1937 in film

Overview of the events of 1937 in film
Overview of the events of 1937 in film
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The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first American full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1937 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1937
Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals
1 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs RKO/Walt Disney $3,996,000[1][2]
2 Saratoga MGM $2,432,000[3]
3 Maytime $2,183,000[3]
4 The Good Earth $2,002,000[3]
5 Stella Dallas United Artists $2,000,000[4][5]
6 Broadway Melody of 1938 MGM $1,889,000[3]
7 Captains Courageous $1,688,000[3]
8 Lost Horizon Columbia $1,683,000[6]
9 A Day at the Races MGM $1,602,000[3]
10 Thin Ice 20th Century Fox $1,590,000[7]

Events

  • April 16 – Laurel and Hardy comedy Way Out West premieres in the US.
  • May 7 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical comedy Shall We Dance premieres in the US.
  • May 11 – Drama Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy, premieres in New York. The film is released nationwide on June 25.
  • June 7 – Jean Harlow, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the decade, dies aged 26 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. The official cause of death is listed as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure.
  • June 11 – Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races premieres in the U.S.
  • July 9 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
  • July 23 – Six weeks after Jean Harlow's death, her final film, Saratoga, is released. It is an instant box office success and becomes the highest-grossing film of her career.
  • December 21 – Walt Disney's debut feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length cartoon to be made in America, in Technicolor, and in sound, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. The film is a massive box office success and briefly holds the record as the highest-grossing sound film of all time.
  • Monogram Pictures, who had merged with Republic Pictures two years earlier, decide to separate and distribute their own films again.

Academy Awards

Top ten money-making stars

Rank Actor/Actress
1. Shirley Temple
2. Clark Gable
3. Robert Taylor
4. Bing Crosby
5. William Powell
6. Jane Withers
7. (tie) Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers
8. Sonja Henie
9. Gary Cooper
10. Myrna Loy

1937 film releases

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Notable films released in 1937

United States unless stated.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

V

W

Y

Z

  • Znachor (The Miracle Man) (Poland)

Serials

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Births

Deaths

Debuts

References

  1. ^ Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "RKO Film Grosses, 1929-1951: the C.J. Tevlin ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/01439689400260031.
  2. ^ Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "Appendix 1". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (S1): 1–11. doi:10.1080/01439689408604545.
  3. ^ a b c d e f The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  4. ^ Madsen, Axel (2015). Stanwyck: A Biography. ISBN 978-1-5040-0861-7. Released in August 1937, Stella Dallas grossed more than $2 million.
  5. ^ Reid, John Howard (2012). 140 All-Time Must-See Movies for Film Lovers Now Available On DVD. ISBN 978-1-105-75295-7. UA's top domestic box office hit of 1937, with gross rentals close to $2 million.
  6. ^ Dick, Bernard F. (1992). Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio. ISBN 978-0-8131-5215-8. Lost Horizon was probably least successful. It was budgeted at $1.66 million, but the combined U.S. and Canadian gross was only $1,683 million, thus barely covering production costs.
  7. ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990.
  8. ^ First Actor to Portray Sherlock Holmes on TV; Guinness World Records online; retrieved November 2016

Sources

  • Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autrey, eds. (2010). George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-By-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-177889-6.

External links

  • List of 1937 films at IMDb
  • List of 1937 deaths at IMDb
  • List of 1937 births at IMDb