1,425 films on the site were released in 1980, and 85 have enough critic or audience ratings to be ranked. Raging Bull tops the list, ahead of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Wise Blood. The biggest hit was Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back with $550M worldwide, and Ordinary People won Best Picture at the 1981 Oscars.
Raging Bull is the best-rated film of 1980, with a rank value of 88/100 from critics and audiences, ahead of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (85/100). Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
#1 of 85 Best-rated film of 1980
1980 Biography Drama Sport 2h 9m English
90 Metascore $23.4M worldwide
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Raging Bull earned $23.4M worldwide; the year's biggest hit, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, earned $550M.
About Raging BullStar Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Wise Blood follow Raging Bull. Drama is the most common genre in the top 25 (15 films). Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
1980 · Action, Adventure · 2h 4m
Dir. Irvin Kershner No Echo Score: ranked 85/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 46m
No Echo Score: ranked 84/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama · 2h 4m
No Echo Score: ranked 83/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, Romance · 3h 6m
Dir. Roman Polanski No Echo Score: ranked 81/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, History · 3h
Dir. Akira Kurosawa No Echo Score: ranked 81/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Biography, Drama · 2h 4m
Dir. Michael Apted No Echo Score: ranked 79/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Thriller, Horror · 2h 26m
Dir. Stanley Kubrick No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, Crime · 1h 38m
Dir. Alan Clarke No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Comedy · 1h 28m
Dir. David Zucker No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Biography, Drama · 2h 4m
Dir. David Lynch No Echo Score: ranked 77/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Action, Drama · 1h 53m
Dir. Samuel Fuller No Echo Score: ranked 77/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, History · 1h 47m
Dir. Bruce Beresford No Echo Score: ranked 75/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Mystery, Thriller · 1h 45m
Dir. Brian De Palma No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Action, Drama · 2h 11m
Dir. Richard Rush No Echo Score: ranked 72/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Western · 1h 40m
Dir. Walter Hill No Echo Score: ranked 71/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Action, Comedy · 1h 51m
Dir. Woo-ping Yuen No Echo Score: ranked 71/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 36m
No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Action, Adventure · 1h 28m
Dir. George Miller No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Horror · 1h 47m
Dir. Peter Medak No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, Thriller · 2h 3m
Dir. John Cassavetes No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Adventure, Mystery · 1h 15m
Dir. Phil Roman No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Comedy · 1h 53m
Dir. Robert Zemeckis No Echo Score: ranked 69/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama, War · 2h 22m
Dir. Volker Schlöndorff No Echo Score: ranked 68/100 on critics & audiences
1980 · Drama · 1h 47m
Dir. Robert Kaylor No Echo Score: ranked 68/100 on critics & audiences
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back earned $550M worldwide, ahead of The Blues Brothers ($115.2M). The top 10 took $1.3B together; 130 films released in 1980 have a box office record here. Grosses that look like data errors are left out.
#1 $550M worldwide Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back $292.8M domestic · Action 
#2 $115.2M worldwide The Blues Brothers $57.2M domestic · Action 
#3 $103.3M worldwide 9 to 5 $103.3M domestic · Comedy 
#4 $101.3M worldwide Stir Crazy $101.3M domestic · Comedy #5 $83.5M worldwide Airplane! $83.5M domestic · Comedy 
#6 $70.7M worldwide Any Which Way You Can $70.7M domestic · Action 
#7 $69.8M worldwide Private Benjamin $69.8M domestic · Comedy #8 $67.2M worldwide Coal Miner's Daughter $67.2M domestic · Biography 
#9 $66.1M worldwide Smokey and the Bandit II $66.1M domestic · Action 
#10 $58.9M worldwide The Blue Lagoon $58.9M domestic · Adventure Ordinary People leads with 5 wins from 17 nominations, then Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back with 5 wins. Ordinary People won Best Picture at the 1981 Oscars. In all, 34 films released in 1980 have award nominations on the site, with 32 wins between them.
The highest-ranked 1980 film of 12 genres, from Biography (Raging Bull) to Western (The Long Riders). Each film appears once, under its first genre that is still free.
Raging Bull 90 Metascore Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 82 Metascore Wise Blood 84 Metascore Tess 82 Metascore Kagemusha 84 Metascore Coal Miner's Daughter 84 Metascore The Shining 68 Metascore Scum 78 Metascore Airplane! 78 Metascore The Big Red One 77 Metascore Dressed to Kill 74 Metascore The Long Riders 68 Metascore March was the busiest month of 1980 with 138 releases; its best-rated film is Coal Miner's Daughter. January shows 254 because films whose exact release day is unknown are stored on January 1.
43% of 1980's films with a known language are in English (598). Italian comes next with 88 films, out of 50 languages in all.
A best-of page for each of 55 years, from 1900 to 2026 (so far). Before 1980 there is one page per decade, for its first year (1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970); from 1980 every year has its own.
Quick answers about 1980's best-rated films, biggest hits and awards, from the lists above.
Raging Bull is the best-rated film of 1980 on What's After the Movie, with a rank value of 88/100 from critics and audiences. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is second and Wise Blood third. Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
About Raging BullStar Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back earned $550M worldwide, the most of any 1980 release on the site. The Blues Brothers follows with $115.2M.
1980 box officeOrdinary People (1980) won Best Picture at the 1981 Academy Awards.
Ordinary PeopleOrdinary People has the best award record of the 1980 releases on the site: 5 wins from 17 nominations.
1981 awards seasonThe site lists 1,425 films released in 1980. 85 of them are ranked, and March had the most releases with a known day (138).
Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases). Only feature films count (60 minutes or longer, no concert recordings), and a film needs enough ratings, box office or award attention to be ranked.
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