1981 in film

Events

• January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleagured concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it.
• November 29 - Off Santa Catalina Island, 43-year old actress Natalie Wood drowns during a boating accident.
• Tom Cruise makes his acting debut.

Top grossing films

North America

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford
2. Superman II
3. Stir Crazy
4. Nine To Five
5. Stripes, starring Bill Murray and Warren Oates
6. Any Which Way You Can
7. Arthur
8. The Cannonball Run
9. The Four Seasons
10. For Your Eyes Only

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Chariots of Fire - Enigma, The Ladd Company/Warner Bros.
• Best Actor: Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond
• Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond

Deaths

• January 1 - Beulah Bondi, actress
• January 10 - Richard Boone, actor
• January 16 - Bernard Lee, actor
• February 1 - Wanda Hendrix, actress
• July 27 - William Wyler, director
• August 4 - Melvyn Douglas, actor
• August 18 - Anita Loos, writer
• September 27 - Robert Montgomery, actor
• October 24 - Edith Head, costume designer
• November 16 - William Holden, actor
• November 27 - Lotte Lenya, actress
• November 29 - Natalie Wood, actress
• December 28 - Allan Dwan, pioneer film director

Other movies released

• Deprisa, Deprisa! , Golden Bear winner
• The German Sisters , Golden Lion winner
• Man of Iron , Palme d'Or winner
• Heartland, Sundance Grand Jury Prize
• Gal Young 'Un , Sundance Grand Jury Prize
• Deadly Blessing starring Sharon Stone
• Halloween II , starring Jamie Lee Curtis
• The Fox and the Hound
• Friday the 13th, Part 2
• The Great Muppet Caper
• Mommie Dearest, starring Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid
• , starring Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi
• Pennies From Heaven, starring Steve Martin, based on the 1978 BBC Television serial by Dennis Potter.
• On Golden Pond, starring Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, and Jane Fonda
• Quest for Fire also called La Guerre du feu
• Chariots of Fire
• Tarzan, the Ape Man
• Bustin' Loose
• Excaliber
• Heaven's Gate
• Reds
• The French Lieutenant's Woman
• Pixote
• Stevie
• An American Werewolf in London
• The Howling
• Absence of Malice
• Only When I Laugh
• Ragtime
• The Boat Is Full
• Sogni d'oro
• They Don't Wear Black Tie