Editing 1981 in film (section)

==Events==
* January 20 – Former [[Governor of California]] and [[Ronald Reagan filmography|film actor]] [[Ronald Reagan]] is [[First inauguration of Ronald Reagan|inaugurated president]].
* March 30 – The [[53rd Academy Awards]] are postponed due to the [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan]] earlier that day. They are held the following day with a message from the [[President of the United States|President]] recorded for the ceremony prior to the assassination attempt.
* May 16 – [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] acquires beleaguered concurrent [[United Artists]]. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'', a major factor in the decision of owner [[Transamerica Corporation|Transamerica]] to sell it.
* June 8 – [[Marvin Davis]] acquires [[20th Century Fox]] for $720 million.
* June 12 – ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' is released by [[Paramount Pictures]]. It became Paramount's highest-grossing film of all time and set a major standard for many action-adventure movies to date and spawned four sequels.
* August 21 – ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'' is released and becomes a landmark in Visual Effects and Makeup.
* October 1 – MGM president and chief operating officer [[David Begelman]] becomes chairman and chief executive officer of United Artists.
* November 1 – [[United International Pictures]] is created to handle international distribution of films for [[United Artists]], [[MGM]], [[Universal Pictures]] and [[Paramount Pictures]] to replace [[Cinema International Corporation]] following MGM's acquisition of UA.
* November 25 – [[Norman Lear]] and his partner [[Jerry Perenchio]] agree to buy [[Avco Embassy]] for $25 million.
* November 29 – Actress [[Natalie Wood]] drowns in a boating accident off [[Santa Catalina Island, California|Santa Catalina Island]].