| Rank | Release
| Weekly | Weekend | % of Week | Weekdays | % of Week | Theaters | Week | Distributor
| New This Week
| Estimated
|
|---|
| 1 | Whose Life Is It Anyway? | $6,106,145 | $1,348,576 | 22.1% | $4,757,569 | 77.9% | 615 | 9 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | - | false |
| 2 | On Golden Pond | $6,054,139 | $3,853,902 | 63.7% | $2,200,237 | 36.3% | 534 | 8 | Universal Pictures | - | false |
| 3 | Absence of Malice | $2,792,778 | $2,097,019 | 75.1% | $695,759 | 24.9% | 965 | 10 | Columbia Pictures | - | false |
| 4 | Taps | $2,638,483 | $2,006,988 | 76.1% | $631,495 | 23.9% | 792 | 8 | Twentieth Century Fox | - | false |
| 5 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | $2,105,075 | $1,788,556 | 85% | $316,519 | 15% | 740 | 33 | Paramount Pictures | - | false |
| 6 | Vice Squad | $1,955,016 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | Embassy Pictures | - | false |
| 7 | The Seduction | $1,895,542 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | Embassy Pictures | - | false |
| 8 | Sharky's Machine | $1,819,444 | $1,327,346 | 73% | $492,098 | 27% | 801 | 6 | Warner Bros. | - | false |
| 9 | Private Lessons | $1,669,009 | $1,056,158 | 63.3% | $612,851 | 36.7% | 179 | 22 | Jensen Farley Pictures | - | false |
| 10 | Modern Problems | $1,581,396 | $1,241,189 | 78.5% | $340,207 | 21.5% | 797 | 5 | Twentieth Century Fox | - | false |
| 11 | Reds | $1,500,342 | $1,220,633 | 81.4% | $279,709 | 18.6% | 573 | 8 | Paramount Pictures | - | false |
| 12 | Ragtime | $1,064,247 | $851,000 | 80% | $213,247 | 20% | 350 | 10 | Paramount Pictures | - | false |
| 13 | Neighbors | $860,066 | $609,444 | 70.9% | $250,622 | 29.1% | 550 | 6 | Columbia Pictures | - | false |
| 14 | Arthur | $479,270 | $359,415 | 75% | $119,855 | 25% | 282 | 28 | Warner Bros. | - | false |
| 15 | Chariots of Fire | $371,178 | $259,453 | 69.9% | $111,725 | 30.1% | 36 | 18 | Columbia Pictures | - | false |
| 16 | Rollover | $304,670 | $210,273 | 69% | $94,397 | 31% | 260 | 7 | Warner Bros. | - | false |
| - | Pennies from Heaven | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | - | false |
| - | Ghost Story | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | Universal Pictures | - | false |
| - | Time Bandits | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | Embassy Pictures | - | false |
| - | Cinderella 1981 Re-release | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | - | false |
