1940 in film

Overview of the events of 1940 in film
Overview of the events of 1940 in film
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The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney films Pinocchio and Fantasia.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1940 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1940
Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals
1 Boom Town MGM $3,664,000[1]
2 The Great Dictator United Artists $3,500,000[2]
3 Rebecca United Artists/Selznick International $3,000,000[3]
4 The Philadelphia Story MGM $2,374,000[1]
5 Strike Up the Band $2,265,000[1]
6 Northwest Passage $2,169,000[1]
7 Andy Hardy Meets Debutante $1,945,000[1]
8 The Fighting 69th Warner Bros. $1,822,000[4]
9 Santa Fe Trail $1,748,000[4]
10 Kitty Foyle RKO $1,710,000[5][6]

Events

  • February 7 – Walt Disney's second animated feature film Pinocchio premieres at the Center Theatre in New York City. Although not a box office success upon its initial release, the film receives critical acclaim and wins two Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star". Over the years, Pinocchio has gained a cult following and is now considered one of the greatest films of all time.
  • February 10 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon Puss Gets the Boot.
  • April 12 – Alfred Hitchcock's first American film Rebecca is released, under the production of David O. Selznick. It would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • May – A reproduction of "America's First Movie Studio", Thomas Edison's Black Maria, is constructed.
  • July 27 – Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.
  • October 15 – Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, a satirical comedy starring him, premieres in New York City. It is a critical and commercial success and goes on to become Chaplin's most financially successful film.
  • November 13 – World premiere of Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia at the Broadway Theatre in New York City, the first film to be released in a multi-channel sound format (see Fantasound). The film also marks the first use of the click track while recording the soundtrack, overdubbing of orchestral parts, simultaneous multitrack recording and is cited as a key chapter in the conception and development of the multi-channel surround system. Like Pinocchio, the film is a box office failure for Disney, though it recoups its cost years later and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
  • November 25 – Woody Woodpecker makes his debut in the Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock.
  • December 5 – Release of The Thief of Bagdad, pioneering the use of chroma key effects.
  • In the United Kingdom, the Crown Film Unit supersedes the GPO Film Unit in the production of documentary films.

Academy Awards

1940 film releases

United States unless stated

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

  • October 1940
  • November 1940
    • 13 November
      • Fantasia
  • December 1940
    • 5 December
      • The Philadelphia Story
    • 13 December
      • Santa Fe Trail
    • 27 December
      • Kitty Foyle

Notable films released in 1940

United States unless stated

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

V

W

Y

Serials

Short film series

Animated short film series

Births

Deaths

Debuts

References

  1. ^ a b c d e The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Susan Sackett, The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits Billboard Books, 1996 p 28
  3. ^ Chapman, James (2018). Hitchcock and the Spy Film. ISBN 978-1-78076-844-1. Although his most successful films of the war years were Selznick pictures – Rebecca (with a domestic box office gross of $3 million) and Spellbound ($4.9 million), with Rebecca also winning the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1940 – Hitchcock seems on the whole to have preferred his other assignments where he evidently enjoyed greater creative freedom.
  4. ^ a b Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 20 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
  5. ^ Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "RKO Film Grosses, 1929-1951: the C.J. Tevlin ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 37–49. doi:10.1080/01439689400260031.
  6. ^ Jewell, Richard B. (1994). "Appendix 1". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (S1): 1–11. doi:10.1080/01439689408604545.
  7. ^ Coveney, Michael (28 January 2017). "Sir John Hurt obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  8. ^ Anderson, Tre'vell (July 16, 2017). "George A. Romero, 'Night of the Living Dead' creator, dies at 77". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

External links

  • List of 1940 films at IMDb
  • List of 1940 deaths at IMDb
  • List of 1940 births at IMDb