1963 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• January 9 – Joseph Vogel resigns as president of MGM and is replaced by Robert O'Brien.
• February 20 – The classic epic western How the West Was Won premieres in the United States. It is an instant success with both audiences and critics and becomes the biggest moneymaker for MGM since Ben-Hur.
• June 12 – Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. Its staggering production costs nearly bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox and the adulterous affair between Taylor and Burton made the publicity even worse. Cleopatra marked the only instance that a film would be the highest-grossing film of a year while still losing money, thus establishing it as, at the time, the biggest box office disaster in cinema history. The film's terrible reception harmed the reputation of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had an esteemed career for directing classics like A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, Julius Caesar, The Barefoot Contessa, Guys and Dolls, and Suddenly Last Summer. It effectively destroyed the career of its well-known producer Walter Wanger, who never worked in Hollywood or on another film again; he died five years later at the age of 74 of a heart attack. Much of the blame for the film's failures could be pointed at Taylor's super-diva personality, her health issues, her and Burton's adulterous affair, and the studio's inadequate management. It wouldn't be until two years later that Rodgers and Hammerstein's adaptation of The Sound of Music would help rescue Fox from bankruptcy by becoming one of the highest-grossing motion pictures of all time.
• November 7 – The comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World premieres, with one of the finest all-star ensemble casts ever. It is also the first comedy film ever directed by Stanley Kramer, best known for directing serious human drama films on controversial subjects like The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
• December 25 – Walt Disney's production of The Sword in the Stone premieres. It is the second adaptation of T. H. White's The Once and Future King after the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot, the first cinematic adaptation of the novel, and the 13th film adaptation of the legend of King Arthur.

  Awards

1963 film releases

January–March

• January 1963
• *16 January
• **The Hook
• **Son of Flubber
• *22 January
• **The Young Racers
• *25 January
• **The Raven
• *30 January
• **Diamond Head
• February 1963
• *13 February
• **8½
• **A Child Is Waiting
• *14 February
• **The Day Mars Invaded Earth
• *27 February
• **Follow the Boys
• March 1963
• *1 March
• **High and Low
• *3 March
• **California
• **The Long Ships
• *4 March
• **In the Cool of the Day
• *6 March
• **Diary of a Madman
• **Papa's Delicate Condition
• *7 March
• **I Could Go On Singing
• *15 March
• **House of the Damned
• *21 March
• **The Balcony
• *26 March
• **Operation Bikini
• *27 March
• **Come Fly with Me
• **The Courtship of Eddie's Father
• *28 March
• **The Birds
• **Love Is a Ball
• *29 March
• **''Miracle of the White Stallions''

  April–June

• April 1963
• *3 April
• **It Happened at the World's Fair
• **My Six Loves
• **Nine Hours to Rama
• **The Ugly American
• *4 April
• **Bye Bye Birdie
• **Call Me Bwana
• *8 April
• **The Sadist
• *13 April
• **Critic's Choice
• *17 April
• **The Man from the Diners' Club
• *21 April
• **Youth of the Beast
• *24 April
• **Free, White and 21
• *29 April
• **Flaming Creatures
• May 1963
• *May 12
• **Lord of the Flies
• *15 May
• **Black Zoo
• **Drums of Africa
• *16 May
• **Spencer's Mountain
• *20 May
• **Maniac
• *22 May
• **Dime with a Halo
• *29 May
• **55 Days at Peking
• **Hud
• **The List of Adrian Messenger
• **Tammy and the Doctor
• June 1963
• *2 June
• **Savage Sam
• *4 June
• **The Nutty Professor
• *5 June
• **Come Blow Your Horn
• **Irma la Douce
• **Lancelot and Guinevere
• *12 June
• **Cleopatra
• **Donovan's Reef
• **The Girl Hunters
• **Island of Love
• *15 June
• **The Yellow Canary
• *17 June
• **The Terror
• *19 June
• **Captain Sindbad
• **Jason and the Argonauts
• **PT 109 released five months before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
• **The Stripper
• *21 June
• **''A Gathering of Eagles''

  July–September

• July 1963
• *4 July
• **The Great Escape
• *6 July
• **Blood Feast
• *7 July
• **Summer Magic
• *17 July
• **Tarzan's Three Challenges
• **The Thrill of It All
• *31 July
• **Cattle King
• **Gidget Goes to Rome
• **Toys in the Attic
• August 1963
• *7 August
• **Beach Party
• **For Love or Money
• *10 August
• **The Young and The Brave
• *11 August
• **Matango
• *14 August
• **Flipper
• *15 August
• **Billy Liar
• **Promises! Promises!
• *17 August
• **Black Sabbath
• *18 August
• **A Ticklish Affair
• *21 August
• **Cairo
• **The Caretakers
• **The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze
• *28 August
• **The Gun Hawk
• **The Haunted Palace
• September 1963
• *2 September
• **The Cool World
• *4 September
• **The Crawling Hand
• **Wall of Noise
• *6 September
• **Goldilocks and the Three Bares
• *11 September
• **Of Love and Desire
• **Shock Corridor
• **Twice-Told Tales
• *13 September
• **The V.I.P.s
• *18 September
• **The Haunting
• **In the French Style
• **X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes
• **The Young Swingers
• *25 September
• **Dementia 13
• **Thunder Island
• *29 September
• **''Tom Jones''

  October–December

• October 1963
• *1 October
• **Lilies of the Field
• *10 October
• **From Russia with Love
• *16 October
• **Twilight of Honor
• *17 October
• **All the Way Home
• *19 October
• **Johnny Cool
• *23 October
• **Under the Yum Yum Tree
• *24 October
• **Mary, Mary
• *26 October
• **The Lost World of Sinbad
• *29 October
• **Cry of Battle
• *30 October
• **A New Kind of Love
• **The Old Dark House
• *31 October
• **The World Ten Times Over
• November 1963
• *5 November
• **Palm Springs Weekend
• *6 November
• **Gunfight at Comanche Creek
• *7 November
• **Carry On Cabby
• **It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
• *13 November
• **The Skydivers
• **Sunday in New York
• **Take Her, She's Mine
• *14 November
• **The Wheeler Dealers
• *18 November
• **The Victors
• *20 November
• **The Incredible Journey
• *23 November
• **McLintock!
• *27 November
• **Fun in Acapulco
• **Soldier in the Rain
• *28 November
• **Who's Minding the Store?
• December 1963
• *5 December
• **Charade
• *13 December
• **The Cardinal
• *15 December
• **America America
• *18 December
• **The Ceremony
• **Kings of the Sun
• **The Pink Panther
• **Samson and the Slave Queen
• *22 December
• **Atragon
• *23 December
• **Captain Newman, M.D.
• **Ladybug Ladybug
• **One Man's Way
• *25 December
• **4 for Texas
• **The Comedy of Terrors
• **Love with the Proper Stranger
• **Move Over, Darling
• **The Prize
• **The Sword in the Stone
• **Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
• *26 December
• **''Act One''