# List of 1978 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 1978 per Variety. The data was based on grosses from 20 to 22 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 4, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $4,435,990 | |
| 2 | January 11, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $3,377,392 | |
| 3 | January 18, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $2,274,682 | |
| 4 | January 25, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $1,622,296 | |
| 5 | February 1, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $1,774,208 | |
| 6 | February 8, 1978 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | $1,489,164 | |
| 7 | February 15, 1978 | The Betsy | $1,339,400 | The Betsy grossed $2,727,084 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 12, an opening record for Allied Artists |
| 8 | February 22, 1978 | Saturday Night Fever | $1,605,673 | Saturday Night Fever reached number one in its tenth week on the chart |
| 9 | March 1, 1978 | Saturday Night Fever | $2,171,501 | Saturday Night Fever grossed $3,765,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended February 26 |
| 10 | March 8, 1978 | Saturday Night Fever | $1,687,869 | |
| 11 | March 15, 1978 | Saturday Night Fever | $1,398,108 | |
| 12 | March 22, 1978 | Saturday Night Fever | $1,207,132 | |
| 13 | March 29, 1978 | The Fury | $1,444,416 | The Fury reached number one in its second week of release grossing $2,777,291 nationally for the weekend ended March 26 |
| 14 | April 5, 1978 | The Fury | $1,257,159 | |
| 15 | April 12, 1978 | The Goodbye Girl | $969,830 | The Goodbye Girl reached number one in its 19th week on the chart |
| 16 | April 19, 1978 | The Goodbye Girl | $788,848 | |
| 17 | April 26, 1978 | House Calls | $949,285 | House Calls reached number one in its sixth week on the chart |
| 18 | May 3, 1978 | House Calls | $818,620 | |
| 19 | May 10, 1978 | F.I.S.T. | $724,367 | F.I.S.T. reached number one in its second week of release |
| 20 | May 17, 1978 | The Greek Tycoon | $677,300 | |
| 21 | May 24, 1978 | The Greek Tycoon | $981,908 | |
| 22 | May 31, 1978 | American Graffiti (reissue) | $1,361,800 | |
| 23 | June 7, 1978 | Capricorn One | $1,411,600 | |
| 24 | June 14, 1978 | Damien: Omen II | $2,216,400 | Damien: Omen II grossed $3,880,880 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 11 |
| 25 | June 21, 1978 | Jaws 2 | $4,038,800 | Jaws 2 grossed $9.9 million nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 18, an opening weekend record |
| 26 | June 28, 1978 | Grease † | $4,174,082 | Grease reached number one in its second week of release, grossing $7,867,000 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended June 25 |
| 27 | July 5, 1978 | Grease † | $3,518,287 | |
| 28 | July 12, 1978 | Grease † | $2,443,707 | |
| 29 | July 19, 1978 | Grease † | $2,129,200 | |
| 30 | July 26, 1978 | Grease † | $1,977,551 | Star Wars (reissue) placed third on the chart from 166 theaters but grossed $10,166,366 nationally from 1,750 theaters in the weekend ended July 23, beating the weekend record set by Jaws 2 |
| 31 | August 2, 1978 | Star Wars (reissue) | $1,891,255 | Star Wars grossed $6,501,185 nationally in the weekend ended July 30 |
| 32 | August 9, 1978 | Hooper | $2,476,400 | Hooper reached number one in its third week of release. Its nationwide gross for the week was $9,437,484. |
| 33 | August 16, 1978 | Hooper | $1,988,915 | |
| 34 | August 23, 1978 | Hooper | $1,747,842 | |
| 35 | August 30, 1978 | Animal House | $2,022,990 | Animal House reached number one in its fifth week on the chart |
| 36 | September 6, 1978 | Animal House | $2,103,917 | |
| 37 | September 13, 1978 | Animal House | $1,557,835 | |
| 38 | September 20, 1978 | Animal House | $1,251,100 | |
| 39 | September 27, 1978 | Animal House | $1,085,881 | |
| 40 | October 4, 1978 | Up in Smoke | $1,109,000 | Up in Smoke reached number one in its second week of release |
| 41 | October 11, 1978 | Animal House | $1,868,567 | Animal House returned to number one in its eleventh week of release |
| 42 | October 18, 1978 | Animal House | $1,337,828 | |
| 43 | October 25, 1978 | Animal House | $1,298,347 | |
| 44 | November 1, 1978 | Midnight Express | $1,300,711 | Midnight Express reached number one in its fourth week of release |
| 45 | November 8, 1978 | Up in Smoke | $1,443,320 | Up in Smoke returned to number one in its seventh week of release. |
| 46 | November 15, 1978 | Magic | $1,376,000 | |
| 47 | November 22, 1978 | Magic | $1,177,317 | |
| 48 | November 29, 1978 | Midnight Express | $993,743 | Midnight Express returned to number one in its eighth week of release |
| 49 | December 6, 1978 | Midnight Express | $746,543 | |
| 50 | December 13, 1978 | Midnight Express | $590,763 | |
| 51 | December 20, 1978 | Superman | $3,685,756 | Superman grossed $7,465,343 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 17, beating King Kong's December opening record |
| 52 | December 27, 1978 | Superman | $4,171,899 | Superman grossed $6,535,784 nationally from all markets in the weekend ended December 24 |

## Highest grossing films

| Rank | Title | Distributor | Rental |
| 1 | Grease | Paramount Pictures | $83,091,000 |
| 2 | Saturday Night Fever | Paramount Pictures | $71,463,000 |
| 3 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Columbia Pictures | $54,000,000 |
| 4 | Animal House | Universal Pictures | $52,368,000 |
| 5 | Jaws 2 | Universal Pictures | $49,299,000 |
| 6 | Heaven Can Wait | Paramount Pictures | $42,517,000 |
| 7 | The Goodbye Girl | Warner Bros. | $41,000,000 |
| 8 | Star Wars (reissue) | 20th Century Fox | $38,375,000 |
| 9 | Hooper | Warner Bros. | $31,500,000 |
| 10 | Foul Play | Paramount Pictures | $25,065,000 |