Events

• February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released.
• February 20 - Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon Puss Gets the Boot.
• May 17 - My Favorite Wife is released.
• May - A reproduction of "America's First Movie Studio", Thomas Edison's Black Maria, is constructed.
• July 27 - Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.
• October 15 - The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is released.
• November 13 - World premiere of Walt Disney's Fantasia, the first film to be released in a multichannel sound format (see Fantasound). The film also marked the first use of the click track while recording the soundtrack, overdubbing of orchestral parts, simultaneous multitrack recording and lead to the development of a multichannel surround system.
• December 24 - The film version of The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Ruth Hussey, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Rebecca - David O. Selznick, United Artists
• Best Actor: James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
• Best Actress: Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle

Films released in 1940

• Abe Lincoln in Illinois
• All This and Heaven Too
• Andy Hardy Meets Debutante starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• Arise, My Love
• Arizona
• The Bank Dick, written by and starring W.C. Fields
• The Biscuit Eater
• Black Friday
• The Blue Bird
• Boom Town
• Boys of the City
• Broadway Melody of 1940 starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell - final film of series
• Dark Command, starred John Wayne
• Doomed to Die, starred Boris Karloff
• Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet starring Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, and Donald Crisp.
• East Side Kids
• Edison, the Man starring Spencer Tracy
• Fantasia
• The Fatal Hour, starred Boris Karloff
• Foreign Correspondent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring George Sanders
• Go West , starring the Marx Brothers
• Give Us Wings
• Gaslight, the original British version
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Great Dictator, starring Charlie Chaplin
• The Great McGinty
• Green Hell
• His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
• The House of the Seven Gables
• The Howards of Virginia, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott
• The Invisible Man Returns
• The Invisible Woman
• Kitty Foyle, starring Ginger Rogers
• Lady With Red Hair, starring Miriam Hopkins
• The Letter
• The Long Voyage Home
• The Mark of Zorro
• The Mummy's Hand
• My Favorite Wife
• Night Train to Munich
• North West Mounted Police
• Northwest Passage, starring Spencer Tracy
• One Million B.C.
• One Night in the Tropics, film debut of Abbott and Costello
• Our Town
• The Philadelphia Story
• Pinocchio
• Pride and Prejudice, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
• Rebecca - starring Laurence Olivier
• The Sea Hawk
• The Shop Around the Corner
• The Son of Monte Cristo
• The Stars Look Down, starring Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood
• Strange Cargo, starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford
• Strike Up the Band
• That Gang of Mine
• The Thief of Bagdad
• Too Many Husbands
• Vigil in the Night, starring Carole Lombard
• Virginia City, starring Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins
• Waterloo Bridge
• The Well-Digger's Daughter
• The Westerner
• They Knew What They Wanted
• Young People
• You're Not So Tough

Serials

• Adventures of Red Ryder, directed by William Witney and John English
• Deadwood Dick, directed by James W. Horne
• Drums of Fu Manchu, starring Henry Brandon and Robert Kellard, directed by William Witney and John English
• Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Green Archer, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
• The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, starring Warren Hull
• Junior G-Men, starring the Dead End Kids
• King of the Royal Mounted starring Allan Lane, directed by William Witney and John English
• Mysterious Doctor Satan, starring Eduardo Ciannelli, directed by William Witney and John English
• The Shadow, starring Victor Jory, directed by James W. Horne
• Terry and the Pirates, starring William Tracy, directed by James W. Horne
• Winners of the West, starring Dick Foran and Anne Nagel

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917-1941)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1943)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Charley Chase (1924-1940)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)

Animated short film series

• Krazy Kat (1925-1940)
• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934-1949)
• Donald Duck (1937-1956)
• Pluto (1937-1951)
• Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938-1942)
• Goofy (1939-1955)
• Andy Panda (1939-1949)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)

Births

• February 23 - Peter Fonda, actor
• March 26 - James Caan, actor
• July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
• July 13 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
• July 18 - James Brolin, American actor
• August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
• August 22 - Valerie Harper, American actress
• October 9 - John Lennon, English musician, songwriter and singer (The Beatles)
• November 5 - Elke Sommer, German actress
• November 27 - Bruce Lee
• December 21 - Frank Zappa, American musician, songwriter and singer

Deaths

• February 20 - George Periolat, actor
• March 5 - Maxine Elliott, stage & film actress
• April 9 - Mrs Patrick Campbell, stage & film actress
• May 25 - Joe De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood film director
• July 1 - Ben Turpin, comic actor
• September 25 - Marguerite Clark, stage & silent film star
• October 10 - Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor
• December 5 - Wilfred Lucas, actor, screenwriter, director