1946 Top Box Office Movies

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James Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

This page looks at the 1946 Top Box Office Movies. World War II ended in 1945 and as the soldiers returned home…they did two things….one they made lots of babies and two they went to lots of movies. 1946 was the peak of people going to movies. In 1946 an average of 90 million admissions were sold on a weekly basis. That 90 million represented almost 60% of the population of the United States. As a comparison, we can look at our current movie going habits…weekly admissions are now roughly 27 million and represent 10% of the population.

This page will look at the biggest box office hits during the biggest box office year ever.I thought when I came up with this idea of doing the biggest box office hits of 1946 that it would be an easy movie page to write. I already had the January 8th 1947 Variety magazine that listed the Top 60 hits of the year so I figured I could knock out the movie page in a few hours….boy was I wrong. The first thing I noticed was that many of top box office hits of 1946 were actually made in 1945.

The second thing I noticed was many of the top box office hits of 1947 were really made in 1946. The third thing I noticed was many of the Oscar® nominated and Oscar® winning films did not make the Variety Top Box Office charts. The final thing I noticed was an issue with foreign films…it sometimes took years after a foreign movie was made for it to make it to North America….the best example of this is Henry V…it was made in 1944 yet it took 2 years to reach North America.

Here is how I came up with the 113 movies on the Ultimate Movie Rankings list…..any box office hit on the Variety lists made in 1946 or was released for the first time in 1946 in North America made the list , and any movie that got an Oscar® nomination or Oscar® win for the 1946 year made the list.

Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Our UMR Top 50 of 1946

1946 Top Box Office Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort by the stars of the 1946 Top Box Office Movies.
  • Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each 1946 Top Box Office Movies received.
  • Sort 1946 Top Box Office Movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Possibly Interesting Facts About 1946 Top Box Office Movies

1. The five films that received Oscar® nominations for Best Picture were: The Best Years of Our Lives, Henry V, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Razor’s Edge and The Yearling….the winner was The Best Years of Our Lives.

2. Disabled veteran Harold Russell actually won two Oscars® for his performance in The Best Years of Our Lives….one for Best Supporting Actor and a Special Award for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.

3. Other Oscar® acting winners in 1946 were Frederic March as Best Actor for Best Years of Our Lives, Olivia de Havilland as Best Actress for To Each His Own, and Anne Baxter as Best Supporting Actress for The Razor’s Edge.

4. The biggest Oscar® snubs in 1946? I vote three movies/performances…..#1 Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious should have either gotten a Best Picture nomination or a Best Director nomination. 2.Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine gave one of his greatest screen performances in that movie…… and finally 3. Myrna Loy in The Best Years of Our Lives. During Loy’s long and successful career she never got an Oscar® nomination…this would have been the perfect movie to right that wrong.

5. According to Variety the Top Box Office Movie Stars of 1946 were: #1 Bing Crosby, #2 Ingrid Bergman. #3 Fred Astaire, #4 Dorothy Lamour and #5 Gregory Peck.

6. Actors/actresses that made their screen debuts in 1946: Burt Lancaster (The Killers #28), Kirk Douglas (The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers #22), Alec Guinness (Great Expectations #36), Dean Martin and Natalie Wood.

7. Two famous entertainers who passed away in 1946….W.C. Fields and H.G. Wells.

8. Currently a successful box office mark to cross is 100 million... in 2011 thirty movies crossed $100 million, in 2012 thirty-one movies crossed that mark, in 2013 thirty-five got there and in 2014 thirty-three did it. In 1946…when looking at adjusted box office numbers…..an incredible 65 movies would have crossed $100 million.

1946 Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide

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94 thoughts on “1946 Top Box Office Movies”

  1. Still another great page, Cogerson. I simply must note that three of the top four box office hits you list for 1946 were Bing Crosby vehicles. I saw the majority of the movies listed here in three theaters in Yonkers when I was very young. I only wish they would feature these great old movies on the big screen today (I think they’d make plenty of dough for investors.)

    Reply

    1. Hey William F. Torpey….I don’t have to tell you…but during this time frame….Bing was probably the most famous person on Earth as everything he did was very very popular. I have not seen any other actor have the #1 movie, the #3 movie and the #4 movie in the same year….it justs proves once again that many people have forgotten that is was just as popular as actor as he was a singer.

      I know some theaters are showing older movies on the big screen….I guess you just have to live in the right area to experience those movies on the big screen….the theater that shows older films around seems to only go back to the early 1970s….I think you are right ….classic movies that have been cleaned up for Blu-Ray release could earn some money at the theater. Thanks for your comments.

      Reply

  2. Steve-what about Alastair Sim as Scrooge in 1951. I don’t see *any version* of A Christmas Carol in your suggestions. Hmmm?

    Reply

    1. Flora I loved Alastair Sim as Scrooge and prefer the old BW classic of Miracle on 34th Street. And I cringed all the way thru Santa Claus the Movie. Younger people won’t agree of course. 🙂

      But it’s good to know a golden oldie like Its a Wonderful Life hasn’t been forgotten and still tops lists into the 21st century.

      Reply

    2. steve-never mind. I see you are reporting a list that exists, not your own personal list of suggestions. and I totally missed reading about the Muppet Christmas carol-which I love, by the way as I’m a big fan of the muppets. also I didn’t read the link until now. sigh.

      My reaction to that list in respect to films remade/sequels-I prefer the original miracle on 34th street, though I love Attenborough. And Holiday Inn is similar to white Christmas

      Reply

  3. You’ve been given a great gift, George: A chance to see what the world would be like without you.”

    One of the great fantasy films, and the greatest Xmas movie of all time? Maybe.

    1) It�s A Wonderful Life, Frank Capra (1946)

    2) The Snowman, Dianne Jackson (1982)

    3) Home Alone, Chris Columbus (1990)

    4) The Muppet Christmas Carol, Brian Henson (1992)

    5) Miracle on 34th Street, Les Mayfield (1994)

    6) Santa Claus: The Movie, Jeannot Szwarc (1985)

    7) White Christmas, Michael Curtiz (1954)

    8) Die Hard, John McTiernan (1988)

    9) The Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick (1993)

    10) Miracle on 34th Street, George Seaton (1947)

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandst…

    An idea for an upcoming xmas movie page Bruce? 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve…I was planning on doing a Christmas page…will probably wait until December. Thanks for this list and the link and I will be sure to include these movies on that list.

      Reply

  4. There are many famous book titles among this list. It may have been more important then to have something to build a movie on. ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ top notch. And of course ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, among the favorites. This series is without a doubt the best on the PAge.

    Reply

    1. Hey mckbirdbks….thanks for the great compliment at the end of your comment. I agree with you that back then …books were very important part of making a movie….the best example would be Alfred Hitchcock….he always seemed to find a book he liked and would turn that into a novel….nobody even remembers that Psycho was originally a book. The Best Years of Our Lives is a great movie…kinda sad but a movie everybody should see at least once…while It’s A Wonderful Life should be watched at least once every two or three years during the holiday seasons…thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

  5. Mister blue birds on my shoulder

    It’s the truth

    It’s actual

    Everything is satisfactual

    A classic movie still not out on DVD or Blu-ray. Is it racist? Was Gone With the Wind racist?

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve….I am glad you brought up Song of the South….I was not sure of which box office number to use in this page….so I went with the total from 1947…it was the #23 movie of 1947…but it got re-released so many times…I actually think box office mojo has combined box office rentals with box office grosses…to get a very wrong number…they have yet to respond to my e-mail….so I thought I would go on the safe side….I do not think the movie is racist…..if anything I think it helped open more doors….especially when it performed so well….though I bet Disney keeps it in the Disney vaults for fear of being called racist…thanks for returning to this page…it is always appreciated.

      Reply

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