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1988 in film

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The following is an overview of events in 1988 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

Highest-grossing films

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The top 10 films released in 1988 by worldwide gross are as follows:[1]

Highest-grossing films of 1988
Rank Title Distributor Worldwide gross
1 Rain Man MGM $354,825,435
2 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Buena Vista $329,803,958
3 Coming to America Paramount $288,752,301
4 Crocodile Dundee II $239,606,210
5 Twins Universal $216,614,388
6 Rambo III TriStar / Carolco $189,015,611
7 A Fish Called Wanda MGM $188,597,000[2][3][4]
8 Cocktail Buena Vista $171,504,781
9 Big 20th Century Fox $151,668,774
10 Die Hard $141,500,000

Events

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  • May 25 – Rambo III is released as the most expensive film ever made with a production budget between $58 and $63 million. The film fails to match the box office earnings from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
  • July 15 – Die Hard defies low commercial expectations to gross $141.5 million worldwide. Hailed as an influential landmark in the action film genre, it influences a common formula for many action films in the 1990s, featuring a lone everyman against a colorful terrorist character who is usually holding hostages in an isolated setting.
  • September 19 – English character actor Roy Kinnear suffers a fall from a horse which will prove fatal while filming The Return of the Musketeers in Toledo, Spain.[5]
  • October 10 – Batman officially commences filming at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.
  • October 27 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is released on VHS and laserdisc; to combat piracy, the tapeguards and tape hubs on the videocassettes are colored green, and the tape itself is affixed with a small, holographic sticker of the 1963 Universal logo (much like the holograms on a credit card), and encoded with Macrovision. In North America alone, VHS sales come to $75 million.[6]
  • December 16 – Rain Man is released to critical and commercial success and becomes the highest grossing film of 1988 worldwide with a gross of $355 million. Winning four Academy Awards including Best Picture, it is the last MGM title to be nominated for Best Picture until Licorice Pizza (2021) 33 years later. Giancarlo Parretti and Max Théret acquire a 52% stake in Pathé.[7]

Awards

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Category/Organization 46th Golden Globe Awards
January 28, 1989
42nd BAFTA Awards
March 19, 1989
61st Academy Awards
March 29, 1989
Drama Musical or Comedy
Best Film Rain Man Working Girl The Last Emperor Rain Man
Best Director Clint Eastwood
Bird
Louis Malle
Au revoir les enfants
Barry Levinson
Rain Man
Best Actor Dustin Hoffman
Rain Man
Tom Hanks
Big
John Cleese
A Fish Called Wanda
Dustin Hoffman
Rain Man
Best Actress Jodie Foster
The Accused
Shirley MacLaine
Madame Sousatzka
Sigourney Weaver
Gorillas in the Mist
Melanie Griffith
Working Girl
Maggie Smith
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Jodie Foster
The Accused
Best Supporting Actor Martin Landau
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Michael Palin
A Fish Called Wanda
Kevin Kline
A Fish Called Wanda
Best Supporting Actress Sigourney Weaver
Working Girl
Judi Dench
A Handful of Dust
Geena Davis
The Accidental Tourist
Best Screenplay, Adapted Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
Running on Empty
Jean-Claude Carriere and Philip Kaufman
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Christopher Hampton
Dangerous Liaisons
Best Screenplay, Original A World Apart
Shawn Slovo
Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow
Rain Man
Best Original Score Maurice Jarre
Gorillas in the Mist
John Williams
Empire of the Sun
Dave Grusin
The Milagro Beanfield War
Best Original Song "Two Hearts"
Buster
"Let the River Run"
Working Girl
N/A "Let the River Run"
Working Girl
Best Foreign Language Film Pelle the Conqueror Babette's Feast Pelle the Conqueror

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival)

Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle erobreren), directed by Bille August, Denmark

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)

La leggenda del santo bevitore (The Legend of the Holy Drinker), directed by Ermanno Olmi, Italy / France

Golden Bear (Berlin International Film Festival)

Red Sorghum (Hong gao liang), directed by Zhang Yimou, China

1988 films

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By country/region

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By genre/medium

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Births

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Deaths

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Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films
January 1 Marcel Hillaire 79 Germany Actor
7 Michel Auclair 65 France Actor
7 Trevor Howard 74 UK Actor
8 Boyd Morgan 72 US Stuntman, Actor
10 Hugh A. Robertson 55 US Film Editor, Director
16 Ballard Berkeley 83 UK Actor
19 Bridget Boland 75 UK Screenwriter
19 Cary Odell 77 US Art Director
25 Colleen Moore 88 US Actress
February 1 Marcel Bozzuffi 58 French Actor
1 Heather O'Rourke 12 US Actress
5 Emeric Pressburger 85 Hungary Screenwriter, Director
8 Allan Cuthbertson 67 Australia Actor
14 Frederick Loewe 86 Germany Composer
28 Asakazu Nakai 86 Japan Cinematographer
29 Sidney Harmon 80 US Producer, Screenwriter
March 1 Joe Besser 80 US Actor
3 Lois Wilson 93 US Actress
5 Alberto Olmedo[10] 54 Argentina Actor, Comedian
6 Jeanne Aubert 82 France Actress
7 Divine 42 US Actor
7 Robert Livingston 83 US Actor
12 DeWitt Bodeen 79 US Screenwriter
12 Karen Steele 56 US Actress
13 Steno 71 Italy Director, Screenwriter
13 John Holmes 43 US Actor
13 Olive Carey 92 US Actress
27 Renato Salvatori 55 Italy Actor
31 Manuel Silos 82 Philippines Actor, Director
April 1 Jim Jordan 91 US Actor
5 Alf Kjellin 68 Sweden Actor, Director
6 John Clements 77 UK Actor
7 Albert S. Rogell 86 US Director
11 Jeff Donnell 66 US Actress
11 Jesse L. Lasky Jr. 77 US Screenwriter
15 Kenneth Williams 62 UK Actor
21 I. A. L. Diamond 67 Moldovia Screenwriter
22 Irene Rich 96 US Actress
28 Andrew Cruickshank 80 UK Actor
May 1 Paolo Stoppa 81 Italy Actor
4 Tom Overton 58 US Sound Engineer
5 George Rose[11] 68 UK Actor
12 Paul Osborn 86 US Screenwriter
15 Andrew Duggan 64 US Actor
15 Greta Nissen 82 Norway Actress
18 Daws Butler 71 US Voice Actor
18 Anthony Forwood 72 UK Actor
18 Christopher Gore 43 US Screenwriter
21 Barbara Laage 67 France Actress
22 Tom Adair 74 US Lyricist
29 Vladimír Menšík 59 Czech Republic Actor
30 Ella Raines[12] 67 US Actress
June 2 Raj Kapoor[13] 63 India Actor, Director, Producer
16 Kim Milford 37 US Actor
18 Wilford Leach 58 US Director, Screenwriter
19 Teru Shimada 82 Japan Actor
22 Dennis Day 77 US Singer, Actor
22 Stuart Randall 78 US Actor
July 1 Alice Nunn 60 US Actress
2 Aldo Tonti 78 Italy Cinematographer
7 Jimmy Edwards 68 UK Actor
12 Joshua Logan 79 US Director, Screenwriter
22 Milton Krasner 84 US Cinematographer
22 Patrick Newell 56 UK Actor
25 Judith Barsi 10 US Actress
25 Douglas Hickox 59 UK Director
27 Larry Clemmons 81 US Animator, Screenwriter
31 Trinidad Silva 38 US Actor
August 1 Florence Eldridge 86 US Actress
2 Robert Emmet Smith 73 US Art Director
5 Colin Higgins 47 France Director, Producer, Screenwriter
5 Ralph Meeker 65 US Actor
7 Wilfred Jackson 82 US Animator
8 Alan Napier 85 UK Actor
10 Adela Rogers St. Johns 94 US Screenwriter
11 Anne Ramsey 59 US Actress
17 Victoria Shaw 53 Australia Actress
19 Don Haggerty 74 US Actor
23 Jack Sher 75 US Screenwriter, Director
24 Leonard Frey 49 US Actor
26 Milton Sperling 76 US Screenwriter
27 Charles Farrell 88 Ireland Actor
September 1 Hugh Hunt 86 US Set Decorator
5 Gert Fröbe 75 Germany Actor
6 Harold Rosson 93 US Cinematographer
12 Stephen B. Grimes 61 UK Production Designer
14 Louis Quinn 73 US Actor
15 Samuel E. Beetley 74 US Film Editor
20 Roy Kinnear 54 UK Actor
21 Henry Koster 83 Germany Director, Screenwriter
21 Christine Norden 63 UK Actress
30 Chick Chandler 83 US Actor
October 1 Lucien Ballard[14] 84 US Cinematographer
1 Pavle Vuisić 62 Serbia Actor
4 Margaret Lacey 76 UK Actress
6 Don Terry 86 US Actor
9 Edward Chodorov 84 US Screenwriter
11 Morgan Farley 90 US Actor
11 Bonita Granville 65 US Actress
12 Ken Murray 85 US Actor, Producer
13 Melvin Frank 75 US Screenwriter, Director
14 Mary Morris 72 Fiji Actress
19 Lawrence W. Butler 80 US Special Effects Artist
24 Valerie Taylor 85 UK Actress
25 Eric Larson 83 US Animator
27 Charles Hawtrey 73 UK Actor
31 John Houseman 86 Romania Actor, Producer
November 1 George J. Folsey 90 US Cinematographer
2 Lukas Heller 58 Germany Screenwriter
3 Sidney Carroll 75 US Screenwriter
6 John Hubbard 74 US Actor
9 Billy Curtis 79 US Actor
15 Mona Washbourne 84 UK Actress
27 Angela Aames 32 US Actress
27 John Carradine 82 US Actor
December 7 Christopher Connelly 47 US Actor
7 Dorothy Jordan 82 US Actress
8 Anne Seymour 79 US Actress
15 Maria De Matteis 90 Italy Costume Designer
10 Richard S. Castellano 55 US Actor
10 Dennis Arundell 90 UK Actor, Composer
17 Jerry Hopper 81 US Director
21 Bob Steele 81 US Actor
22 Tucker Smith 52 US Actor, Dancer
24 Noel Willman 70 Ireland Actor
26 Julanne Johnston 88 US Actress
26 John Loder 90 UK Actor
27 Hal Ashby 59 US Director, Film Editor

Film debuts

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References

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  1. ^ "1988 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  2. ^ "A Fish Called Wanda (1988)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 7, 2020. A Fish Called Wanda domestic gross $62,493,712
  3. ^ Groves, Don (August 9, 1989). "UIP Up, Up and Away For Year; Rentals Take Off". Variety. p. 11. UIP Top 10 Grossers, 1988–89
    Rain Man $233 million
    Crocodile Dundee 2 $126 million
    Coming to America $122 million
    A Fish Called Wanda $115 million
    Willow $80 million
    Twins $75 million
    The Naked Gun $61 million
  4. ^ "UIP's $25M-Plus Club". Variety. September 11, 1995. p. 92. A Fish Called Wanda $126,103,000; The Naked Gun $73,689,000
  5. ^ "Roy Kinnear Is Dead At 54 After Falling From Horse in Film". The New York Times. 23 September 1988. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. ^ Griffin, Nancy (June 1988). "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Premiere.
  7. ^ Alderman, Bruce (December 21, 1988). "After lengthy battle, Pathé falls into hands of Parretti, Théret". Variety. p. 9.
  8. ^ Mason, Aiden (2017-08-28). "Five Things You Didn't Know About Anna Diop". TVOvermind. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  9. ^ Editors of Chase's (24 September 2019). Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 424. ISBN 978-1-64143-316-7.
  10. ^ David K. Frasier (2002). Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth-century Cases. McFarland. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-7864-1038-5.
  11. ^ Dennis Hevesi (13 May 1988). "Dominican Police Say 4 Men Killed George Rose". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
  12. ^ Newsweek. Newsweek. 1988. p. 72.
  13. ^ Ritu Nanda; Rāja Kapūra (2002). Raj Kapoor Speaks. Penguin Books India. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-670-04952-3.
  14. ^ John A. Willis (1989). Screen World. Crown Publishers. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-517-57332-7.
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