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

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

More information Rank, Title ...
Highest-grossing films of 1988
RankTitleDistributorWorldwide 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 Tri-Star $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
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Events

  • 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).
  • June 26 – Michael Keaton is first announced[5] to play comic book superhero Batman in a forthcoming feature film to be directed by Tim Burton and co–starring Jack Nicholson as Batman's arch nemesis, The Joker.[6]
  • 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.[7]
  • 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.[8]
  • 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.[9]

Awards

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

Births

Deaths

More information Month, Date ...
MonthDateNameAgeCountryProfessionNotable films
January 1Marcel Hillaire79GermanyActor
7Michel Auclair65FranceActor
7Trevor Howard74UKActor
8Boyd Morgan72USStuntman, Actor
10Hugh A. Robertson55USFilm Editor, Director
16Ballard Berkeley83UKActor
19Bridget Boland75UKScreenwriter
19Cary Odell77USArt Director
25Colleen Moore88USActress
February 1Marcel Bozzuffi58FrenchActor
1Heather O'Rourke12USActress
5Emeric Pressburger85HungaryScreenwriter, Director
8Allan Cuthbertson67AustraliaActor
14Frederick Loewe86GermanyComposer
28Asakazu Nakai86JapanCinematographer
29Sidney Harmon80USProducer, Screenwriter
March 1Joe Besser80USActor
3Lois Wilson93USActress
5Alberto Olmedo[12]54ArgentinaActor, Comedian
6Jeanne Aubert82FranceActress
7Divine42USActor
7Robert Livingston83USActor
12DeWitt Bodeen79USScreenwriter
12Karen Steele56USActress
13Steno71ItalyDirector, Screenwriter
13John Holmes43USActor
13Olive Carey92USActress
16Dorothy Adams88USActress
27Renato Salvatori55ItalyActor
31Manuel Silos82PhilippinesActor, Director
April 1Jim Jordan91USActor
5Alf Kjellin68SwedenActor, Director
6John Clements77UKActor
7Albert S. Rogell86USDirector
11Jeff Donnell66USActress
11Jesse L. Lasky Jr.77USScreenwriter
15Kenneth Williams62UKActor
21I. A. L. Diamond67MoldoviaScreenwriter
22Irene Rich96USActress
28Andrew Cruickshank80UKActor
May 1Paolo Stoppa81ItalyActor
4Tom Overton58USSound Engineer
5George Rose[13]68UKActor
12Paul Osborn86USScreenwriter
15Andrew Duggan64USActor
15Greta Nissen82NorwayActress
18Daws Butler71USVoice Actor
18Anthony Forwood72UKActor
18Christopher Gore43USScreenwriter
21Barbara Laage67FranceActress
22Tom Adair74USLyricist
29Vladimír Menšík59Czech RepublicActor
30Ella Raines[14]67USActress
June 2Raj Kapoor[15]63IndiaActor, Director, Producer
16Kim Milford37USActor
18Wilford Leach58USDirector, Screenwriter
19Teru Shimada82JapanActor
22Dennis Day77USSinger, Actor
22Stuart Randall78USActor
July 1Alice Nunn60USActress
2Aldo Tonti78ItalyCinematographer
7Jimmy Edwards68UKActor
12Joshua Logan79USDirector, Screenwriter
22Milton Krasner84USCinematographer
22Patrick Newell56UKActor
25Judith Barsi10USActress
25Douglas Hickox59UKDirector
27Larry Clemmons81USAnimator, Screenwriter
31Trinidad Silva38USActor
August 1Florence Eldridge86USActress
2Robert Emmet Smith73USArt Director
5Colin Higgins47FranceDirector, Producer, Screenwriter
5Ralph Meeker65USActor
7Wilfred Jackson82USAnimator
8Alan Napier85UKActor
10Adela Rogers St. Johns94USScreenwriter
11Anne Ramsey59USActress
17Victoria Shaw53AustraliaActress
19Don Haggerty74USActor
23Jack Sher75USScreenwriter, Director
24Leonard Frey49USActor
26Milton Sperling76USScreenwriter
27Charles Farrell88IrelandActor
September 1Hugh Hunt86USSet Decorator
5Gert Fröbe75GermanyActor
6Harold Rosson93USCinematographer
12Stephen B. Grimes61UKProduction Designer
14Louis Quinn73USActor
15Samuel E. Beetley74USFilm Editor
20Roy Kinnear54UKActor
21Henry Koster83GermanyDirector, Screenwriter
21Christine Norden63UKActress
30Chick Chandler83USActor
October 1Lucien Ballard[16]84USCinematographer
1Pavle Vuisić62SerbiaActor
4Margaret Lacey76UKActress
6Don Terry86USActor
9Edward Chodorov84USScreenwriter
11Morgan Farley90USActor
11Bonita Granville65USActress
12Ken Murray85USActor, Producer
13Melvin Frank75USScreenwriter, Director
14Mary Morris72FijiActress
19Lawrence W. Butler80USSpecial Effects Artist
24Valerie Taylor85UKActress
25Eric Larson83USAnimator
27Charles Hawtrey73UKActor
31John Houseman86RomaniaActor, Producer
November 1George J. Folsey90USCinematographer
2Lukas Heller58GermanyScreenwriter
3Sidney Carroll75USScreenwriter
6John Hubbard74USActor
9Billy Curtis79USActor
15Mona Washbourne84UKActress
27Angela Aames32USActress
27John Carradine82USActor
December 7Christopher Connelly47USActor
7Dorothy Jordan82USActress
8Anne Seymour79USActress
15Maria De Matteis90ItalyCostume Designer
10Richard S. Castellano55USActor
10Dennis Arundell90UKActor, Composer
17Jerry Hopper81USDirector
21Bob Steele81USActor
22Tucker Smith52USActor, Dancer
24Noel Willman70IrelandActor
26Julanne Johnston88USActress
26John Loder90UKActor
27Hal Ashby59USDirector, Film Editor
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Film debuts

References

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