1953 in film


The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
RankTitleDistributorDomestic rentals
1The Robe20th Century Fox$17,500,000
2From Here to EternityColumbia$12,200,000
3ShaneParamount$8,000,000
4How to Marry a Millionaire20th Century Fox$7,300,000
5Peter PanRKO/Walt Disney$6,000,000
6House of WaxWarner Bros.$5,500,000
7Gentlemen Prefer Blondes20th Century Fox$5,100,000
8SalomeColumbia$4,750,000
9MogamboMGM$4,576,000
10Knights of the Round TableMGM$4,518,000

Events

  • January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters.
  • February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership with RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959.
  • February 25 - Jacques Tati's film Les Vacances de M. Hulot is released in France, introducing the gauche character of Monsieur Hulot.
  • July 1 – Stalag 17, directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made. Holden wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.
  • August 5 – Fred Zinnemann's romantic and war masterpiece From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed, premieres.
  • August 27 – William Wyler's romantic comedy Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, is premièred and propels Hepburn to super stardom.
  • September 16 – Religious epic The Robe, starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons, debuts as the first widescreen anamorphic film in cinema history, filmed in CinemaScope grossing a record $36,000 for a single theatre in its first day. It went on to gross a record $264,428 in its first week.
  • November 21 – Monogram Pictures, which had stopped releasing pictures under that banner from the start of the year, changes its name to Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

    Awards

Notable films released in 1953

unless stated

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