100 English films of 1978 ranked by box office. #1: Grease ($396.3 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grease | Randal Kleiser | $6 million | $396.3 million | 66.05x | |
| 2 | Superman | Richard Donner | $55 million | $300 million | 5.45x | |
| 3 | Jaws 2 | Jeannot Szwarc | $30 million | $208.9 million | 6.96x | |
| 4 | Animal House | John Landis | $3 million | $141.6 million | 47.20x | |
| 5 | Every Which Way but Loose | James Fargo | $5 million | $104.3 million | 20.86x | |
| 6 | Up in Smoke | Tommy Chong | $2 million | $104 million | 52.00x | |
| 7 | Heaven Can Wait | Warren Beatty | $6 million | $98.8 million | 16.47x | |
| 8 | Hooper | Hal Needham | $6 million | $78 million | 13.00x | |
| 9 | Halloween | John Carpenter | $325,000 | $70 million | 215.38x | |
| 10 | Dawn of the Dead | George A. Romero | $650,000 | $66 million | 101.54x | |
| 11 | An Unmarried Woman | Paul Mazursky | $2.5 million | $62.5 million | 25.00x | |
| 12 | Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? | Ted Kotcheff | $7 million | $55.8 million | 7.97x | |
| 13 | Coma | Michael Crichton | $4 million | $50 million | 12.50x | |
| 13 | Game of Death | Sammo Hung | $850,000 | $50 million | 58.82x | |
| 15 | Revenge of the Pink Panther | Blake Edwards | $12 million | $49.5 million | 4.13x | |
| 16 | The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino | $15 million | $49 million | 3.27x | |
| 17 | Convoy | James Coburn | $12 million | $45 million | 3.75x | |
| 17 | Foul Play | Colin Higgins | $5 million | $45 million | 9.00x | |
| 19 | The End | Burt Reynolds | $3 million | $44.9 million | 14.97x | |
| 20 | California Suite | Herbert Ross | $42.9 million | |||
| 21 | Corvette Summer | Matthew Robbins | $1.7 million | $36 million | 21.18x | |
| 22 | Damien: Omen II | Don Taylor | $6.8 million | $35.1 million | 5.16x | |
| 23 | Midnight Express | Alan Parker | $2.3 million | $35 million | 15.22x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death | John Alan Schwartz | $450,000 | $35 million | 77.78x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death II | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death III | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 23 | The Worst of Faces of Death | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death IV | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death V | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 23 | Faces of Death VI | John Alan Schwartz | $67,000 | $35 million | 522.39x | |
| 31 | Coming Home | Hal Ashby | $3 million | $32.7 million | 10.90x | |
| 32 | FM | John A. Alonzo | $2 million | $32.6 million | 16.30x | |
| 33 | House Calls | Howard Zieff | $6.5 million | $29 million | 4.46x | |
| 34 | The Cheap Detective | Robert Moore | $5 million | $28.2 million | 5.64x | |
| 35 | The Boys from Brazil | Franklin J. Schaffner | $12 million | $28 million | 2.33x | |
| 36 | Harper Valley PTA | Ralph Senensky | $1 million | $25 million | 25.00x | |
| 37 | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Philip Kaufman | $3.5 million | $24.9 million | 7.11x | |
| 38 | The Fury | Brian De Palma | $7.5 million | $24 million | 3.20x | |
| 39 | Beyond and Back | James L. Conway | $23.8 million | |||
| 39 | Magic | Richard Attenborough | $7 million | $23.8 million | 3.40x | |
| 41 | The Wiz | Sidney Lumet | $24 million | $21 million | 0.88x | |
| 42 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Michael Schultz | $18 million | $20.4 million | 1.13x | |
| 43 | F.I.S.T. | Norman Jewison | $11 million | $20.3 million | 1.85x | |
| 44 | The Stud | Quentin Masters | £1.2 million | $20 million | ||
| 44 | Eyes of Laura Mars | Irvin Kershner | $7 million | $20 million | 2.86x | |
| 46 | Same Time, Next Year | Robert Mulligan | $1.2 million | $19.7 million | 16.69x | |
| 47 | Good Guys Wear Black | Ted Post | $1 million | $18.3 million | 18.30x | |
| 48 | Death on the Nile | John Guillermin | $7.9 million | $18 million | 2.27x | |
| 48 | Ice Castles | Donald Wrye | $18 million | |||
| 50 | The Betsy | Daniel Petrie | $6 million | $17.7 million | 2.95x | |
| 51 | The One and Only | Carl Reiner | $16.9 million | |||
| 52 | Return from Witch Mountain | John Hough | $16.3 million | |||
| 53 | The Brink's Job | William Friedkin | $16.4 million | $14.5 million | 0.88x | |
| 54 | The Buddy Holly Story | Steve Rash | $1.2 million | $14.3 million | 11.92x | |
| 55 | The Greek Tycoon | J. Lee Thompson | $6.5 million | $14 million | 2.15x | |
| 56 | The First Great Train Robbery | Michael Crichton | $6 million | $13 million | 2.17x | |
| 57 | The Big Fix | Jeremy Kagan | $3.8 million | $13 million | 3.42x | |
| 58 | The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 | Larry Peerce | $11.6 million | |||
| 59 | The Legacy | Richard Marquand | $2.5 million | $11.4 million | 4.54x | |
| 60 | Moment by Moment | Jane Wagner | $8 million | $11 million | 1.38x | |
| 60 | American Hot Wax | Floyd Mutrux | $4 million | $11 million | 2.75x | |
| 62 | Interiors | Woody Allen | $3.1 million | $10.4 million | 3.35x | |
| 63 | The Thirty Nine Steps | Don Sharp | £2 million | $10 million | ||
| 64 | Straight Time | Ulu Grosbard | $3.5 million | $9.9 million | 2.83x | |
| 65 | Comes a Horseman | Alan J. Pakula | $10 million | $9.6 million | 0.96x | |
| 66 | Casey's Shadow | Martin Ritt | $8 million | |||
| 66 | A Wedding | Robert Altman | $3.9 million | $8 million | 2.05x | |
| 68 | The Swarm | Irwin Allen | $21 million | $7.7 million | 0.37x | |
| 69 | Goin' South | Jack Nicholson | $7.4 million | |||
| 70 | King of the Gypsies | Frank Pierson | $5 million | $7.3 million | 1.47x | |
| 71 | The Bad News Bears Go to Japan | John Berry | $7.3 million | |||
| 71 | Thank God It's Friday | Robert Klane | $2.2 million | $7.3 million | 3.32x | |
| 73 | International Velvet | Bryan Forbes | $7 million | |||
| 74 | Paradise Alley | Sylvester Stallone | $6 million | $7 million | 1.17x | |
| 75 | Blue Collar | Paul Schrader | $1.7 million | $6.5 million | 3.82x | |
| 76 | Pretty Baby | Louis Malle | $3.5 million | $5.8 million | 1.66x | |
| 77 | The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family | Frank Zuniga | $5.5 million | |||
| 78 | Gray Lady Down | David Greene | $5.4 million | |||
| 79 | Brass Target | John Hough | $5.1 million | |||
| 80 | The Driver | Walter Hill | $4 million | $4.9 million | 1.23x | |
| 81 | Rabbit Test | Joan Rivers | $997,000 | $4.7 million | 4.71x | |
| 82 | Big Wednesday | John Milius | $11 million | $4.5 million | 0.41x | |
| 83 | High-Ballin' | Peter Carter | $2 million | $4 million | 2.00x | |
| 84 | The Fifth Floor | Howard Avedis | $3.8 million | |||
| 85 | Days of Heaven | Terrence Malick | $3 million | $3.4 million | 1.13x | |
| 86 | Force 10 from Navarone | Guy Hamilton | $10.5 million | $3.2 million | 0.30x | |
| 87 | Piranha | Joe Dante | $770,000 | $2.9 million | 3.77x | |
| 88 | Circle of Iron | Richard Moore | $2.6 million | |||
| 89 | Starcrash | Luigi Cozzi | $4 million | $2.2 million | 0.56x | |
| 90 | Coach | Bud Townsend | $2.2 million | |||
| 91 | Caravans | James Fargo | $14 million | $2 million | 0.14x | |
| 92 | I Wanna Hold Your Hand | Robert Zemeckis | $2.8 million | $1.9 million | 0.68x | |
| 93 | Slow Dancing in the Big City | John G. Avildsen | $2.5 million | $1.6 million | 0.63x | |
| 94 | The Manitou | William Girdler | $1.5 million | |||
| 94 | It Lives Again | Larry Cohen | $1.5 million | |||
| 96 | Goin' Coconuts | Howard Morris | $1.2 million | |||
| 97 | In Praise of Older Women | George Kaczender | $1.5 million | $1.1 million | 0.77x | |
| 98 | Stingray | John Kelly | $1 million | $1.1 million | 1.10x | |
| 99 | Here Come the Tigers | Sean S. Cunningham | $250,000 | $1 million | 4.00x | |
| 99 | Jennifer | Brice Mack | $1 million | $1 million | 1.00x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.