1963 in film

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The year 1963 in film involved some significant events, including the big-budget epic Cleopatra, Alfred Hitchcock's horror The Birds, and two films with all-star casts, How the West Was Won and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Events

February 20 – The classic epic western How the West Was Won premieres.
June 12 – Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. Its staggering production costs nearly bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox and the adulterous affair between Taylor and Burton made the publicity even worse. Cleopatra marked the only instance that a film would be the highest-grossing film of a year while still losing money, thus establishing it as, at the time, the biggest box office disaster in cinema history. The film's terrible reception harmed the reputation of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had an esteemed career for directing classics like A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, Julius Caesar, The Barefoot Contessa, Guys and Dolls, and Suddenly, Last Summer. It effectively destroyed the career of its well-known producer Walter Wanger, who never worked in Hollywood or on another film again; he died five years later at the age of 74 of a heart attack. Much of the blame of the film's failures could be pointed at Taylor's super-diva personality, her and Burton's adulterous affair, and the studio's inadequate management. It wouldn't be until two years later that Rodgers and Hammerstein's adaptation of The Sound of Music would help rescue Fox from bankruptcy by becoming one of the highest-grossing motion pictures of all time.
November 7 – The classic comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World premieres and it boasts one of the finest all-star ensemble casts ever, easily the most impressive for a comedy. It is also the first comedy film ever directed by Stanley Kramer, best known for directing serious human drama films on controversial subjects like The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
December 25 – Walt Disney's production of The Sword in the Stone premieres. It is the second adaptation of T. H. White's The Once and Future King after the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot, the first cinematic adaptation of the novel, and the 13th film adaptation of the legend of King Arthur.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Rank	Title	Studio	Director(s)	Actors	Gross
1.	Cleopatra	20th Century Fox	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, Martin Landau	$57,777,778^[1]
2.	How the West Was Won	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Cinerama	Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall	James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Carroll Baker, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Preston, Karl Malden, George Peppard, Agnes Moorehead, Lee J. Cobb, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Walter Brennan, Thelma Ritter, Brigid Bazlen, Harry Morgan, Carolyn Jones	$46,500,000^[2]
3.	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	United Artists	Stanley Kramer	Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hackett, Terry-Thomas, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Dorothy Provine, Phil Silvers, Edie Adams, Dick Shawn, Peter Falk, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Jimmy Durante	$46,332,858^[3]
4.	Tom Jones	United Artists	Tony Richardson	Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, David Tomlinson	$37,600,000^[4]
5.	Irma la Douce	United Artists / The Mirisch Corporation	Billy Wilder	Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine	$25,246,588^[5]
6.	The Sword in the Stone	Walt Disney Productions	Wolfgang Reitherman	Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson, Junius Matthews, Martha Wentworth, Sebastian Cabot, Norman Alden, Thurl Ravenscroft	$22,182,353^[6]
7.	Son of Flubber	Walt Disney Productions	Robert Stevenson	Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Ed Wynn, Tommy Kirk	$22,129,412^[7]
8.	The Birds	Universal Pictures	Alfred Hitchcock	Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Veronica Cartwright, Suzanne Pleshette	$18,500,900
9.	Dr. No	United Artists	Terence Young	Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Bernard Lee, Anthony Dawson, John Kitzmiller	$16,067,035^[8]
10.	The V.I.P.s	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Anthony Asquith	Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Maggie Smith, Orson Welles, Rod Taylor, Elsa Martinelli, Margaret Rutherford	$15,000,000^[9]
11.	McLintock!	United Artists	Andrew V. McLaglen	John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Patrick Wayne, Yvonne De Carlo, Stefanie Powers, Jack Kruschen, Chill Wills	$14,500,000^[10]
12.	Charade	Universal Pictures	Stanley Donen	Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy	$13,474,588^[11]
13.	Bye Bye Birdie	Columbia Pictures	George Sidney	Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell, Paul Lynde, Maureen Stapleton, Jesse Pearson	$13,129,412^[12]
14.	Move Over, Darling	20th Century Fox	Michael Gordon	Doris Day, James Garner, Don Knotts, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Chuck Connors, Edgar Buchanan	$12,705,882^[13]
15.	Come Blow Your Horn	Paramount Pictures	Bud Yorkin	Frank Sinatra, Lee J. Cobb, Molly Picon, Barbara Rush	$12,000,000^[14]
16.	The Thrill of It All	Universal Pictures	Norman Jewison	Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis, Edward Andrews, Reginald Owen	$11,779,093^[15]
17.	The Great Escape	United Artists	John Sturges	Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton, Angus Lennie, Nigel Stock, Robert Graf, Jud Taylor, William Russell	$11,744,471^[16]
18.	The Cardinal	Columbia Pictures	Otto Preminger	Tom Tryon, Romy Schneider, Carol Lynley, Dorothy Gish	$11,170,588^[17]
19.	Hud	Paramount Pictures	Martin Ritt	Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Brandon deWilde, Melvyn Douglas	$10,000,000^[18]
20.	55 Days at Peking	Allied Artists	Nicholas Ray	Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven, Flora Robson, Leo Genn, Harry Andrews	$10,000,000^[19]
21.	Captain Newman, M.D.	Universal Pictures	David Miller	Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert, Bobby Darin	$8,500,000^[20]
22.	Love with the Proper Stranger	Paramount Pictures	Robert Mulligan	Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen, Edie Adams, Herschel Bernardi, Harvey Lembeck, Tom Bosley	$7,200,000^[20]
23.	8½	Columbia Pictures / Embassy Pictures	Federico Fellini	Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk	$7,000,000^[21]
24.	Donovan's Reef	Paramount Pictures	John Ford	John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Jack Warden, Elizabeth Allen, Cesar Romero	$6,600,000^[22]
25.	Lilies of the Field	United Artists	Ralph Nelson	Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams, Dan Frazer	$6,000,000^[23]
26.	Promises! Promises!	Independent film	King Donovan	Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, Tommy Noonan	$3,775,000
27.	The Haunting	MGM	Robert Wise	Julie Harris (actress), Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn	$2,616,000^[24]