,269
9 The Deer Hunter $48,979,328
10 Halloween $47,000,000
11 Foul Play $44,999,621
12 The End $44,917,151
13 Up in Smoke $44,364,244
14 Coming Home $32,653,905
15 The Lord of the Rings (1978) $30,471,420
16 House Calls $28,460,702
17 Damien: The Omen Part II $26,518,355
18 Invasion of the Body Snatchers $24,946,533
19 Convoy $22,765,081
20 The Wiz $21,049,053
21 F.I.S.T. $20,388,920
22 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band $20,378,470
23 The One and Only $16,928,137
24 The Greek Tycoon $14,672,713
25 Death on the Nile $14,560,084
26 The Buddy Holly Story $14,363,400
27 The Big Fix $13,062,708
28 The Other Side of the Mountain Part II $11,565,678
29 Moment by Moment $10,963,824
30 Interiors $10,432,366
31 Straight Time $9,900,000
32 Comes a Horseman $9,585,769
33 American Hot Wax $7,932,571
34 The Brink's Job $7,909,950
35 Goin' South $7,435,671
36 King of the Gypsies $7,325,177
37 Force 10 From Navarone $7,230,000
38 Paradise Alley $7,185,518
39 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan $7,092,495
40 International Velvet $7,009,238
41 Blue Collar $6,521,083
42 Pretty Baby $5,786,368
43 Gray Lady Down $5,438,927
44 Brass Target $5,011,158
45 Caravans $3,930,501
46 Days of Heaven $3,446,749
47 Midnight Express $3,350,000
48 Our Winning Season $1,997,705
49 I Wanna Hold Your Hand $1,944,682
50 Skateboard $1,318,823
51 Uncle Joe Shannon $494,797
52 Nunzio $52,195



But I'm positive a number of films are missing.

'79 was unexpected. I would have thought stuff like Alien and Moonraker made more than the top grossing film about a painful divorce. Look how the times have changed. Now the top ten rarely ever includes heavy drama. Even '78 had Loose, Heaven, and Deer Hunter in the top ten.

1977:

1. Star Wars - $307,263,857
2. Smokey and the Bandit - $126,737,428
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - $116,395,460
4. Saturday Night Fever - $94,213,184
5. The Goodbye Girl - $83,700,000
6. A Bridge Too Far - $50,750,000
7. The Rescuers - $$48,775,599
8. The Deep - $47,346,365
9. The Spy Who Loved Me - $46,838,673
10. Oh, God! - $41,687,243
11. In Search of Noah's Ark - $38,530,940
12. Annie Hall - $38,251,425
13. Semi-Tough - $37,187,139
14. Pete's Dragon - $36,000,000
15. The Gauntlet - $35,400,000
16. Heroes - $33,500,000
17. Slap Shot - $28,000,000
18. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo - $28,000,000
19. High Anxiety - $31,063,000
20. Airport '77 - $30,000,000
21. The Exorcist II - $25,011,000
22. The Other Side of Midnight - $24,652,021
23. Turning Point - $25,933,445
24. Looking for Mr. Goodbar - $22,500,000
25. The World's Greatest Lover - $21,000,000
26. Julia - $20,700,000
27. The Bad News Bears Two - $19,100,000
28. For the Love of Benji - $17,700,000
29. Kingdom of Spiders - $17,000,000
30. Which Way is Up? - $17,000,000
31. New York, New York - $16,400,000
32.Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger - $16,000,000
33. Black Sunday - $15,800,000
34. Orca - $14,717,854
35. The Sorcerer - $12,000,000

I would post more but I am too lazy.

As you can clearly see, Star Wars was super dominant this year. Nothing came close. Hell, Star Wars grossed more money than most movies did in the 80's and 90's and 00's. Star Wars was THE event and still today remains a classic.

What's Star Wars???

This is probably sarcasm. But Star Wars is a 1977 movie directed and written by George Lucas. And according to Empire UK's Top 50 Best Films (11-2001) it is the greatest movie ever made, with its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back being in second, and in 2003 it was voted as the second greatest movie. Hope that answers your question!

Thanks for that list box. But for 1978, you left out California Suite and The Cheap Detective (those grosses came from Variety). Interesting stats nethertheless.

Updated with revised 1978 chart.

I can fill in some of those gaps.

The Rescuers - $48,800,000
High Anxiety - $31,063,000
Looking for Mr. Goodbar - $22,500,000
Julia - $20,700,000
The Bad News Bears Two - $19,100,000
New York, New York - $16,400,000
Black Sunday - $15,800,000

Yeah I deleted The Rescuers when I updated it. It was on there but I wonder why I took it off? Probably when I added The Goodbye Girl. I will updated the list. Thanks for the help!

Updated with 1976's grosses.

You have to remember that many of those films were re-released,Star wars didnt pass 300mill until 2 years later.

We know, that's why the grosses are the grosses from it's initial releases, not including reissues.