1927 in film

The following is an overview of 1927 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Fandom movies:1927

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1927 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	The King of Kings	Pathé Exchange	$2,641,687
2	The Jazz Singer	Warner Bros.	$1,974,000
3	7th Heaven	Fox Film	$1,750,000
4	The Gaucho	United Artists	$1,400,000
5	The Patent Leather Kid Jesse James	First National Paramount	$1,200,000
6	Wings	Paramount	$1,100,000
7	My Best Girl	United Artists	$1,027,757
8	Love	MGM	$946,000
9	The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg	MGM	$894,000
10	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans	Fox Film	$818,000

Events

January 10 – Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany. The film receives its American premiere in New York City on March 6.
March 11 – World's largest movie theatre, the Roxy Theatre, opens in New York City.
April 7 – Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premieres at the Paris Opéra and demonstrates techniques and equipment that will not be revived for years to come, such as hand-held cameras, and what is often considered the first widescreen projection format Polyvision.
May 11 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Los Angeles by Douglas Fairbanks. The 1st Academy Awards will be awarded to films which are released in 1927 or 1928.
August 12 – Paramount's dramatic film Wings, which will go on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture, opens at the Criterion Theater in New York City, with an unheard-of roadshow admission price of $2.00 per ticket.
September 5 – Nicholas Schenck becomes president of Loews Inc. following the death of Marcus Loew.
September 7 – Oswald the Lucky Rabbit debuts in Trolley Troubles.
September 23 – Fox Films acquires the rights to the Tri-Ergon sound-on-film technology, which had been developed in 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole.
October 6 – The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, premieres at the Warner Theater in New York City. Although not the first 'talkie', The Jazz Singer becomes the first box-office hit and popularizes sound motion pictures. It is the highest-grossing movie up to this time.
December 3 – The silent short Putting Pants on Philip, the first official billing of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, is released in the United States.Ang Manananggal, the first Filipino horror film, is released in the Philippines.
Cinematograph Films Act sets a minimum quota for British films to be shown in British cinemas.
Italian Alberto Rabagliati wins a Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest and moves to Hollywood to start his acting career.The Three Tramps, the first Filipino comedy film featuring the Silos brothers, is released in the Philippines.

Academy Awards

Best Production: Wings
Best Artistic Quality: Sunrise
Best Actor: Emil Jannings for The Way of All Flesh and the 1928 movie The Last Command
Best Actress: Janet Gaynor for Seventh Heaven and Sunrise, as well as the 1928 movie Street Angel
Best Director (Dramatic Picture): Frank Borzage for Seventh Heaven
Best Director (Comedy Picture): Lewis Milestone for ''Two Arabian Knights''

Notable films released in 1927

For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1927

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Felix the Cat
Aesop's Film Fables
Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes
Alice Comedies
* Alice the Golf Bug
* Alice Foils the Pirates
* Alice at the Carnival
* Alice at the Rodeo
* Alice the Collegiate
* Alice in the Alps
* Alice's Auto Race
* Alice's Circus Daze
* Alice's Knaughty Knight
* Alice's Three Bad Eggs
* Alice's Picnic
* Alice's Channel Swim
* Alice in the Klondike
* Alice's Medicine Show
* Alice the Whaler
* Alice the Beach Nut
* Alice in the Big League
Krazy Kat
Un-Natural History
Pete the Pup
Inkwell Imps
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
* Trolley Troubles
* Oh Teacher
* The Mechanical Cow
* Great Guns!
* All Wet
* The Ocean Hop
* The Banker's Daughter
* Empty Socks
* Rickety Gin
''Newslaffs''

Births

January 4 – Barbara Rush, American actress
January 10 – Lee Philips, American actor
January 15 – Phyllis Coates, American actress
January 17 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer
January 19 - Lisa Lu, Chinese-American actress
January 22 – Walter Sparrow, English actor
January 26 - William Redfield, American actor
January 28 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director
January 29 – Peter Fernandez, American actor, voice director and writer
January 31 – Jean Speegle Howard, American actress
February 3 – Kenneth Anger, American underground experimental filmmaker and actor
February 7 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress
February 12
*Ann Gillis, American actress
*Eric Mason, British actor
*H. M. Wynant, American actor
February 14 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress
February 15 - Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian
February 16 – June Brown, English actress
February 20 – Sidney Poitier, American actor
March 1 – Harry Belafonte, American singer and actor
March 4 - Thayer David, American actor
March 7 – James Broderick, American actor and director
March 18 - George Plimpton, American actor
March 20 – Cairbre, Dublin Zoo-born Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion mascot
March 21 – Virginia Weidler, American actress
March 25 – Monique van Vooren, Belgian-American actress
March 31 – William Daniels, American actor
April 1 – Maria Eugénia, Portuguese actress
April 2
*Rita Gam, American actress
*Ken Sansom, American actor and voice actor
April 3 - Robert Hoy, American actor, stuntman and director
April 5 – Chao-Li Chi, Shanxi-born actor
April 13 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor, director and writer
April 16 – Peter Mark Richman, American actor
April 19 – Cora Sue Collins, American child actress
April 30 – Ellen Alaküla, Estonian actress
May 2 - Ray Barrett, Australian actor
May 5 – Pat Carroll, American actress
May 6 – Ettore Manni, Italian actor
May 11
*Bernard Fox, Welsh actor
*Mort Sahl, Canadian-born American comedian and actor
May 13 – Herbert Ross, American film director, producer and choreographer
May 20 – David Hedison, American actor
May 21 – Kay Kendall, English actress, comedienne
May 22 – Michael Constantine, Greek American actor
May 30 – Clint Walker, American actor
May 31 – Koreyoshi Kurahara, Malaysian-Japanese screenwriter, director
June 2 – Thomas Hill, Indian-born American character actor
June 8 – Jerry Stiller, American actor and comedian
June 9 – Waltraut Haas, Austrian actress and singer
June 15 – Ottó Foky, Hungarian animator
June 23 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, musical theatre choreographer, screenwriter and director
June 24 - Bette Ford, American actress
June 27 – Geoffrey Palmer, British actor
June 30
*Mario Lanfranchi, Italian director, screenwriter, producer and actor
*Pat McCormick, American actor and writer
July 2 - Brock Peters, American actor and singer
July 3 - Tim O'Connor, American character actor
July 4
*Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
*Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter
July 5 – Beverly Tyler, American actress, singer
July 6 – Janet Leigh, American actress
July 9
*Ed Ames, American singer and actor
*Susan Cabot, American actress
July 15
*Nan Martin, American actress
*Joe Turkel, American character actor
July 27 - Henry O, Chinese-American actor
July 30
*Richard Johnson, British actor, writer and producer
*Joan Vohs, American model, actress
August 9 – Robert Shaw, British actor and novelist
August 14 – Roger Carel, French voice actor
August 19 – L. Q. Jones, American actor
August 20 - Yootha Joyce, English actress
*August 21 – Tony Steedman, English character actor
*Barry Foster (actor), British actor
August 30 – Bill Daily, American actor
September 9 – Penelope Houston, English critic
September 12
*Freddie Jones, English actor
*Franco Latini, Italian actor and voice actor
September 13 - Beverly Polcyn, American actress
September 16 – Peter Falk, American actor
September 19
*Rosemary Harris, English actress
*William Hickey, American actor
September 20 - Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress
September 21 - Joan Hotchkis, American actress and writer
September 24 – Arthur Malet, English actor
September 26 - Patrick O'Neal, American actor
October 1 – Tom Bosley, American actor
October 7 - Al Martino, American singer and actor
October 14 – Roger Moore, English actor
October 15 – Jeannette Charles, British actress
October 16 – Eileen Ryan, American actress
October 18 – George C. Scott, American film and stage actor
October 21 - Howard Zieff, American director and producer
October 27 – Silvia Laidla, Estonian actress
November 1 – Marcel Ophuls, German-French documentary filmmaker and actor
November 3 - Florence Paterson, Canadian actress
November 12 – John Hollis, British screen actor
November 17
*Fenella Fielding, English actress
*Lynn Stalmaster, American casting director
November 14 – McLean Stevenson, American actor
November 16 - Shriram Lagoo, Indian actor
November 20
*Walter Kohut, Austrian actor
*Estelle Parsons, American actress
November 23 – Sybil Jason, American actress
November 30 – Robert Guillaume, American actor and singer
December 13 - Genevieve Page, French actress
December 26 - Chuck Hicks, American actor and stuntman
December 29 – Giorgio Capitani, Italian film director and screenwriter
December 30 – Bernard Barrow, American Actor

Deaths

January 13 – Arnold Daly, American actor, playwright and producer
March 17 – Charles Emmett Mack, American actor
April 25 – Earle Williams, American actor
May 7 – Bruce McRae, American stage and screen actor
May 16 – Sam Bernard, English stage and screen actor
May 20 – Oscar Stribolt, Danish actor
June 3 – Einar Hanson, Swedish stage and screen actor
June 4 – Robert McKim, American actor
July 26 – June Mathis, American screenwriter
September 5 – Marcus Loew, American theatre chain executive & founder of Loews Theatres
October 5 – Sam Warner, American co-founder of Warner Brothers studios
October 13 – Hughie Mack, American actor
November 4 – Valli Valli, German stage and film actress
December 6 – Kate Toncray, American actress
December 16 – Romaine Fielding, American actor and director
December 24 – Julia Bruns, American stage & film actress