This is the list of highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union, in terms of box office admissions (ticket sales). It includes the highest-grossing films in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

(USSR), the highest-grossing domestic Soviet films, the domestic films with the greatest number of ticket sales by year, and the highest-grossing foreign films in the Soviet Union. Note that, in line with the definition above, this list does not include any

Soviet television Television in the Soviet Union was owned, controlled and censored by the state. The body governing television in the era of the Soviet Union was the Gosteleradio committee, which was responsible for both the Soviet Central Television and the All ...

series or

television movies Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, which were not shown in

cinemas A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

of the Soviet Union. The annual list includes sales during each year only, which often means that the total number of tickets sold was bigger. As an example, according to the list below the film ''

The Red Snowball Tree ''The Red Snowball Tree'' (russian: Калина красная, Kalina krasnaya) is a 1974 Soviet drama film written and directed by Vasily Shukshin. It was the most successful film of that year. In total, the film sold an estimated 140million ...

'', the top seller of the year 1974, sold 62.5 million tickets during that year. But the total number of sold tickets during all years was bigger; Boris Pavlenok, former deputy director of the USSR GosKino, estimated 140 million. This figure is comparable to some of the United States' all-time highest ticket sellers, such as ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'', ''

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...

'', and ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'', exceeding the latter's estimated ticket sales of 135.5 million. In the mid-1960s, the Soviet

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

annually sold tickets and grossed Rbls, equivalent to ( inflation-adjusted ). In 1973, annual box office admissions reached ticket sales, equivalent to (inflation-adjusted )

gross revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

and per person, more than any other country at the time. Soviet ticket prices were lower than American ticket prices, due to lower living costs in the Soviet Union. Ticket prices ranged from to in 1950, before decreasing to by the mid-1960s, then increasing to by 1973 and then by 1982. Both domestic Soviet films and foreign films were shown, the latter having a limited quota and thus drawing higher average ticket sales than domestic productions. Indian films had the strongest presence in the foreign blockbuster charts for four decades, followed by

American films This is a list of films produced by the American film industry from the earliest films of the 1890s to the present. Films are listed by year of release on separate pages, either in alphabetical order (1900–2013) or in chronological order ( ...

. Foreign imports included 300 Indian films (most of which were

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

films), 41 American films (

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

), and 38

French films This is a list of films produced in the French cinema, ordered by year and decade of release on separate pages. Before 1910 * List of French films before 1910 1910s * List of French films of 1910 * List of French films of 1911 * List of Fre ...

Highest-grossing films

Including re-runs

Initial runs

Highest-grossing by year

Highest-grossing domestic films

Including re-runs

Initial runs

Highest-grossing by year

Highest-grossing foreign films

This is a list of foreign films that sold the most tickets at the Soviet box office. Among the foreign films that sold more than 20 million tickets in the Soviet Union, 50 were Indian films (

Highest-grossing films

Including re-runs

Initial runs

Highest-grossing by year

Highest-grossing domestic films

Including re-runs

Initial runs

Highest-grossing by year

Highest-grossing foreign films

Including re-runs

Initial runs

Highest-grossing by year

See also

Notes

References

External links