This is the list of highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union, in terms of box office admissions (ticket sales). It includes the highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union (USSR), the highest-grossing domestic Soviet films, the domestic films with the greatest number of ticket sales by year, and the highest-grossing foreign films in the Soviet Union. Note that, in line with the definition above, this list does not include any Soviet television series or television movies, which were not shown in cinemas of the Soviet Union.
The annual list includes sales during each year only, which often means that the total number of tickets sold was bigger. As an example, according to the list below the film The Red Snowball Tree, the top seller of the year 1974, sold 62.5 million tickets during that year. But the total number of sold tickets during all years was bigger; Boris Pavlenok, former deputy director of the USSR GosKino, estimated 140 million. This figure is comparable to some of the United States' all-time highest ticket sellers, such as The Sound of Music, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Titanic, exceeding the latter's estimated ticket sales of 135.5 million.
In the mid-1960s, the Soviet box office annually sold tickets and grossed Rbls, equivalent to (inflation-adjusted ). In 1973, annual box office admissions reached ticket sales, equivalent to (inflation-adjusted ) gross revenue and per person, more than any other country at the time. Soviet ticket prices were lower than American ticket prices, due to lower living costs in the Soviet Union. Ticket prices ranged from to in 1950, before decreasing to by the mid-1960s, then increasing to by 1973 and then by 1982.
Both domestic Soviet films and foreign films were shown, the latter having a limited quota and thus drawing higher average ticket sales than domestic productions. Indian films had the strongest presence in the foreign blockbuster charts for four decades, followed by American films. Foreign imports included 300 Indian films (most of which were Bollywood films), 41 American films (Hollywood), and 38 French films.
This is a list of foreign films that sold the most tickets at the Soviet box office. Among the foreign films that sold more than 20 million tickets in the Soviet Union, 50 were Indian films (Bollywood), the highest from any nation, followed by 41 American films (Hollywood) and 38 French films.