100 English films of 1979 ranked by box office. #1: Moonraker ($210.3 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moonraker | Lewis Gilbert | $34 million | $210.3 million | 6.19x | |
| 2 | Rocky II | Sylvester Stallone | $7 million | $200.1 million | 28.59x | |
| 3 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Robert Benton | $8 million | $173 million | 21.63x | |
| 4 | Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola | $31.5 million | $150 million | 4.76x | |
| 5 | Star Trek: The Motion Picture | Robert Wise | $44 million | $139 million | 3.16x | |
| 6 | Alien | Ridley Scott | $11 million | $109.7 million | 9.97x | |
| 7 | 10 | Blake Edwards | $5 million | $107 million | 21.40x | |
| 8 | The Jerk | Carl Reiner | $4 million | $100 million | 25.00x | |
| 9 | 1941 | Steven Spielberg | $35 million | $94.9 million | 2.71x | |
| 10 | The Amityville Horror | Stuart Rosenberg | $4.7 million | $86.4 million | 18.38x | |
| 11 | Meatballs | Ivan Reitman | $1.2 million | $70 million | 58.33x | |
| 12 | La Luna | Agnès Varda | $5 million | $68.2 million | 13.64x | |
| 13 | The Muppet Movie | James Frawley | $8 million | $65.2 million | 8.15x | |
| 14 | The Champ | Franco Zeffirelli | $8 million | $65 million | 8.13x | |
| 14 | The Concorde ... Airport '79 | David Lowell Rich | $14 million | $65 million | 4.64x | |
| 16 | The Electric Horseman | Sydney Pollack | $12.5 million | $61.8 million | 4.94x | |
| 17 | The China Syndrome | James Bridges | $5.9 million | $51.7 million | 8.76x | |
| 18 | Love at First Bite | Stan Dragoti | $3 million | $43.9 million | 14.63x | |
| 19 | Escape from Alcatraz | Don Siegel | $8 million | $43 million | 5.38x | |
| 20 | The Main Event | Howard Zieff | $6 million | $42.8 million | 7.13x | |
| 21 | Manhattan | Woody Allen | $9 million | $40.2 million | 4.47x | |
| 22 | Hair | Miloš Forman | $11 million | $38.3 million | 3.48x | |
| 23 | The In-Laws | Arthur Hiller | $9 million | $38.2 million | 4.24x | |
| 24 | All That Jazz | Bob Fosse | $12 million | $37.8 million | 3.15x | |
| 24 | The Black Stallion | Carroll Ballard | $2.7 million | $37.8 million | 14.00x | |
| 26 | The Black Hole | Gary Nelson | $20 million | $35.8 million | 1.79x | |
| 27 | Starting Over | Alan J. Pakula | $10 million | $35.6 million | 3.56x | |
| 28 | ...And Justice for All | Norman Jewison | $4 million | $33.3 million | 8.33x | |
| 29 | Dracula | John Badham | $12.2 million | $31.2 million | 2.56x | |
| 30 | Being There | Hal Ashby | $7 million | $30.2 million | 4.31x | |
| 31 | Going in Style | Zach Braff | $5.5 million | $30 million | 5.45x | |
| 31 | Chapter Two | Robert Moore | $9 million | $30 million | 3.33x | |
| 33 | The Rose | Mark Rydell | $8.5 million | $29.2 million | 3.43x | |
| 34 | North Dallas Forty | Ted Kotcheff | $26.1 million | |||
| 35 | The Wanderers | Philip Kaufman | $5 million | $23 million | 4.60x | |
| 36 | Prophecy | John Frankenheimer | $9 million | $22.7 million | 2.52x | |
| 37 | The Warriors | Walter Hill | $4 million | $22.5 million | 5.63x | |
| 38 | In Search of Historic Jesus | Henning Schellerup | $22.4 million | |||
| 39 | Norma Rae | Martin Ritt | $4.5 million | $22.2 million | 4.93x | |
| 40 | Phantasm | Don Coscarelli | $300,000 | $22 million | 73.33x | |
| 41 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century | Daniel Haller | $3.5 million | $21.7 million | 6.20x | |
| 42 | When a Stranger Calls | Fred Walton | $1.5 million | $21.4 million | 14.27x | |
| 43 | The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again | Vincent McEveety | $5.5 million | $20.9 million | 3.84x | |
| 44 | Monty Python’s Life of Brian | Terry Jones | $4 million | $20.7 million | 5.18x | |
| 45 | Tess | Roman Polanski | $12 million | $20.1 million | 1.68x | |
| 46 | Breaking Away | Peter Yates | $2.3 million | $20 million | 8.70x | |
| 47 | The Seduction of Joe Tynan | Jerry Schatzberg | $5 million | $19.5 million | 3.90x | |
| 48 | A Force of One | Paul Aaron | $3.5 million | $17 million | 4.86x | |
| 49 | Richard Pryor: Live in Concert | Jeff Margolis | $750,000 | $15.8 million | 21.07x | |
| 50 | My Left Foot | Jim Sheridan | £600,000 | $14.7 million | ||
| 51 | Roller Boogie | Mark L. Lester | $1.5 million | $13.3 million | 8.87x | |
| 52 | Time After Time | Nicholas Meyer | $3.5 million | $13 million | 3.71x | |
| 53 | The Villain | Hal Needham | $4.5 million | $9.8 million | 2.18x | |
| 54 | The Frisco Kid | Robert Aldrich | $9.2 million | $9.3 million | 1.01x | |
| 55 | Meteor | Ronald Neame | $16 million | $8.4 million | 0.53x | |
| 56 | The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh | Paul Helmick | $4 million | $8.3 million | 2.08x | |
| 57 | Bloodline | Terence Young | $12 million | $8.2 million | 0.68x | |
| 58 | Malibu High | Irvin Berwick | $100,000 | $8 million | 80.00x | |
| 58 | More American Graffiti | Bill L. Norton | $2.5 million | $8 million | 3.20x | |
| 60 | Silent Scream | David Davidson | $600,000 | $7.9 million | 13.17x | |
| 61 | The Prisoner of Zenda | Richard Quine | $10 million | $7.7 million | 0.77x | |
| 62 | Agatha | Michael Apted | $3.5 million | $7.5 million | 2.14x | |
| 63 | Players | Anthony Harvey | $6 million | $7.2 million | 1.20x | |
| 64 | The Prize Fighter | Michael Preece | $2 million | $6.5 million | 3.25x | |
| 65 | Americathon | Neal Israel | $2.2 million | $6.2 million | 2.81x | |
| 66 | The Dark | Tobe Hooper | $6 million | |||
| 67 | Cuba | Richard Lester | $7 million | $5.6 million | 0.80x | |
| 68 | Avalanche Express | Mark Robson | $11 million | $5.5 million | 0.50x | |
| 69 | Butch and Sundance: The Early Days | Richard Lester | $9 million | $5.1 million | 0.57x | |
| 70 | The Onion Field | Harold Becker | $2.6 million | $5 million | 1.92x | |
| 70 | The Brood | David Cronenberg | C$1.4 million | $5 million | ||
| 72 | Mountain Family Robinson | Jack Couffer | $4.8 million | |||
| 73 | The Great Santini | Lewis John Carlino | $4 million | $4.7 million | 1.18x | |
| 74 | Squeeze Play! | Lloyd Kaufman | $300,000 | $4.7 million | 15.50x | |
| 75 | Hurricane | David Blair | $22 million | $4.5 million | 0.21x | |
| 76 | Unidentified Flying Oddball | Russ Mayberry | $5.2 million | $4.5 million | 0.85x | |
| 77 | Tourist Trap | David Schmoeller | $350,000 | $4 million | 11.43x | |
| 77 | Scavenger Hunt | Michael Schultz | $7 million | $4 million | 0.57x | |
| 77 | Yanks | John Schlesinger | $6 million | $4 million | 0.67x | |
| 77 | Penitentiary | Jamaa Fanaka | $100,000 | $4 million | 40.00x | |
| 81 | Guyana: Crime of the Century | René Cardona Jr. | $3.8 million | |||
| 82 | Hanover Street | Peter Hyams | $8 million | $3 million | 0.38x | |
| 82 | Parts: The Clonus Horror | Robert S. Fiveson | $350,000 | $3 million | 8.57x | |
| 82 | Saint Jack | Peter Bogdanovich | $2 million | $3 million | 1.50x | |
| 82 | Goldengirl | Joseph Sargent | $7 million | $3 million | 0.43x | |
| 86 | North Sea Hijack | Andrew V. McLaglen | $3 million | |||
| 87 | Don't Go in the House | Joseph Ellison | $250,000 | $3 million | 11.80x | |
| 88 | Wanda Nevada | Peter Fonda | $2.4 million | |||
| 89 | Skatetown, U.S.A. | William A. Levey | $2.4 million | |||
| 90 | Beyond the Poseidon Adventure | Irwin Allen | $10 million | $2.1 million | 0.21x | |
| 91 | California Dreaming | John D. Hancock | $2 million | |||
| 91 | Take Down | Kieth Merrill | $2.5 million | $2 million | 0.80x | |
| 93 | Murder by Decree | Bob Clark | $5 million | $1.9 million | 0.38x | |
| 93 | Boulevard Nights | Michael Pressman | $2.5 million | $1.9 million | 0.76x | |
| 95 | Zulu Dawn | Douglas Hickox | $11.8 million | $1.9 million | 0.16x | |
| 96 | Rich Kids | Robert Milton Young | $2.5 million | $1.9 million | 0.74x | |
| 97 | C.H.O.M.P.S. | Don Chaffey | $3.5 million | $1.8 million | 0.51x | |
| 97 | Lost and Found | Melvin Frank | $6 million | $1.8 million | 0.30x | |
| 99 | Van Nuys Blvd. | William Sachs | $1.8 million | |||
| 100 | Last Embrace | Jonathan Demme | $4 million | $1.5 million | 0.38x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.