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The decade of the 1980s in Western cinema saw the return of studio-driven pictures, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s. [1] The period was when the "high concept" picture was created by producer Don Simpson, [2] where films were expected to be easily marketable and understandable. Therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. Since its implementation, this method has become the most popular formula for modern Hollywood blockbusters. At the same time in Eastern cinema, the Hong Kong film industry entered a boom period that significantly elevated its prominence in the international market.
The films of the 1980s covered many subgenres, with hybrids crossing between multiple genres. The trend strengthened towards creating ever-larger blockbuster films, which earned more in their opening weeks than any previous film, due in part to staging releases when there were less competition for audience interest.
The decade saw an increased amount of nudity in film, as well as the increasing emphasis in the American industry on film franchises; especially in the science fiction, horror, and action genres. Much of the reliance on these effects-driven blockbusters was due in part to the Star Wars films at the advent of this decade and the new cinematic visuals they helped to pioneer.
With the release of 1984's Red Dawn , the PG-13 rating was introduced in the U.S. to accommodate films that straddled the line between PG and R. Which was mainly due to the controversies surrounding the violence of the PG films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins from earlier that same year. [5]
Some have considered the 1980s in retrospect as one of the weaker decades for American cinema in terms of the qualities of the films released. Quentin Tarantino (director of Pulp Fiction ) has voiced his own view that the 1980s was one of the worst eras for American films. [6] Film critic Kent Jones also shares this opinion. [7] However, film theorist David Bordwell countered this notion, saying that the "megapicture mentality" was already existent in the 1970s, which is evident in the ten highest-grossing films of that decade, as well as with how many of the filmmakers part of New Hollywood were still able to direct many great pictures in the 1980s (Martin Scorsese, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, etc.). [8]
Rank | Title | Studio(s) | Worldwide gross | Year | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Universal Pictures | $792,942,069 | 1982 | |
2 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | Paramount Pictures | $474,171,806 | 1989 | |
3 | Batman | Warner Bros. | $411,348,924 | 1989 | |
4 | Rain Man | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | $354,825,435 | 1988 | |
5 | Back to the Future Part II | Universal Pictures | $331,950,002 | 1989 | |
6 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Buena Vista / Touchstone Pictures | $329,803,958 | 1988 | |
7 | Look Who's Talking | TriStar | $296,999,813 | 1989 | |
8 | Coming to America | Paramount Pictures | $288,752,301 | 1988 | |
9 | Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi | 20th Century Fox | $252,583,617 | 1983 | |
10 | Crocodile Dundee II | Paramount Pictures | $239,606,210 | 1988 | |
11 | Dead Poets Society | Buena Vista / Touchstone Pictures | $235,860,116 | 1989 | |
12 | Beverly Hills Cop | Paramount Pictures | $234,760,478 | 1984 | |
13 | Ghostbusters | Columbia Pictures | $229,242,989 | 1984 | |
14 | Lethal Weapon 2 | Warner Bros. | $227,853,986 | 1989 | |
15 | Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | Buena Vista/Disney | $222,724,172 | 1989 | |
16 | Twins | Universal Pictures | $216,614,388 | 1988 | |
17 | Ghostbusters II | Columbia Pictures | $215,394,738 | 1989 | |
18 | Dirty Dancing | Vestron Pictures | $214,600,000 | 1987 | |
19 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Paramount Pictures | $212,222,025 | 1981 | |
20 | Back to the Future | Universal Pictures | $210,609,762 | 1985 | |
21 | Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back | 20th Century Fox | $209,398,025 | 1980 | |
22 | The Gods Must Be Crazy | C.A.T. Films | $200,000,000 | 1980 | |
23 | Rambo III | Carolco | $189,015,611 | 1988 | |
24 | The Little Mermaid | Buena Vista/Disney | $184,155,863 | 1989 | |
25 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | Paramount Pictures | $179,870,271 | 1984 | |
26 | A Fish Called Wanda | MGM | $177,889,000 | 1988 | |
27 | Tootsie | Columbia Pictures | $177,200,000 | 1982 | |
28 | Top Gun | Paramount Pictures | $176,781,728 | 1986 | |
29 | Crocodile Dundee | Paramount Pictures | $174,803,506 | 1986 | |
30 | Cocktail | Buena Vista / Touchstone Pictures | $171,504,781 | 1988 | |
31 | Three Men and a Baby | Buena Vista / Touchstone Pictures | $167,780,960 | 1987 | |
32 | Fatal Attraction | Paramount Pictures | $156,645,693 | 1987 | |
33 | Beverly Hills Cop II | Paramount Pictures | $153,665,036 | 1987 | |
34 | Gremlins | Warner Bros. | $153,083,102 | 1984 | |
35 | Born on the Fourth of July | Universal Pictures | $161,001,698 | 1989 | |
36 | Big | 20th Century Fox | $151,668,774 | 1988 | |
37 | Rambo: First Blood Part II | Carolco Pictures | $150,415,432 | 1985 | |
38 | Die Hard | 20th Century Fox | $140,767,956 | 1988 | |
39 | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | Paramount Pictures | $140,000,000 | 1988 | |
40 | Platoon | Orion Pictures | $138,530,565 | 1986 | |
41 | The Karate Kid | Columbia Pictures | $130,000,000 | 1984 | |
42 | The Karate Kid Part II | Columbia Pictures | $130,000,000 | 1986 | |
43 | An Officer and a Gentleman | Paramount Pictures | $129,795,554 | 1982 | |
44 | Rocky IV | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | $127,873,716 | 1985 | |
45 | Gandhi | Goldcrest Films / NFDC India | $127,767,889 | 1982 | |
46 | Rocky III | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | $124,146,897 | 1982 | |
47 | Good Morning, Vietnam | Buena Vista / Touchstone Pictures | $123,922,370 | 1987 | |
48 | On Golden Pond | Universal Pictures | $119,285,432 | 1981 | |
49 | Shaolin Temple | Chung Yuen Motion Picture Company | $111,851,439 | 1982 | |
50 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | Paramount Pictures | $109,713,132 | 1986 |
In the list, where revenues are equal numbers, the newer films are listed lower, due to inflation making the dollar-amount lower compared to earlier years.
The 1980s was a decade that began January 1, 1980, and ended December 31, 1989.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, a globetrotting archaeologist vying with Nazi German forces to recover the long-lost Ark of the Covenant which is said to make an army invincible. Teaming up with his tough former romantic interest Marion Ravenwood, Jones races to stop rival archaeologist René Belloq from guiding the Nazis to the Ark and its power.
Edward Regan Murphy is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He shot to fame on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. Murphy received a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award. In 2015, Murphy was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and in 2023 the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed E.T., who is left behind on Earth. Along with his friends and family, Elliott must find a way to help E.T. find his way home. The film stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore.
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of Saturday Night Live (1975–1976), where his recurring Weekend Update segment became a staple of the show. As both a performer and a writer on the series, he earned two Primetime Emmy Awards out of four nominations.
Modern animation in the United States from 1987 to 2004 is referred to as the Silver Age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following a dark age during the 1970s to mid 1980s. During this time the United States had a profound effect on global or worldwide animation.
The following is an overview of events in 1984 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.
The decade of the 1970s in film involved many significant developments in world cinema.
Kimila Ann Basinger is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Initially a TV starlet, she shot to fame as a Bond girl in 1983 and enjoyed a long heyday over the next two decades. In 2011 Los Angeles Times Magazine ranked her third on the "50 Most Beautiful Women In Film".
A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming.
Touchstone Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featured more mature themes targeted at adult audiences than typical Walt Disney Pictures films. As such, Touchstone was merely a pseudonym label for the studio and did not exist as a distinct business operation.
A blockbuster is a work of entertainment—typically used to describe a feature film produced by a major film studio, but also other media—that is highly popular and financially successful. The term has also come to refer to any large-budget production intended for "blockbuster" status, aimed at mass markets with associated merchandising, sometimes on a scale that meant the financial fortunes of a film studio or a distributor could depend on it.
Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold Jr. is an American actor who is best known for his work in Hollywood films during the 1980s. He has starred in several popular films such as Stripes (1981), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Ruthless People (1986). He has co-starred in all of the films in the Beverly Hills Cop and The Santa Clause franchises.
The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested heavily in the video market, buying the international video rights to several classic film libraries. Some of their best known films include Joe (1970), Runaway Train (1985) and Street Smart (1987), all of which were Oscar-nominated.
Peter Hyams is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing 1977 conspiracy thriller film Capricorn One, the 1981 science fiction-thriller Outland, the 1984 science fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the 1986 action/comedy Running Scared, the comic book adaptation Timecop, the action film Sudden Death, and the horror films The Relic and End of Days.
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.
Cinematic exhibition of the B movie, defined as a relatively low-cost genre film, has declined substantially from the early 1980s to the present. Spurred by the historic success of several big-budget movies with B-style themes beginning in the mid-1970s, the major Hollywood studios moved progressively into the production of A-grade films in genres that had long been low-budget territory. With the majors also adopting exploitation-derived methods of booking and marketing, B movies began to be squeezed out of the commercial arena. The advent of digital cinema in the new millennium appeared to open up new opportunities for the distribution of inexpensive genre movies.
Cinecom Pictures was an independent film company founded in 1982 by Ira Deutchman, Amir Malin and John Ives. Its first release was Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
In his pluralism, [Roger] Ebert proved a more authentic cinephile than many of his contemporaries. They tied their fortunes to the Film Brats and then suffered the inevitable disappointments of the 1980s return to studio-driven pictures.
Back in the '80s, when movies sucked—I saw more movies then than I'd ever seen in my life, and the Hollywood bottom-line product was the worst it had been since the '50s—that would have been a great time [for Superhero films].
This was the beginning of the 1980s, the worst decade ever for American movies...
The Karate Kid (1984) and the sequel, The Karate Kid Part II, went on to gain critical acclaim and $130 million each at the box office