Domestic Box Office For January 1982
| Rank | Release | Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Release Date | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | $163,179,207 | 1,078 | $212,222,025 | Jun 12 | Paramount Pictures |
| 2 | Arthur | $77,838,440 | 701 | $95,461,682 | Jul 17 | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | Time Bandits | $33,069,358 | 821 | $42,365,581 | Nov 6 | Embassy Pictures |
| 4 | Cinderella 1981 Re-release | $26,306,666 | 1,050 | $28,040,000 | Dec 18 | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| 5 | Absence of Malice | $25,441,099 | 994 | $40,716,963 | Nov 20 | Columbia Pictures |
| 6 | Sharky's Machine | $25,375,760 | 1,388 | $35,610,100 | Dec 18 | Warner Bros. |
| 7 | Taps | $23,377,682 | 792 | $35,856,053 | Dec 9 | Twentieth Century Fox |
| 8 | Reds | $22,539,523 | 644 | $40,382,659 | Dec 4 | Paramount Pictures |
| 9 | Ghost Story | $20,088,838 | 600 | $23,371,905 | Dec 16 | Universal Pictures |
| 10 | Neighbors | $19,083,389 | 1,387 | $29,916,207 | Dec 18 | Columbia Pictures |
| 11 | Modern Problems | $16,963,829 | 1,119 | $26,154,211 | Dec 25 | Twentieth Century Fox |
| 12 | Ragtime | $14,169,937 | 447 | $14,920,781 | Nov 20 | Paramount Pictures |
| 13 | On Golden Pond | $9,664,215 | 1,015 | $119,285,432 | Dec 4 | Universal Pictures |
| 14 | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | $7,454,721 | 615 | $8,206,145 | Dec 2 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
| 15 | Rollover | $6,914,406 | 755 | $10,851,261 | Dec 11 | Warner Bros. |
| 16 | Chariots of Fire | $5,491,350 | 810 | $58,972,904 | Sep 25 | Columbia Pictures |
| 17 | Pennies from Heaven | $3,491,289 | 315 | $9,171,289 | Dec 11 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
| 18 | Vice Squad | $3,006,366 | 510 | $13,253,583 | Jan 22 | Embassy Pictures |
| 19 | The Seduction | $2,816,077 | 597 | $11,378,339 | Jan 22 | Embassy Pictures |
| 20 | Private Lessons | $2,364,886 | 224 | $26,279,000 | Aug 28 | - |
| 21 | Buddy Buddy | $1,847,543 | 248 | $7,258,543 | Dec 11 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
| 22 | The Border | $516,014 | 888 | $6,118,683 | Jan 29 | Universal Pictures |
