84 English films of 1961 ranked by box office. #1: West Side Story ($44.1 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Side Story | Robert Wise | $6 million | $44.1 million | 7.35x | |
| 2 | The Guns of Navarone | J. Lee Thompson | $6 million | $28.9 million | 4.82x | |
| 3 | El Cid | Anthony Mann | $7 million | $26.6 million | 3.80x | |
| 4 | The Absent-Minded Professor | Robert Stevenson | $2 million | $25.3 million | 12.65x | |
| 5 | The Parent Trap | David Swift | $25.1 million | |||
| 6 | Judgment at Nuremberg | Stanley Kramer | $3 million | $16 million | 5.33x | |
| 7 | Breakfast at Tiffany's | Blake Edwards | $2.5 million | $14 million | 5.60x | |
| 8 | King of Kings | Nicholas Ray | $7 million | $13.4 million | 1.91x | |
| 9 | Return to Peyton Place | José Ferrer | $1.8 million | $10 million | 5.60x | |
| 10 | Wings of Chance | Eddie Dew | $200,000 | $9 million | 45.00x | |
| 11 | The Hustler | Robert Rossen | $2.1 million | $7.6 million | 3.62x | |
| 11 | Lover Come Back | Delbert Mann | $7.6 million | |||
| 13 | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | Irwin Allen | $1.6 million | $7 million | 4.43x | |
| 14 | The Naked Edge | Michael Anderson | $6 million | |||
| 15 | Come September | Robert Mulligan | $5.8 million | |||
| 16 | Five Minutes to Live | Bill Karn | $300,000 | $5.7 million | 18.85x | |
| 17 | Pocketful of Miracles | Frank Capra | $2.9 million | $5 million | 1.72x | |
| 17 | Flower Drum Song | Henry Koster | $4 million | $5 million | 1.25x | |
| 19 | Babes in Toyland | Jack Donohue | $3 million | $4.6 million | 1.53x | |
| 20 | The Devil at 4 O'Clock | Mervyn LeRoy | $5.7 million | $4.5 million | 0.80x | |
| 21 | Fanny | Joshua Logan | $4.5 million | |||
| 22 | One-Eyed Jacks | Marlon Brando | $6 million | $4.3 million | 0.72x | |
| 23 | Parrish | Delmer Daves | $1.5 million | $4.2 million | 2.80x | |
| 23 | Blue Hawaii | Norman Taurog | $2 million | $4.2 million | 2.10x | |
| 25 | The Misfits | John Huston | $4 million | $4.1 million | 1.03x | |
| 26 | One, Two, Three | Billy Wilder | $3 million | $4 million | 1.33x | |
| 26 | Splendor in the Grass | Elia Kazan | $4 million | |||
| 28 | Claudelle Inglish | Gordon Douglas | $3.5 million | |||
| 28 | Back Street | David Miller | $3.5 million | |||
| 28 | Bachelor in Paradise | Jack Arnold | $2 million | $3.5 million | 1.76x | |
| 28 | The Comancheros | Michael Curtiz | $4.3 million | $3.5 million | 0.82x | |
| 32 | The Pleasure of His Company | George Seaton | $3.1 million | |||
| 33 | The Children's Hour | William Wyler | $3.6 million | $3 million | 0.83x | |
| 33 | The Errand Boy | Jerry Lewis | $3 million | |||
| 35 | Barabbas | Richard Fleischer | $2.9 million | |||
| 36 | Wild in the Country | Philip Dunne | $3 million | $2.5 million | 0.84x | |
| 36 | Susan Slade | Delmer Daves | $2.5 million | |||
| 36 | Tammy Tell Me True | Harry Keller | $2.5 million | |||
| 39 | Mothra | Ishirō Honda | ¥200 million | $2.2 million | ||
| 40 | All in a Night's Work | Joseph Anthony | $2.2 million | |||
| 40 | Gidget Goes Hawaiian | Paul Wendkos | $2.2 million | |||
| 42 | Nikki, Wild Dog of the North | Jack Couffer | $2.1 million | |||
| 43 | The Honeymoon Machine | Richard Thorpe | $2 million | |||
| 43 | By Love Possessed | John Sturges | $2 million | |||
| 43 | The Pit and the Pendulum | Roger Corman | $300,000 | $2 million | 6.67x | |
| 43 | A Majority of One | Mervyn LeRoy | $2 million | |||
| 47 | Francis of Assisi | Michael Curtiz | $2 million | $1.8 million | 0.89x | |
| 47 | Cry for Happy | George Marshall | $1.8 million | |||
| 49 | The Young Savages | John Frankenheimer | $1.8 million | |||
| 50 | Master of the World | William Witney | $1.7 million | |||
| 51 | On the Double | Melville Shavelson | $1.6 million | |||
| 52 | Two Rode Together | John Ford | $1.6 million | |||
| 52 | Goodbye Again | Anatole Litvak | $1.6 million | |||
| 52 | Homicidal | William Castle | $1.6 million | |||
| 52 | Snow White and the Three Stooges | Frank Tashlin | $3.5 million | $1.6 million | 0.46x | |
| 56 | Gorgo | Eugène Lourié | $650,000 | $1.6 million | 2.38x | |
| 57 | Atlantis, the Lost Continent | George Pal | $1.5 million | |||
| 57 | Ada | Daniel Mann | $1.5 million | |||
| 57 | The Mask | Julian Roffman | $287,000 | $1.5 million | 5.23x | |
| 57 | All Hands on Deck | Norman Taurog | $1.1 million | $1.5 million | 1.35x | |
| 57 | The Young Doctors | Phil Karlson | $1 million | $1.5 million | 1.50x | |
| 62 | Bachelor Flat | Frank Tashlin | $1.5 million | $1.4 million | 0.93x | |
| 62 | Twist Around the Clock | Oscar Rudolph | $1.4 million | |||
| 62 | Greyfriars Bobby | Don Chaffey | $1.4 million | |||
| 65 | The Last Time I Saw Archie | Jack Webb | $1.4 million | |||
| 66 | A Raisin in the Sun | Daniel Petrie | $1.5 million | $1.3 million | 0.87x | |
| 66 | The Hoodlum Priest | Irvin Kershner | $1.3 million | |||
| 66 | The Marriage-Go-Round | Walter Lang | $3 million | $1.3 million | 0.43x | |
| 69 | Town Without Pity | Gottfried Reinhardt | $1.2 million | |||
| 69 | The Innocents | Jack Clayton | £430,000 | $1.2 million | ||
| 71 | Sail a Crooked Ship | Irving Brecher | $1.1 million | |||
| 72 | Paris Blues | Martin Ritt | $1.1 million | |||
| 72 | The Tartars | Richard Thorpe | $1.1 million | |||
| 74 | Two Loves | Charles Walters | $2 million | $1 million | 0.50x | |
| 74 | The Thief of Bagdad | Arthur Lubin | $1 million | |||
| 74 | A Thunder of Drums | Joseph M. Newman | $1 million | $1 million | 1.00x | |
| 74 | Hey, Let's Twist! | Greg Garrison | $300,000 | $1 million | 3.33x | |
| 78 | The Green Helmet | Michael Forlong | $378,000 | $950,000 | 2.51x | |
| 79 | Taste of Fear | Seth Holt | $800,000 | |||
| 79 | Reptilicus | Sidney W. Pink | $233,000 | $800,000 | 3.43x | |
| 81 | The Exiles | Kent Mackenzie | $26,517 | |||
| The Wonders of Aladdin | Henry Levin | $1.8 million | £157 million | |||
| The Best of Enemies | Guy Hamilton | £1.1 million | ||||
| The Young Ones | Sidney J. Furie | £230,000 | £750,000 | 3.26x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.