# List of 1972 box office number-one films in the United States

This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekly box office in the United States during 1972 per Variety. The data was based on grosses from 20 to 24 key cities and therefore, the gross quoted may not be the total that the film grossed nationally in the week.

## Number-one films

| † | This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. |
| # | Week ending | Film | Gross | Notes |
| 1 | January 5, 1972 | Diamonds Are Forever | $1,551,359 | |
| 2 | January 12, 1972 | Diamonds Are Forever | $1,717,800 | |
| 3 | January 19, 1972 | Diamonds Are Forever | $963,450 | |
| 4 | January 26, 1972 | Diamonds Are Forever | $834,600 | |
| 5 | February 2, 1972 | Diamonds Are Forever | $660,962 | |
| 6 | February 9, 1972 | The French Connection | $769,200 | The French Connection returned to number one in its 18th week on the chart |
| 7 | February 16, 1972 | The French Connection | $711,400 | |
| 8 | February 23, 1972 | Dirty Harry | $601,500 | Dirty Harry reached number one in its ninth week on the chart |
| 9 | March 1, 1972 | The Last Picture Show | $465,350 | The Last Picture Show reached number one in its 21st week on the chart |
| 10 | March 8, 1972 | The Hospital | $623,380 | The Hospital reached number one in its twelfth week on the chart |
| 11 | March 15, 1972 | Dirty Harry | $726,500 | Dirty Harry returned to number one in its twelfth week on the chart |
| 12 | March 22, 1972 | The Godfather † | $568,800 | |
| 13 | March 29, 1972 | The Godfather † | $2,698,500 | |
| 14 | April 5, 1972 | The Godfather † | $2,495,100 | |
| 15 | April 12, 1972 | The Godfather † | $2,348,100 | |
| 16 | April 19, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,978,300 | |
| 17 | April 26, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,775,800 | |
| 18 | May 3, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,574,200 | |
| 19 | May 10, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,313,600 | |
| 20 | May 17, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,164,700 | |
| 21 | May 24, 1972 | The Godfather † | $3,188,000 | First film to gross over $3 million in a week in the cities sampled |
| 22 | May 31, 1972 | The Godfather † | $2,976,600 | |
| 23 | June 7, 1972 | The Godfather † | $2,691,200 | |
| 24 | June 14, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,814,100 | |
| 25 | June 21, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,633,600 | |
| 26 | June 28, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,687,800 | |
| 27 | July 5, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,398,541 | |
| 28 | July 12, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,112,900 | |
| 29 | July 19, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,811,400 | |
| 30 | July 26, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,316,800 | |
| 31 | August 2, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,275,435 | |
| 32 | August 9, 1972 | The Godfather † | $895,500 | |
| 33 | August 16, 1972 | The Godfather † | $719,200 | |
| 34 | August 23, 1972 | The Godfather † | $610,810 | |
| 35 | August 30, 1972 | Butterflies Are Free | $678,900 | Butterflies Are Free reached number one in its eighth week on the chart |
| 36 | September 6, 1972 | The Godfather † | $1,029,900 | The Godfather returned to number one in its 25th week of release |
| 37 | September 13, 1972 | The Godfather † | $668,000 | |
| 38 | September 20, 1972 | The Godfather † | $456,150 | |
| 39 | September 27, 1972 | Super Fly | $625,500 | Super Fly reached number one in its eighth week on the chart |
| 40 | October 4, 1972 | Super Fly | $457,050 | |
| 41 | October 11, 1972 | The New Centurions | $652,550 | The New Centurions reached number one in its tenth week on the chart |
| 42 | October 18, 1972 | The New Centurions | $429,950 | |
| 43 | October 25, 1972 | Slaughter | $525,000 | Slaughter reached number one in its tenth week on the chart |
| 44 | November 1, 1972 | Deliverance | $324,720 | Deliverance reached number one in its thirteenth week on the chart |
| 45 | November 8, 1972 | The Valachi Papers | $749,000 | The Valachi Papers reached number one in its third week on the chart |
| 46 | November 15, 1972 | The Valachi Papers | $740,300 | |
| 47 | November 22, 1972 | Lady Sings the Blues | $868,300 | Lady Sings the Blues reached number one in its fifth week on the chart |
| 48 | November 29, 1972 | Lady Sings the Blues | $924,250 | |
| 49 | December 6, 1972 | Lady Sings the Blues | $581,600 | |
| 50 | December 13, 1972 | Lady Sings the Blues | $468,245 | |
| 51 | December 20, 1972 | Man of La Mancha | $365,996 | |
| 52 | December 27, 1972 | 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 | Studio | Playing weeks | Gross ($) |
| 1. | The Godfather | Paramount | 2,176 | 43,170,087 |
| 2. | Fiddler on the Roof | United Artists | 920 | 13,714,068 |
| 3. | Cabaret | Allied Artists | 1,254 | 10,869,847 |
| 4. | The French Connection | 20th Century Fox | 1,279 | 10,868,314 |
| 5. | What's Up, Doc? | Warner Bros. | 733 | 8,714,177 |
| 6. | A Clockwork Orange | Warner Bros. | 611 | 8,039,240 |
| 7. | Diamonds Are Forever | United Artists | 683 | 7,526,861 |
| 8. | The Hospital | United Artists | 953 | 6,878,594 |
| 9. | The Last Picture Show | Columbia | 911 | 6,824,005 |
| 10. | Dirty Harry | Warner Bros. | 750 | 6,392,199 |
| 11. | Super Fly | Warner Bros. | 399 | 6,279,996 |
| 12. | Butterflies Are Free | Columbia | 639 | 5,092,177 |
| 13. | Lady Sings the Blues | Paramount | 435 | 4,874,806 |
| 14. | Frenzy | Universal | 601 | 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, Sam | Paramount | 442 | 4,700,092 |
| 17. | The New Centurions | Columbia | 628 | 4,629,644 |
| 18. | Nicholas and Alexandra | Columbia | 463 | 4,311,812 |
| 19. | Deliverance | Warner 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-Mayer | 225 | 3,151,923 |
| 24. | Buck and the Preacher | Columbia | 276 | 3,089,286 |
| 25. | The Other | 20th Century Fox | 375 | 2,638,754 |