# 1983 in film
**1983 in film** is an overview of the year's cinematic releases, box-office results, and industry events. The year's biggest moneymaker was *Return of the Jedi*, while the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards was *Terms of Endearment*.[1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983) Summer 1983 set a then-record for North American receipts, and the year sits between 1982's *E.T.* versus *Gandhi* Oscar contest and 1984's introduction of the PG-13 rating and its blockbuster slate.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) • [1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Top-grossing film | *Return of the Jedi*, $252.5 million domestic in 1983, $309 million lifetime[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html) |
| Summer record | US and Canadian summer receipts of $1.5 billion, up 9 percent over the previous summer[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) |
| Best Picture | *Terms of Endearment*, the year's second-highest-grossing film, dominated the Academy's competitive categories[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/) |
| Foreign-language honors | Ingmar Bergman's *Fanny and Alexander* won Best Foreign Language Film and received four awards; at the time, it was the most honored foreign-language film in Academy history[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html) |
| Sequel saturation | Seven of the summer's top 15 moneymakers were sequels; no straight drama made even the top 15[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) |
| Technology | *Return of the Jedi* was the first film shown in a THX-certified auditorium[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html) |
## Highest-grossing films
*Return of the Jedi*, the third film in the original *Star Wars* trilogy, was the top-grossing domestic film of the year at $252.5 million, eventually taking in a lifetime gross of $309 million.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html) As of mid-September 1983 it had already reached $232.3 million, leading a summer in which the 15 top-grossing films each took in $30 million or more.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) A scholarly account puts its 1983 gross at over $300 million, more than the combined gross of the year's next three most successful films; the $252.5 million figure is the year-specific domestic total.[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/)
Other entries on the year's chart included: *WarGames* (MGM) at $79,567,667, *Octopussy* at $67,893,619, *Sudden Impact* (Warner Bros.) at $67,642,693 with a $9,688,564 opening, *Staying Alive* (Paramount) at $64,892,670, *Risky Business* (Warner Bros.) at $63,541,777, and *National Lampoon's Vacation* (Warner Bros.) at about $61.4 million.[5](https://boxofficehistory.com/year/1983) *Flashdance* had reached $87.5 million and *Trading Places* $80.6 million by mid-September, and *Terms of Endearment* was the year's second-highest-grossing film.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) • [4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/) Below the top ranks the drop-off was steep: a [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures) release opening May 20 grossed $16,478,265, and *Richard Pryor... Here and Now* (Columbia, October 28) took $16,156,776.[6](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1983/) On the worldwide chart, titles such as *Deathstalker* at $11,919,250 mark the long tail of the year's global grosses.[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1983/)
## Awards and honors
**The Academy split its money and its medals.** While *Return of the Jedi* led the box office, the Academy's competitive award categories were dominated by the second-highest-grossing film, *Terms of Endearment*; *Jedi* itself received a Special Achievement Award for visual effects and was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing) without winning any.[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/) • [3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
In the foreign-language category, [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman)'s *[Fanny and Alexander](https://www.edgepedia.org/fanny-and-alexander)*, released in the United States in 1983, was named Best Foreign Language Film for 1983 and finished with four awards; at the time, it was the most honored foreign-language film in Academy history.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
## Acclaimed versus commercial: by the numbers
The summer's top ten contained only fantasies, adventures, romances, and teen comedies; no straight drama made even the top 15 moneymakers.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) The only notable dramas available through the summer were foreign films, such as Bergman's *Fanny and Alexander* and Daniel Vigne's *The Return of Martin Guerre*, which received limited release in the United States.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) American dramas fared no better commercially: *The Right Stuff* and *Silkwood*, despite good reviews and several award nominations, underperformed at the 1983 box office.[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/)
Contemporary criticism pressed the point. A *Rolling Stone* retrospective noted that Hollywood wanted "big films, megabuck monsters like *Return of the Jedi* (over which Fox fretted whether it would gross more than $200 million), *Superman III* and *Octopussy*", and argued that such megabuck expectations "poison the screen for simpler fare", in which "a modest, intelligent film that may turn a million-dollar profit is virtually an exercise in small change".[8](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/the-year-in-movies-1983-100970/)
## Genres, sequels and franchises
Sequels dominated the summer: no fewer than seven of the top 15 moneymakers were sequels to earlier films.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) The year also saw two [James Bond](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-bond) films, the official *Octopussy* and the unofficial *Never Say Never Again*, and three [Stephen King](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-king) adaptations, *Cujo*, *The Dead Zone*, and *[Christine](https://www.edgepedia.org/christine-1983-film)*.[1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983) A brief resurgence of 3-D produced *Jaws 3-D*, *Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone*, *Treasure of the Four Crowns*, *Metalstorm*, and *The Man Who Wasn't There*, none of them noteworthy.[1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983)
## Notable releases and directors
1983 produced landmark works from several established American directors: Martin Scorsese's *The King of Comedy*, Woody Allen's *Zelig*, [Sidney Lumet](https://www.edgepedia.org/sidney-lumet)'s *Daniel*, [Mike Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-nichols)'s *Silkwood*, [Bob Fosse](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-fosse)'s *Star 80* (his final film), Philip Kaufman's *The Right Stuff*, and Brian De Palma's *Scarface*.[1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983) *Scarface*, directed by De Palma and starring Al Pacino, was originally rated X and was criticized for excessive violence before being released with an R rating.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
Two commercial hits made careers. *Flashdance*, in effect a succession of music videos, became the third most successful film of the year and an important film style trendsetter.[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/) *Risky Business* made [Tom Cruise](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-cruise) a star.[4](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/) [Lawrence Kasdan](https://www.edgepedia.org/lawrence-kasdan)'s *The Big Chill* received three Oscar nominations with no wins and was embraced by baby-boomer audiences for its ensemble acting.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
## Industry and technology context
*Return of the Jedi* was the first film shown in a THX-certified auditorium, using [George Lucas](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-lucas)'s THX sound system, developed to recreate film sound in theaters as filmmakers intended.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html) The year's most-watched screen event outside theaters was [Michael Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-jackson)'s 14-minute *Thriller* short film, directed by [John Landis](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-landis) over four days for $500,000, which debuted on MTV on December 2, 1983, set a Guinness World Record as the most successful music video when it sold 9 million retail copies, and became the largest-selling VHS music release.[3](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
Databases of the year's output vary in method: The Numbers lists all films released in 1983, including films that went direct-to-video or received only an international theatrical release, combining worldwide box office with domestic home-market revenue.[9](https://m.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1983) Japanese animation appears in the year's worldwide rankings, including *Doraemon: Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil*.[10](https://boxoffice.filmdb.co.uk/box-office/year/1983)
## 1983 between 1982 and 1984
Summer 1983 set a then-record of $1.5 billion in US and Canadian receipts, up 9 percent over the summer before, a sizable increase even considering a 7 percent increase in ticket prices.[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html) The year is often characterized as sandwiched between 1982's *E.T.* versus *Gandhi* Oscar battle and 1984's blockbuster buffets plus the birth of the PG-13 rating, with a slate that included *Ghostbusters*, *Beverly Hills Cop*, *[Gremlins](https://www.edgepedia.org/gremlins)*, *Temple of Doom*, and *The Karate Kid*.[1](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983)
## References
1. [A Soceyological Look Back At The Film Year 1983, WFYI](https://www.wfyi.org/arts-and-culture/2013-12-16/a-soceyological-look-back-at-the-film-year-1983)
2. [FILM VIEW; AT THE BOX OFFICE, SUMMER HAS A SPLIT PERSONALITY, The New York Times (September 18, 1983)](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/18/movies/film-view-at-the-box-office-summer-has-a-split-personality.html)
3. [Film History Milestones - 1983, Filmsite](https://www.filmsite.org/1983-filmhistory.html)
4. [1983: Movies and Reaganism, University of Kentucky scholarship](https://scholars.uky.edu/en/publications/1983-movies-and-reaganism/)
5. [1983 box office, Box Office Archive](https://boxofficehistory.com/year/1983)
6. [Domestic Box Office For 1983, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1983/)
7. [1983 Worldwide Box Office, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1983/)
8. [The Year in Movies 1983, Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/the-year-in-movies-1983-100970/)
9. [The Numbers - Movies Released in 1983](https://m.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1983)
10. [1983 Box Office Rankings, FilmDB](https://boxoffice.filmdb.co.uk/box-office/year/1983)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Box office records and number-one lists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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