1978 in film
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Events
- February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California
- March 1 - Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery 3 months after burial
- March - Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for Star Wars' sequel, The Empire Strikes Back
- September - George Lucas purchases Bulltail Ranch, on Lucas Valley Road, for the development of Skywalker Ranch.
- November 17 - The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS. The special gives fans their first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character from the upcoming sequel.
- US Supreme Court lists words that should not be used in movies.
- First Sundance Film Festival
Top grossing films
- North America
- Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
- Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- National Lampoon's Animal House, starring John Belushi
- Jaws 2
- Heaven Can Wait
- The Goodbye Girl
- Star Wars
- Hooper
- Foul Play
- Revenge of the Pink Panther
- Up in Smoke
Academy Awards
- Best Picture: The Deer Hunter - EMI Films/Cimino, Universal
- Best Director: Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter
- Best Actor: Jon Voight - Coming Home
- Best Actress: Jane Fonda - Coming Home
- Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
- Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith - California Suite
Births
- April 22 - Daniel Johns, singer/guitarist/songwriter
- June 1 - Danielle Harris, voice actress in The Wild Thornberrys
- August 9 - Audrey Tautou, French actress
- November 9 - Sisqo, singer/actor/songwriter
- December 18 - Katie Holmes, actress
Deaths
- January 5 - Sally Eilers, actress
- January 29 - Tim McCoy, cowboy actor, soldier
- March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer
- August 24 - Louis Prima, bandleader, voice actor ("King Louie of the Apes" in The Jungle Book)
- August 26 - Charles Boyer, actor
- August 28 - Robert Shaw, actor
- September 9 - Jack Warner, Hollywood studio founder
- September 30 - Edgar Bergen, actor
- October 16 - Dan Dailey, actor
- October 19 - Gig Young, actor
Other movies released
- Autumn Sonata
- Battlestar Galactica (Canada and most European countries only; released in U.S. theatres the following year)
- The Boys from Brazil
- Bread and Chocolate
- The Buddy Holly Story
- Bye Bye Monkey
- Comes a Horseman
- Damien: Omen II, starring William Holden
- Death on the Nile
- The Deer Hunter
- Enter the Fat Dragon starring Sammo Hung
- Every Which Way But Loose
- F.I.S.T.
- Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
- Girlfriends, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner
- Halloween, starring Jamie Lee Curtis
- Interiors
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers, remake of 1956 movie
- The Late Great Planet Earth
- The Lord of the Rings, animated film by Ralph Bakshi
- Max's Words Golden Bear winner
- Midnight Express
- Pretty Baby
- Superman, starring Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve
- The Tree of Wooden Clogs Palme d'Or winner
- The Trout Golden Bear winner
- Two Solitudes
- An Unmarried Woman