100 English films of 1981 ranked by box office. #1: Raiders of the Lost Ark ($389.9 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Steven Spielberg | $18 million | $389.9 million | 21.66x | |
| 2 | For Your Eyes Only | John Glen | $28 million | $202.8 million | 7.24x | |
| 3 | The Cannonball Run | Hal Needham | $16 million | $160 million | 10.00x | |
| 3 | Porky's | Bob Clark | $4 million | $160 million | 40.00x | |
| 3 | Pimpin' Pee Wee | Brian Trenchard-Smith | $4 million | $160 million | 40.00x | |
| 6 | Arthur | Steve Gordon | $7 million | $108.8 million | 15.54x | |
| 7 | Stripes | Ivan Reitman | $10 million | $85.3 million | 8.53x | |
| 8 | Clash of the Titans | Desmond Davis | $9 million | $70 million | 7.78x | |
| 9 | Fort Apache, The Bronx | Daniel Petrie | $10 million | $65.2 million | 6.52x | |
| 10 | An American Werewolf in London | John Landis | $5.8 million | $62 million | 10.69x | |
| 11 | Chariots of Fire | Hugh Hudson | $5.5 million | $59 million | 10.73x | |
| 12 | The Four Seasons | Alan Alda | $6.5 million | $50.4 million | 7.75x | |
| 13 | Escape from New York | John Carpenter | $6 million | $50 million | 8.33x | |
| 14 | Excalibur | John Boorman | $11 million | $46.8 million | 4.25x | |
| 15 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | Bob Rafelson | $12 million | $44.2 million | 3.68x | |
| 16 | Time Bandits | Terry Gilliam | $5 million | $42.4 million | 8.48x | |
| 17 | Absence of Malice | Sydney Pollack | $12 million | $40.7 million | 3.39x | |
| 18 | Reds | Warren Beatty | $32 million | $40.4 million | 1.26x | |
| 19 | Mad Max 2 | George Miller | A$4.5 million | $36 million | ||
| 20 | Taps | Harold Becker | $14 million | $35.9 million | 2.56x | |
| 21 | Sharky's Machine | Burt Reynolds | $17.5 million | $35.6 million | 2.03x | |
| 22 | Nice Dreams | Tommy Chong | $35 million | |||
| 23 | Endless Love | Franco Zeffirelli | $9.7 million | $32.4 million | 3.34x | |
| 24 | History of the World, Part I | Mel Brooks | $10 million | $31.7 million | 3.17x | |
| 25 | Bustin' Loose | Michael Schultz | $11 million | $31.3 million | 2.85x | |
| 26 | The Great Muppet Caper | Jim Henson | $14 million | $31.2 million | 2.23x | |
| 27 | Neighbors | John G. Avildsen | $8.5 million | $30 million | 3.53x | |
| 28 | The Evil Dead | Sam Raimi | $375,000 | $29.4 million | 78.40x | |
| 29 | Escape to Victory | John Huston | $10 million | $27.5 million | 2.75x | |
| 30 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Karel Reisz | $8 million | $26.9 million | 3.36x | |
| 31 | Only When I Laugh | Glenn Jordan | $25.5 million | |||
| 32 | Halloween II | Rick Rosenthal | $2.5 million | $25.5 million | 10.20x | |
| 33 | Mommie Dearest | Frank Perry | $10 million | $25 million | 2.50x | |
| 34 | Modern Problems | Ken Shapiro | $8 million | $24.5 million | 3.06x | |
| 35 | Body Heat | Lawrence Kasdan | $9 million | $24 million | 2.67x | |
| 36 | Ghost Story | John Irvin | $13.5 million | $23.4 million | 1.73x | |
| 37 | Friday the 13th Part 2 | Steve Miner | $1.2 million | $21.7 million | 17.36x | |
| 38 | Ragtime | Miloš Forman | $28.3 million | $21.2 million | 0.75x | |
| 39 | Omen III: The Final Conflict | Graham Baker | $5 million | $20.5 million | 4.09x | |
| 40 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | Joel Schumacher | $10 million | $20.3 million | 2.03x | |
| 41 | Nighthawks | Bruce Malmuth | $5 million | $19.9 million | 3.98x | |
| 42 | Diva | Jean-Jacques Beineix | $1.5 million | $19.8 million | 13.20x | |
| 43 | Paternity | David Steinberg | $9 million | $18.8 million | 2.09x | |
| 44 | Great White | Enzo G. Castellari | $18 million | |||
| 45 | The Howling | Joe Dante | $1 million | $17.9 million | 17.90x | |
| 46 | Take This Job and Shove It | Gus Trikonis | $3.8 million | $17.6 million | 4.62x | |
| 47 | Eye of the Needle | Richard Marquand | $17.5 million | |||
| 48 | Outland | Peter Hyams | $14 million | $17 million | 1.21x | |
| 49 | Caveman | Carl Gottlieb | $5 million | $16 million | 3.20x | |
| 49 | The Devil and Max Devlin | Steven Hilliard Stern | $9 million | $16 million | 1.78x | |
| 51 | Continental Divide | Michael Apted | $9 million | $15 million | 1.67x | |
| 51 | Enter the Ninja | Menahem Golan | $1.5 million | $15 million | 10.00x | |
| 53 | S.O.B. | Blake Edwards | $12 million | $14.8 million | 1.23x | |
| 54 | Dragonslayer | Matthew Robbins | $18 million | $14.1 million | 0.78x | |
| 55 | The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia | Ronald F. Maxwell | $7.5 million | $14 million | 1.87x | |
| 56 | Blow Out | Brian De Palma | $18 million | $13.8 million | 0.77x | |
| 57 | The Entity | Sidney J. Furie | $9 million | $13.3 million | 1.48x | |
| 58 | True Confessions | Ulu Grosbard | $10 million | $12.9 million | 1.29x | |
| 59 | The Legend of the Lone Ranger | William A. Fraker | $13 million | $12.6 million | 0.97x | |
| 60 | First Monday in October | Ronald Neame | $12.5 million | |||
| 61 | Comin' at Ya! | Ferdinando Baldi | $2.5 million | $12 million | 4.80x | |
| 62 | Back Roads | Martin Ritt | $7 million | $11.8 million | 1.69x | |
| 63 | Thief | Michael Mann | $5.5 million | $11.5 million | 2.09x | |
| 64 | Rollover | Alan J. Pakula | $16 million | $10.9 million | 0.68x | |
| 65 | Happy Birthday to Me | J. Lee Thompson | $4.7 million | $10.6 million | 2.26x | |
| 65 | Wolfen | Michael Wadleigh | $17 million | $10.6 million | 0.62x | |
| 67 | An Eye for an Eye | Steve Carver | $4 million | $9.5 million | 2.37x | |
| 68 | Pennies from Heaven | Herbert Ross | $22 million | $9.1 million | 0.41x | |
| 69 | Carbon Copy | Michael Schultz | $6 million | $9 million | 1.50x | |
| 70 | Under the Rainbow | Steve Rash | $18 million | $8.3 million | 0.46x | |
| 70 | Deadly Blessing | Wes Craven | $2.5 million | $8.3 million | 3.32x | |
| 72 | Prince of the City | Sidney Lumet | $8.6 million | $8 million | 0.93x | |
| 73 | The Funhouse | Tobe Hooper | $2 million | $7.9 million | 3.95x | |
| 74 | Condorman | Charles Jarrott | $14 million | $7.8 million | 0.56x | |
| 75 | Buddy Buddy | Billy Wilder | $10 million | $7.3 million | 0.73x | |
| 76 | Kill and Kill Again | Ivan Hall | $7 million | |||
| 77 | The Amateur | Charles Jarrott | $10 million | $6.9 million | 0.69x | |
| 78 | Eyewitness | Peter Yates | $8.5 million | $6.4 million | 0.75x | |
| 79 | Scanners | David Cronenberg | C$4.1 million | $6.3 million | ||
| 80 | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | John Badham | $11.5 million | $6.1 million | 0.53x | |
| 81 | On the Right Track | Lee Philips | $3 million | $5.9 million | 1.97x | |
| 82 | My Bloody Valentine | George Mihalka | C$2.3 million | $5.7 million | ||
| 83 | Going Ape! | Jeremy Joe Kronsberg | $5.5 million | |||
| 84 | Hell Night | Tom DeSimone | $1.4 million | $5.3 million | 3.79x | |
| 85 | Venom | Tobe Hooper | £7.5 million | $5.2 million | ||
| 85 | Student Bodies | Michael Ritchie | $510,000 | $5.2 million | 10.20x | |
| 85 | My Dinner with Andre | Louis Malle | $475,000 | $5.2 million | 10.95x | |
| 88 | Zorro, The Gay Blade | Peter Medak | $12.6 million | $5.1 million | 0.40x | |
| 88 | Rich and Famous | George Cukor | $11.5 million | $5.1 million | 0.44x | |
| 90 | So Fine | Andrew Bergman | $12 million | $4.9 million | 0.41x | |
| 91 | Force: Five | Robert Clouse | $3 million | $4.6 million | 1.53x | |
| 92 | All Night Long | Jean-Claude Tramont | $15 million | $4.5 million | 0.30x | |
| 93 | Galaxy of Terror | Bruce D. Clark | $1.8 million | $4 million | 2.22x | |
| 93 | Rise and Fall of Idi Amin | Sharad Patel | $26 million | $4 million | 0.15x | |
| 93 | Green Ice | Ernest Day | $14 million | $4 million | 0.29x | |
| 96 | The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper | Roger Spottiswoode | $14 million | $3.7 million | 0.26x | |
| 97 | Looker | Michael Crichton | $12 million | $3.3 million | 0.28x | |
| 98 | Zoot Suit | Luis Valdez | $2.7 million | $3.3 million | 1.21x | |
| 99 | The Chosen | Jeremy Kagan | $3 million | $3.2 million | 1.07x | |
| 100 | Lady Chatterley's Lover | Just Jaeckin | $1.5 million | $3.1 million | 2.07x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.