100 English films of 1985 ranked by box office. #1: Back to the Future ($393 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Back to the Future | Robert Zemeckis | $19 million | $393 million | 20.68x | |
| 2 | Rocky IV | Sylvester Stallone | $28 million | $300.5 million | 10.73x | |
| 3 | Rambo: First Blood Part II | George P. Cosmatos | $44 million | $300.4 million | 6.83x | |
| 4 | Out of Africa | Sydney Pollack | $31 million | $227.5 million | 7.34x | |
| 5 | A View to a Kill | John Glen | $30 million | $152.4 million | 5.08x | |
| 6 | Witness | Peter Weir | $12 million | $117.1 million | 9.76x | |
| 7 | Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment | Jerry Paris | $7.5 million | $115 million | 15.33x | |
| 8 | The Color Purple | Steven Spielberg | $15 million | $98.4 million | 6.56x | |
| 9 | The Jewel of the Nile | Lewis Teague | $25 million | $96.7 million | 3.87x | |
| 10 | Cocoon | Ron Howard | $17.5 million | $85.3 million | 4.87x | |
| 11 | Teen Wolf | Rod Daniel | $4 million | $80 million | 20.00x | |
| 12 | Spies Like Us | John Landis | $22 million | $77.3 million | 3.51x | |
| 13 | The Dream Is Alive | Graeme Ferguson | $70 million | |||
| 14 | The Goonies | Richard Donner | $19 million | $65 million | 3.42x | |
| 15 | Young Sherlock Holmes | Barry Levinson | $18 million | $63.7 million | 3.54x | |
| 16 | Fletch | Michael Ritchie | $8 million | $59 million | 7.38x | |
| 17 | Commando | Mark L. Lester | $10 million | $57.5 million | 5.75x | |
| 18 | The Breakfast Club | John Hughes | $1 million | $51.5 million | 51.50x | |
| 19 | National Lampoon's European Vacation | Amy Heckerling | $17 million | $49.3 million | 2.90x | |
| 20 | Mask | Peter Bogdanovich | $7.5 million | $48.2 million | 6.43x | |
| 21 | Brewster's Millions | Walter Hill | $20 million | $45.8 million | 2.29x | |
| 22 | White Nights | Taylor Hackford | $10 million | $42.2 million | 4.22x | |
| 23 | Pale Rider | Clint Eastwood | $6.9 million | $41.4 million | 6.00x | |
| 24 | Pee-wee's Big Adventure | Tim Burton | $7 million | $40.9 million | 5.84x | |
| 25 | Jagged Edge | Richard Marquand | $10 million | $40.5 million | 4.05x | |
| 26 | Weird Science | John Hughes | $7.5 million | $38.9 million | 5.19x | |
| 27 | St. Elmo's Fire | Joel Schumacher | $10 million | $37.8 million | 3.78x | |
| 28 | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | George Miller | $10 million | $36 million | 3.60x | |
| 29 | Ghoulies | Luca Bercovici | $5.5 million | $35 million | 6.36x | |
| 30 | Day of the Dead | George A. Romero | $3.5 million | $34 million | 9.71x | |
| 31 | The Last Dragon | Michael Schultz | $10 million | $33 million | 3.30x | |
| 32 | Silverado | Lawrence Kasdan | $26 million | $32.2 million | 1.24x | |
| 33 | Murphy's Romance | Martin Ritt | $13 million | $30.9 million | 2.37x | |
| 34 | A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge | Jack Sholder | $3 million | $30 million | 10.00x | |
| 35 | Desperately Seeking Susan | Susan Seidelman | $5 million | $27.3 million | 5.46x | |
| 36 | Prizzi's Honor | John Huston | $16 million | $26.6 million | 1.66x | |
| 37 | Agnes of God | Norman Jewison | $7.5 million | $25.6 million | 3.41x | |
| 38 | Fright Night | Tom Holland | $9 million | $24.9 million | 2.77x | |
| 39 | Summer Rental | Carl Reiner | $24.7 million | |||
| 40 | The Emerald Forest | John Boorman | $15 million | $24.5 million | 1.63x | |
| 41 | Santa Claus: The Movie | Jeannot Szwarc | $50 million | $23.7 million | 0.47x | |
| 42 | Legend | Ridley Scott | $24.5 million | $23.5 million | 0.96x | |
| 43 | House | Steve Miner | $3 million | $22.1 million | 7.37x | |
| 44 | Friday the 13th: A New Beginning | Danny Steinmann | $2.2 million | $21.9 million | 9.95x | |
| 45 | Porky's Revenge! | James Komack | $7.8 million | $20.5 million | 2.63x | |
| 46 | Code of Silence | Andrew Davis | $7 million | $20.3 million | 2.91x | |
| 47 | Volunteers | Nicholas Meyer | $10 million | $19.8 million | 1.98x | |
| 48 | Best Defense | Willard Huyck | $18 million | $19.3 million | 1.07x | |
| 49 | Year of the Dragon | Michael Cimino | $24 million | $18.7 million | 0.78x | |
| 50 | Ladyhawke | Richard Donner | $20 million | $18.4 million | 0.92x | |
| 51 | The Sure Thing | Rob Reiner | $4.5 million | $18.1 million | 4.02x | |
| 52 | Invasion U.S.A. | Joseph Zito | $12 million | $17.5 million | 1.46x | |
| 53 | To Live and Die in L.A. | William Friedkin | $6 million | $17.3 million | 2.88x | |
| 54 | The Falcon and the Snowman | John Schlesinger | $12 million | $17 million | 1.42x | |
| 54 | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Bill Condon | $1.5 million | $17 million | 11.33x | |
| 56 | Death Wish 3 | Michael Winner | $9 million | $16.1 million | 1.79x | |
| 57 | King Solomon's Mines | J. Lee Thompson | $12.5 million | $15.1 million | 1.20x | |
| 58 | Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend | Bill L. Norton | $13 million | $14.9 million | 1.15x | |
| 59 | Clue | Jonathan Lynn | $15 million | $14.6 million | 0.97x | |
| 60 | Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins | Guy Hamilton | $40 million | $14.4 million | 0.36x | |
| 61 | A Chorus Line | Richard Attenborough | $25 million | $14.2 million | 0.57x | |
| 61 | The Return of the Living Dead | Dan O'Bannon | ARS 4 million | $14.2 million | ||
| 61 | Marie | Roger Donaldson | $12 million | $14.2 million | 1.18x | |
| 64 | Tomboy | Herb Freed | $14.1 million | |||
| 65 | Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird | Ken Kwapis | $14 million | |||
| 66 | Cat's Eye | Lewis Teague | $7 million | $13.1 million | 1.87x | |
| 67 | Real Genius | Martha Coolidge | $8 million | $13 million | 1.63x | |
| 67 | Vision Quest | Harold Becker | $13 million | |||
| 67 | One Magic Christmas | Phillip Borsos | $7.5 million | $13 million | 1.73x | |
| 70 | Perfect | James Bridges | $20 million | $12.9 million | 0.65x | |
| 71 | Compromising Positions | Frank Perry | $6 million | $12.5 million | 2.09x | |
| 72 | Silver Bullet | Dan Attias | $7 million | $12.4 million | 1.77x | |
| 73 | Enemy Mine | Wolfgang Petersen | $40 million | $12.3 million | 0.31x | |
| 74 | Lifeforce | Tobe Hooper | $25 million | $11.6 million | 0.46x | |
| 75 | Just One of the Guys | Lisa Gottlieb | $5 million | $11.5 million | 2.30x | |
| 76 | Return to Oz | Walter Murch | $28 million | $11.1 million | 0.40x | |
| 77 | Krush Groove | Michael Schultz | $3 million | $11 million | 3.67x | |
| 77 | The Protector | Jackie Chan | $5 million | $11 million | 2.20x | |
| 79 | Gotcha! | Jeff Kanew | $12.5 million | $10.8 million | 0.86x | |
| 80 | Missing in Action 2: The Beginning | Lance Hool | $2.4 million | $10.8 million | 4.46x | |
| 81 | The Purple Rose of Cairo | Woody Allen | $15 million | $10.6 million | 0.71x | |
| 81 | Moving Violations | Neal Israel | $10.6 million | |||
| 81 | After Hours | Martin Scorsese | $4.5 million | $10.6 million | 2.36x | |
| 84 | American Ninja | Sam Firstenberg | $1 million | $10.5 million | 10.50x | |
| 85 | Better Off Dead | Savage Steve Holland | $3.5 million | $10.3 million | 2.94x | |
| 86 | Lost in America | Albert Brooks | $4 million | $10.2 million | 2.54x | |
| 87 | Once Bitten | Howard Storm | $3.2 million | $10 million | 3.13x | |
| 88 | Explorers | Joe Dante | $25 million | $9.9 million | 0.40x | |
| 88 | Brazil | Terry Gilliam | $15 million | $9.9 million | 0.66x | |
| 90 | The Journey of Natty Gann | Jeremy Kagan | $8 million | $9.7 million | 1.21x | |
| 91 | Tuff Turf | Fritz Kiersch | $9.4 million | |||
| 92 | Sweet Dreams | Karel Reisz | $13.5 million | $9.1 million | 0.67x | |
| 93 | Target | Arthur Penn | $12.9 million | $9 million | 0.70x | |
| 94 | Mischief | Mel Damski | $8 million | $8.7 million | 1.09x | |
| 95 | That Was Then... This Is Now | Christopher Cain | $3.5 million | $8.6 million | 2.47x | |
| 96 | The Man with One Red Shoe | Stan Dragoti | $16 million | $8.6 million | 0.54x | |
| 96 | Secret Admirer | David Greenwalt | $7 million | $8.6 million | 1.23x | |
| 98 | Stick | Burt Reynolds | $22 million | $8.5 million | 0.39x | |
| 99 | Twice in a Lifetime | Bud Yorkin | $8 million | $8.4 million | 1.05x | |
| 100 | Vagabond | Agnès Varda | $8.1 million |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.