# 1990s in film

The decade of the 1990s in film involved many significant developments in the industry of cinema. Numerous feature-length movies were specifically filmed and/or edited to be displayed not only on theater screens but also the smaller TV screens, like showing more close-ups and less wide shots during dialogue scenes. Moreover, the home video market grew into being a major factor on the total revenue of a theatrical film, often doubling the amount. An example of both cases is Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which was initially planned to have a direct-to-video release.

## Trends

* These particular ten years are notable for milestone advancements in CGI technology, seen in such motion pictures as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Jurassic Park, and Forrest Gump courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic. 1995's Toy Story by Pixar became the first feature film to be completely computer-animated, heralding the use of 3D graphics as a tool for filmmakers to achieve new visuals on-screen.
* Stemming from the tail end of the 1980s, the mainstream successes of low-budget directors like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Paul Thomas Anderson, Gus Van Sant, Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh, and the Coen brothers; alongside the increased prominence of independent movie studios such as New Line Cinema, Miramax Films, and Gramercy Pictures; gave rise to a boom period of highly profitable indie films that include Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Boogie Nights, Good Will Hunting, The Big Lebowski, and The Blair Witch Project.
* The Disney Renaissance began in late 1989 with The Little Mermaid, reached peak popularity with The Lion King in 1994, and ended in 1999 with Tarzan. During its influential run, the mass appeal of animated musicals got exceptionally rejuvenated (as opposed to The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, which contains no original songs and has been generally deemed a commercial disappointment even compared to its 1977 predecessor), resulting in supposed emulations from similar production companies. However, merely three of said attempts proved to be lucrative, namely The Nightmare Before Christmas by Skellington, Anastasia by Fox, and The Prince of Egypt by DreamWorks. Around six months prior to the decade's conclusion, Comedy Central's South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut prospered in part through parodying the conventions of this trend.
* 1988's Die Hard had established what became a common plot scenario for many 1990s action films, which is the matchup of an everyman hero against a colorful villain who is threatening the lives of innocents in an isolated setting, though with certain variations. Features of this kind, and the sequels that followed some of them, are often referred to as "Die Hard on a _____": Under Siege (battleship), Cliffhanger (mountain), Speed (bus), The Rock (prison island), Con Air (prison plane), Air Force One (presidential plane), and so on.
* A resurgence of disaster films dominated the box office with blockbusters such as Twister, Independence Day, Titanic, and Armageddon.
* Several leading figures of 1980s to mid-1990s Hong Kong action cinema migrated to Hollywood with varying success: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, John Woo, Yuen Woo-ping, Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, etc. Updating martial arts and gunfight choreography in American motion pictures with such releases as Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Tomorrow Never Dies, Lethal Weapon 4, Rush Hour, and The Matrix. Three Western world directorial debuts of established Eastern filmmakers were for Jean-Claude Van Damme star vehicles, though these collaborations only performed moderately en masse at the global market.
* Wes Craven's Scream revitalized the declining interest in slasher films through satirizing the subgenre with characters that are well-versed in its clichés. Leading to studios capitalizing especially on the high school to college age demographic with the likes of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, Urban Legend, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. The three biggest hits among these movies were written or adapted by Kevin Williamson, who also co-wrote the sci-fi horror The Faculty, which targeted the same audience as well.

## Highest-grossing films

List of worldwide highest-grossing films :
| Rank | Title | Studios | Worldwide gross | Year |
| 1 | Titanic | Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox | $1,843,201,268 | 1997 |
| 2 | Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | 20th Century Fox | $924,317,558 | 1999 |
| 3 | Jurassic Park | Universal Pictures | $914,691,118 | 1993 |
| 4 | Independence Day | 20th Century Fox | $817,400,891 | 1996 |
| 5 | The Lion King | Walt Disney Studios | $763,455,561 | 1994 |
| 6 | Forrest Gump | Paramount Pictures | $677,387,716 | 1994 |
| 7 | The Sixth Sense | Walt Disney Studios | $672,806,292 | 1999 |
| 8 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park | Universal Pictures | $618,638,999 | 1997 |
| 9 | Men in Black | Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures | $589,390,539 | 1997 |
| 10 | Armageddon | Walt Disney Studios | $553,709,788 | 1998 |
| 11 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | TriStar Pictures | $519,843,345 | 1991 |
| 12 | Ghost | Paramount Pictures | $505,702,588 | 1990 |
| 13 | Aladdin | Walt Disney Studios | $504,050,219 | 1992 |
| 14 | Twister | Warner Bros./Universal Pictures | $494,471,524 | 1996 |
| 15 | Toy Story 2 | Walt Disney Studios | $485,015,179 | 1999 |
| 16 | Saving Private Ryan | DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures | $481,840,909 | 1998 |
| 17 | Home Alone | 20th Century Fox | $476,684,675 | 1990 |
| 18 | The Matrix | Warner Bros. | $463,517,383 | 1999 |
| 19 | Pretty Woman | Walt Disney Studios | $463,406,268 | 1990 |
| 20 | Mission: Impossible | Paramount Pictures | $457,696,359 | 1996 |
| 21 | Tarzan | Walt Disney Studios | $448,191,819 | 1999 |
| 22 | Mrs. Doubtfire | 20th Century Fox | $441,286,195 | 1993 |
| 23 | Dances with Wolves | Orion Pictures | $424,208,848 | 1990 |
| 24 | The Mummy | Universal Pictures | $415,933,406 | 1999 |
| 25 | The Bodyguard | Warner Bros. | $411,006,740 | 1992 |
| 26 | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Warner Bros. | $390,493,908 | 1991 |
| 27 | Godzilla | TriStar Pictures | $379,014,294 | 1998 |
| 28 | True Lies | 20th Century Fox | $378,882,411 | 1994 |
| 29 | Toy Story | Walt Disney Studios | $373,554,033 | 1995 |
| 30 | There's Something About Mary | 20th Century Fox | $369,884,651 | 1998 |
| 31 | The Fugitive | Warner Bros. | $368,875,760 | 1993 |
| 32 | Die Hard with a Vengeance | 20th Century Fox/Cinergi Pictures | $366,101,666 | 1995 |
| 33 | Notting Hill | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment | $363,889,678 | 1999 |
| 34 | A Bug's Life | Walt Disney Studios | $363,398,565 | 1998 |
| 35 | The World Is Not Enough | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures | $361,832,400 | 1999 |
| 36 | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | 20th Century Fox | $358,994,850 | 1992 |
| 37 | American Beauty | DreamWorks Pictures | $356,296,601 | 1999 |
| 38 | Apollo 13 | Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment | $355,237,933 | 1995 |
| 39 | Basic Instinct | TriStar Pictures | $352,927,224 | 1992 |
| 40 | GoldenEye | MGM/United Artists | $352,194,034 | 1995 |
| 41 | The Mask | New Line Cinema | $351,583,407 | 1994 |
| 42 | Speed | 20th Century Fox | $350,448,145 | 1994 |
| 43 | Deep Impact | Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures | $349,464,664 | 1998 |
| 44 | Beauty and the Beast | Walt Disney Studios | $346,317,207 | 1991 |
| 45 | Pocahontas | Walt Disney Studios | $346,079,773 | 1995 |
| 46 | The Flintstones | Universal Pictures | $341,631,208 | 1994 |
| 47 | Batman Forever | Warner Bros. | $336,529,144 | 1995 |
| 48 | The Rock | Walt Disney Studios | $335,062,621 | 1996 |
| 49 | Tomorrow Never Dies | MGM/United Artists | $333,011,068 | 1997 |
| 50 | Seven | New Line Cinema | $327,311,859 | 1995 |

## Accolades

The following films received the most acclaim at the Academy Awards during the 1990s.
| Year | Ceremony | Most nominations | Most awards | Best Picture |
| 1990 | 63rd | Dances with Wolves (12) | Dances with Wolves (7) | Dances with Wolves |
| 1991 | 64th | Bugsy (10) | The Silence of the Lambs (5) | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | 65th | Howards End and Unforgiven (9) | Unforgiven (4) | Unforgiven |
| 1993 | 66th | Schindler's List (12) | Schindler's List (7) | Schindler's List |
| 1994 | 67th | Forrest Gump (13) | Forrest Gump (6) | Forrest Gump |
| 1995 | 68th | Braveheart (10) | Braveheart (5) | Braveheart |
| 1996 | 69th | The English Patient (12) | The English Patient (9) | The English Patient |
| 1997 | 70th | Titanic (14) | Titanic (11) | Titanic |
| 1998 | 71st | Shakespeare in Love (13) | Shakespeare in Love (7) | Shakespeare in Love |
| 1999 | 72nd | American Beauty (8) | American Beauty (5) | American Beauty |

## List of films

* 1990 in film
* 1991 in film
* 1992 in film
* 1993 in film
* 1994 in film
* 1995 in film
* 1996 in film
* 1997 in film
* 1998 in film
* 1999 in film