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

Accolades

The following films received the most acclaim at the Academy Awards during the 1990s.

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

See also

* Film, History of film, lists of films
* Popular culture: 1990s in music, 1990s in television

References

External links

List of 1990s films
at IMDb
List of 1990s deaths
at IMDb

List of 1990s births
at IMDb
{{1990s

Films by decade
Film by decade