1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved several significant events.
Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures celebrated their 60th anniversaries and Motion Picture Association of America celebrated their 50th anniversary.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1972 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
| 1 | The Godfather | Paramount | $86,300,000 |
| 2 | The Poseidon Adventure | 20th Century Fox | $42,000,000 |
| 3 | What's Up, Doc? | Warner Bros. | $28,000,000 |
| 4 | Deliverance | Warner Bros. | $22,500,000 |
| 5 | Jeremiah Johnson | Warner Bros. | $21,900,000 |
| 6 | Cabaret | Allied Artists | $20,250,000 |
| 7 | Deep Throat | Bryanston | $20,000,000 |
| 8 | The Getaway | National General | $18,000,000 |
| 9 | Brother of the Wind | Sun International | $12,000,000 |
| 10 | Lady Sings the Blues | Paramount | $9,666,000 |
Awards
Palme d'Or :'''Golden Bear :'''
1972 films
By country/region
- List of American films of 1972
- List of Argentine films of 1972
- List of Australian films of 1972
- List of Bangladeshi films of 1972
- List of British films of 1972
- List of Canadian films of 1972
- List of French films of 1972
- List of Hong Kong films of 1972
- List of Indian films of 1972
- * List of Hindi films of 1972
- * List of Kannada films of 1972
- * List of Malayalam films of 1972
- * List of Marathi films of 1972
- * List of Tamil films of 1972
- * List of Telugu films of 1972
- *
- List of Italian films of 1972
- List of Japanese films of 1972
- List of Mexican films of 1972
- List of Pakistani films of 1972
- List of South Korean films of 1972
- List of Soviet films of 1972
- List of Spanish films of 1972
By genre/medium
- List of action films of 1972
- List of animated feature films of 1972
- List of avant-garde films of 1972
- List of comedy films of 1972
- List of drama films of 1972
- List of horror films of 1972
- List of science fiction films of 1972
- List of thriller films of 1972
- List of western films of 1972
Births
- January 5 - Luciana Pedraza, Argentine actress and director
- January 9 – Deon Cole, American actor
- January 11
- *Marc Blucas, American actor
- *Konstantin Khabensky, Russian actor and director
- *Amanda Peet, American actress
- January 12 - Zabryna Guevara, American actress
- January 15 – Kobe Tai, Taiwanese-American actress
- January 16 - Richard T. Jones, American actor
- January 20 - Adrian Martinez, American actor and comedian
- January 22 - Romi Park, Japanese actress and singer
- January 23 -
- * Léa Drucker, French actress
- * Ewen Bremner, Scottish character actor
- January 26 - Cyia Batten, American dancer, model and actress
- January 28
- *Peter McDonald, Irish actor and director
- *Gillian Vigman, American actress, comedian and screenwriter
- February 1 - Tego Calderón, Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor
- February 6 - Richard Coyle, English actor
- February 7 - Robyn Lively, American actress
- February 8 - Guillaume Gallienne, French actor, screenwriter and director
- February 9
- *Crispin Freeman, American voice actor
- *Darwin Shaw, British actor and director
- February 16 - Sarah Clarke, American actress
- February 20 – Gareth Unwin, English producer
- February 24 - James Bachman, English comedian, actor and writer
- February 26
- *Keith Ferguson, American voice actor
- *Maz Jobrani, American comedian and actor
- February 28 - Rory Cochrane, American actor
- March 4 – Garth Jennings, English film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer
- March 8 - Matt Nable, Australian actor and writer
- March 9
- *Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress and singer
- *Kerr Smith, American actor
- March 13 – Common, American actor and singer
- March 16 - Nicolas Bro, Danish actor
- March 18 – Dane Cook, American comedian
- March 23 – Judith Godrèche, French actress
- March 24
- *Charlie Creed-Miles, English actor and musician
- *Tony Leondis, Greek-American animator, filmmaker and voice actor
- March 26 – Leslie Mann, American actress
- March 28
- *Nick Frost, English actor, comedian, writer and producer
- *David Vadim, Ukrainian-born American actor
- *Ledisi, American singer-songwriter and actress
- March 29 - Sam Hazeldine, English actor
- March 31 – Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish director, writer and soundtrack composer
- April 3 - Catherine McCormack, English actress
- April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress and voice actress
- April 6 - Jason Hervey, American actor and producer
- April 8 - Sung Kang, American actor
- April 10 - Vincent Zhao, Chinese actor and martial artist
- April 15 - Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
- April 17 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
- April 18 - Eli Roth, American director, screenwriter, producer and actor
- April 20 - Carmen Electra, American actress, singer and model
- April 26 - Bronagh Gallagher, Irish actress and singer
- April 28 - Gabriel Casseus, American actor and screenwriter
- April 29 – Derek Mears, American actor and stuntman
- May 1 - Julie Benz, American actress
- May 2 – Dwayne Johnson, American actor
- May 4 - John Rawls, New Zealand actor
- May 7 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, South Korean-born American story artist and director
- May 10 - Cary Guffey, American former child actor
- May 12
- *Christian Campbell, Canadian actor
- *Rhea Seehorn, American actress and director
- May 14
- *Gabriel Mann, American actor and model
- *Ben Weber, American actor
- May 15
- *Ashley McGuire, British actress
- *Tom Wu, Hong Kong-born British actor
- May 16 - Khary Payton, American actor
- May 20 - Busta Rhymes, American rapper and actor
- May 21 - Olga Sosnovska, Polish actress
- May 22
- *Max Brooks, American actor
- *Alison Eastwood, American director and actress
- May 25 - Karan Johar, Indian director
- May 26 - Selenis Leyva, American actress
- May 28
- *Kate Ashfield, English actress
- *Chiara Mastroianni, French actress
- *Roland Møller, Danish actor
- May 29 - Laverne Cox, American actress
- May 30 - Joachim Rønning, Norwegian director
- May 31 - Archie Panjabi, British actress
- June 1 - Rick Gomez, American actor
- June 2
- *Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, producer and game show host
- *Wentworth Miller, American-British actor and screenwriter
- June 7 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- June 16 - John Cho, American actor
- June 19
- *Jean Dujardin, French actor
- *Robin Tunney, American actress
- June 23 – Selma Blair, American actress
- June 28
- *Brendan Hunt, American actor and writer
- *Alessandro Nivola, American actor
- June 30 - Molly Parker, Canadian actress, writer and director
- July 3 - Matt Schulze, American actor and musician
- July 4 - Claire Price, English actress
- July 5 – Gilles Lellouche, French actor and director
- July 7 - Heather Kafka, American actress
- July 10
- *Christoph Hochhäusler, German film director and screenwriter
- *Peter Serafinowicz, English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter
- *Sofia Vergara, Colombian American actress, television producer, presenter and model
- *John Viener, American actor, voice actor, writer and comedian
- July 11 - Michael Rosenbaum, American actor, director, producer, singer and comedian
- July 12 – Nenad Jezdić, Serbian actor
- July 14 - Deborah Mailman, Australian actress and singer
- July 15 – Scott Foley, American actor, director and screenwriter
- July 23 - Marlon Wayans, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
- July 26 - Spencer Wilding, Welsh actor and stuntman
- July 27 – Maya Rudolph, American actress and comedian
- July 28
- *Elizabeth Berkley, American actress
- *Evan Farmer, American actor and musician
- July 29
- *Ato Essandoh, American actor
- *Wil Wheaton, American actor
- August 1
- *Guri Weinberg, Israeli-American actor and writer
- *Charles Malik Whitfield, American actor
- August 2 - Jacinda Barrett, Australian-American actress
- August 5
- *Darren Shahlavi, English actor, martial artist and stuntman
- *Reika Kirishima, Japanese actress
- August 7
- *Dan Payne, Canadian actor
- *Greg Serano, American actor
- August 9 - Ryan Bollman, American actor
- August 10 - Angie Harmon, American actress
- August 13 - Michael Sinterniklaas, French voice actor
- August 15
- *Ben Affleck, American actor, director and writer
- *Matthew Wood, American sound editor and voice actor
- August 24 - Ava DuVernay, American filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
- August 25 - Joe Wright, English director
- August 30 – Cameron Diaz, American actress
- September 4
- *Carlos Ponce, Puerto Rican actor, musician, model and television personality
- *Françoise Yip, Canadian actress
- September 6
- *Dylan Bruno, American actor
- *Idris Elba, English actor
- *Mait Malmsten, Estonian actor
- *Anika Noni Rose, American actress and singer
- September 7 – Matthew Sleeth, Australian director
- September 8
- *Giovanni Frezza, Italian child actor
- *Tomokazu Seki, Japanese voice actor
- September 9
- *Adam James, English actor
- *Goran Visnjic, Croatian-American actor
- September 14 - Nakamura Shidō II, Japanese actor
- September 15 - John Schwab, American actor
- September 16
- *Mike Doyle, American actor
- *Alex Rice, Aboriginal-Canadian actress
- September 21
- *Kevin Downes, American actor, writer, producer and director
- *Erin Fitzgerald, Canadian voice actress
- September 24
- *Kate Fleetwood, English actress
- *Finty Williams, English actress
- September 26 - Melanie Paxson, American actress
- September 27 – Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
- October 5 - Tom Hooper, British-Australian filmmaker
- October 8
- *Enrique Arce, Spanish actor
- *Tricia Vessey, American actress, writer and producer
- October 9 - Cocoa Brown, American actress, writer and comedian
- October 11 - Claudia Black, Australian actress
- October 12 - Sönke Möhring, German actor
- October 15 - Matt Keeslar, American former actor
- October 17 – Eminem, American rapper and actor
- October 18 - Christopher Knights, English voice actor, editor and cinematographer
- October 20 - Thor Freudenthal, German director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist
- October 21 - Masakazu Morita, Japanese actor, voice actor and singer
- October 22 – Saffron Burrows, English-American actress
- October 23 - Kate del Castillo, Mexican-American actress
- October 29 - Gabrielle Union, American actress, voice artist, activist and author
- October 30
- *David Wilson Barnes, American actor
- *Jessica Hynes, English actress, director and writer
- *Steve Monroe, American actor and stand-up comedian
- October 31 - Assaf Cohen, American actor
- November 1
- *Toni Collette, Australian actress, producer and singer-songwriter
- *Jenny McCarthy, American actress
- November 2 - Steve Edge, English actor, writer and former comedian
- November 6
- *Thandiwe Newton, English actress
- *Rebecca Romijn, American actress
- November 7
- *Christopher Daniel Barnes, American actor and writer
- *Jeremy and Jason London, American actors
- November 8
- *Gretchen Mol, American actress
- *Jason Matthew Smith, American actor
- November 9 - Eric Dane, American actor
- November 10 - Trevor Devall, Canadian voice actor and podcaster
- November 11
- *Adam Beach, Canadian actor
- *Tyler Christopher, American actor
- November 13 - Takuya Kimura, Japanese actor, singer and radio personality
- November 14 – Josh Duhamel, American actor
- November 15 – Jonny Lee Miller, English actor
- November 16
- *Mohammad Rasoulof, Iranian independent filmmaker
- *Michael Irby, American actor
- November 19
- *Nicole Forester, American actress
- *Sandrine Holt, British-born Canadian actress
- November 21 - Rain Phoenix, American actress, musician and singer
- November 26 – Arjun Rampal, Indian actor
- November 28 - Michael Blackson, Ghanaian actor and comedian
- November 29 - Brian Baumgartner, American actor
- December 2 - Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Norwegian actor and director
- December 4 - Yūko Miyamura, Japanese actress and voice actress
- December 7 – Jennifer Syme, American entertainment industry employee
- December 9 - Reiko Aylesworth, American actress
- December 14
- *Jason Barry, Irish actor
- *Miranda Hart, English actress, comedian and writer
- December 15 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
- December 16 - Lisa Spoonauer, American former character actress
- December 18 - Jason Mantzoukas, American character actor, comedian, writer and podcaster.
- December 19 – Alyssa Milano, American actress
- December 20 - Marc Silk, English voice actor
- December 22 - Poorna Jagannathan, American producer and actress
- December 23 – Christian Potenza, Canadian actor and voice actor
- December 24 – Carmen Moore, Canadian actress
- December 25 - Patrick Brennan, American actor
- December 26 – Shane Meadows, English independent film director
- December 27
- *Brandon Auret, South African actor
- *Thomas Wilson Brown, American actor
- December 28 - Supakorn Kitsuwon, Thai actor
- December 29
- *Jude Law, English actor
- *Leonor Varela, Chilean actress