The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1959 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
January 23 – Republic Pictures releases its last production, Plunderers of Painted Flats. January 29 – Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, Sleeping Beauty in Beverly Hills. It is Disney's first animated film to be shown in 70mm and modern 6-track stereophonic sound, but its last fairytale adaptation until 1989. Also on the program is Disney's new "pictorial interpretation" Grand Canyon, which uses the music of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Grand Canyon wins an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). April 30 – François Truffaut's The 400 Blows opens the 1959 Cannes Film Festival bringing international attention to the French New Wave. June 4 – The Three Stooges release their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters. June 7 – A contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions is signed specifying a payment of $10 million plus 60% of the profits for 14 films over a seven-year period. This contract makes Lewis the highest paid individual Hollywood talent to date and is unprecedented in that he has unlimited creative control, including final cut, and the return of film rights after 30 years. July 1 - Herbert J. Yates, founder of Republic Pictures, sells his controlling stake in the company. July – Les Cousins, another film of the French New Wave, wins the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. July 22 – Joseph E. Levine promotes the release of Hercules in the United States starring Steve Reeves which popularizes the sword and sandals genre. August 4 – The Big Fisherman is the first film released in Super Panavision 70. September 30 – The film of Mise Éire, made by George Morrison for Gael Linn, is premiered to close the Cork Film Festival, the first feature-length Irish language film. October 7 – Rock Hudson, who is later voted top in the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll for the year, appears in Pillow Talk alongside Doris Day for the first time. October 14 – Legendary Australian-born actor Errol Flynn dies of a heart attack in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 50. November 18 – William Wyler's Ben-Hur, the most expensive film up to this date with a budget of $15,175,000, premieres at Loew's State Theatre (New York City). It goes on to win a record 11 Academy Awards. Principal photography had wrapped on January 7 with filming the last shots of the crucifixion scene at Cinecittà in Rome. December 2 – The battle of the smellies starts with the release of the documentary Behind the Great Wall in AromaRama, with scents pumped into the theater during the film.
Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), directed by Marcel Camus, France
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Il Generale della Rovere (General della Rovere), directed by Roberto Rossellini, Italy / France La grande guerra (The Great War), directed by Mario Monicelli, Italy / France
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): Les Cousins (The Cousins), directed by Claude Chabrol, France
1959 film releases
United States unless stated
January–March
January 1959
2 January
Kaagaz Ke Phool (India) 6 January The Captain's Table 13 January Guns, Girls and Gangsters 16 January Anari (India) 22 January Room at the Top (Britain) The Tiger of Eschnapur (West Germany) 25 January The Law (Italy) 28 January The Trap 29 January Sleeping Beauty February 1959 11 February The Hanging Tree 12 February The Black Orchid 15 February No Name on the Bullet Ride Lonesome 17 February House on Haunted Hill 19 February The Journey 22 February Model for Murder 24 February Make Mine a Million (Britain) 26 February City of Fear March 1959 3 March The Giant Behemoth A Stranger in My Arms 4 March Up Periscope 5 March Carry On Nurse (Britain) 6 March Breakout 8 March Too Many Crooks (Britain) 10 March Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (Britain) 11 March Les Cousins (France) 12 March The 39 Steps 18 March The Diary of Anne Frank The Sad Horse 19 March Green Mansions The Shaggy Dog 20 March Alias Jesse James 25 March Al Capone Tiger Bay (Britain) 29 March Honeymoon (Britain/Spain) Some Like It Hot