30 Years on, looking back at the top 10 box-office hits of 1990

Sequels, comic book movies, remakes and spin-offs dominate box-office records these days (if you hadn’t noticed). But, that wasn’t always the way kids. Once original ideas dominated the top ten, and only a few comic-book adaptations and sequels made their way in. I know right!? Just casting back to the ’00s and ’90s you can track box office trends that saw more star-led, original stories rake it in at the box office without the need for a massive price tag.  With this in mind, let us cast our minds back to the best films of 1990: This was the year of the reunification of East and West Germany and the unification of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. And also the year where these ten films ruled the world. Can you guess what one ruled them all?

10. Kindergarten Cop

Budget: $26 million
Box-office: $201,957,688

Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, both figuratively and literally, in the late 80s and 90s. While he made his name with action movies like The Terminator and Commando, he pivoted into comedy towards the tail end of the ’80s by teaming up with Ghostbusters director, Ivan Reitman, for Twins in 1988. With that film making a cool $200+ million worldwide, a reteaming was on the cards. It came two years later with Kindergarten Cop, which sees Schwarzenegger’s hard-boiled cop John Kimble go undercover as a Kindergarten teacher. For almost anyone who grew up in the ’90s, Kindergarten Cop should hold a lot of nostalgic value. Schwarzenegger has great chemistry with his pint-sized co-stars and is incredibly game at taking apart his macho image in a story that’s very sweet, funny, surprisingly dark and filled with plenty of quotable lines (‘it’s ‘naat’ a tumour.”) Ever since its release, it has inspired a number of copycats that put a muscle-bound action hero in a fish out of water situation involving kids, from Vin Diesel’s The Pacifier to most recently Dave Bautista’s My Spy, but none have quite matched this movie for genuine personality and charm.

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Budget: $13.5 million
Box-office: $201,965,915

The only comic-book adaptation in the top ten (no Marvel or DC to be seen!), the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one many fans of the Turtles hold dear. Yes, the suits and animatronic faces may be on the creepy side of uncanny, and the master Splinter puppet may be more terrifying than cute, but there’s a charm to the film’s relative simplicity to the kinds of blockbuster superhero antics you see today. The Turtles themselves do have an innocence to them, with a fair degree of personality managing to break through all the rubber. Sure, the film itself isn’t that exciting. The small budget seems to have largely gone towards the suits, with most fight scenes taking place in nondescript warehouses and streets, and a long section in the middle that’s just the gang hanging out at a farm. But it’s a great ’90s curiosity for anyone interested in fandom, and a particular favourite of Turtles fans from the time. Keep your eyes peeled as well for a young Sam Rockwell and Skeet Ulrich as members of the Foot Clan.

8. Presumed Innocent

Budget: $20 million
Box-office: $221,303,188

Now, this is truly the kind of film that the ’90s came to be known for; the star-driven, original courtroom drama, with a little bit of sex and violence thrown in for good measure. Harrison Ford stars as prosecutor Rusty Sabich who is charged for the murder of a colleague he used to have an affair with. While this isn’t like the pulpy, more erotically charged thrillers concerning extramarital affairs that would later in the ’90s, this is still a great example of genre filmmaking that was making bank in the ’90s. It’s a more traditional courtroom drama delivered with a sense of class by the master that is director Alan J. Pakula, the filmmaker behind To Kill a Mockingbird and All the President’s Men. That pedigree should go some way to indicating what a classy number this film is, with Ford putting in a fantastic performance in a murder mystery that’s keeps things tense right till its final moments. A low key, finely crafted thriller.

The best films of 1990 continues below – read our look back at one of the biggest films of that year, Pretty Woman.

7. Die Hard 2

Budget: $62 million
Box-office: $240,031,094

The first of only two sequels to make the top ten, Die Hard 2 is a pretty strong example of certain kinds of sequels you would see throughout the ’90s, ones that follow the rule of ‘do more of the same’, just change the location and some supporting players. Die Hard 2 moves the action from a skyscraper in LA to Washington Dulles Airport, where John McClane’s Christmas is ruined once again by a group of terrorists who take control of the airport on the ground and the planes in the sky. This Renny Harlin-directed sequel gets a bad rap from a lot of fans of the franchise, when it’s probably quite comfortably third best, after the original and Die Hard With a Vengeance. Sure, it’s a bit of a retread, but there’s some fun action scenes to be had and a genuinely palpable sense of danger and loss in key moments. But, perhaps most crucially, it is Bruce Willis performing in his prime: engaged, funny and lethal.

6. Back to the Future Part III

Budget: $40 million
Box-office: $244,527,583

The last sequel on the list! Back to the Future Part III came just one year after the cliffhanger ending of Part II that left Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) reeling from the discovery that Doc (Christopher Lloyd) was stuck back in time in the Old West. That opens the door for Part III to completely switch up genres for the franchise, with the final part in the much-loved trilogy playing like a straight Western for most of its runtime (Alan Silvestri, on scoring duties once again, comes in hard with the Western fanfares). With cute gags involving Western movie iconography, and a sweet romance between Doc and Mary Steenburgen’s Clara, this is a fun, breezy, old-fashioned send off for Robert Zemeckis’ time travel trilogy, even if it is the least successful one. It represents more of the off-beat stylings and ambitions that this trilogy exuded throughout the ’80s, but within the new packaging of an Old West yarn.

5. Total Recall

Budget: $50-65 million
Box-office: $261,317,921

Paul Verhoeven would go on to have other decade-defining movies throughout the ’90s with the likes of Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers (and one of its defining flops with Showgirls), but he kicked the ’90s off with this Arnie classic. Based on Philip K Dick’s ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’, this futuristic sci-fi actioner stars Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid, a seemingly normal, everyday, jacked as hell guy, who has dreams of visiting Mars. Soon enough, he becomes embroiled in a conspiracy as he finds out he’s not who he thinks he is. The only way to get answers is for Quaid to get his ass to Mars. While not quite as satirically minded as some of Verhoeven’s work, this movie is still a blast and hits that sweet spot between weird and wonderfully gooey practical effects being paired with early applications of CGI. Pair that with one of Jerry Goldsmith’s best scores, and you’ve got one of the all-time great Schwarzenegger movies.

4. Dances With Wolves

Budget: $22 million
Box-office: $424,208,848

You can’t talk about the ’90s without mentioning Kevin Costner, and you certainly cannot talk about the films of 1990 without mentioning Dances With Wolves. The film that went on to win the Best Picture Oscar for the year (as well as Best Director for Costner himself, with five more wins in other categories), Dances With Wolves is a sweeping epic across the frontier which is largely regarded as being responsible for rekindling Hollywood’s interest in the Western across the ’90s (see also: Unforgiven). With an epic story told on a wide canvas and featuring Costner at the top of his game, it is no wonder audiences of 1990 responded so favourably to the story of a Union Army Lieutenant traveling across the frontier. Its historical accuracy has come under a lot of scrutiny during and since its release, but it is the kind of widescreen spectacle that harks back to the work of David Lean that is difficult not to get swept up in. But yes, Goodfellas probably should have won.

The best films of 1990 continues below – check out our look back at the biggest film of that year, Ghost.

3. Pretty Woman

Budget: $14 million
Box-office: $463,406,268

Even more star power reigning high atop the charts, Pretty Woman has of course gone on to have a long and happy life following its hit success in 1990, and it’s not hard to see why. Much of that is because of Julia Roberts. No one can deny that it is easy to see why she was one of the biggest stars on the planet whenever you go back to Pretty Woman. She radiates charisma in every frame she’s in, with that Hollywood smile shining brightly throughout, all the while striking warm chemistry with her more reserved co-star Richard Gere. It’s weird to think how this movie started off as a dark and gritty fable, as the finished product is a charming delight, with a cast that helps to wash away most of the misgivings you may have about the plot. And who can forget the soundtrack, featuring not just Roy Orbison’s classic 60’s track, but also the Roxette masterpiece that is ‘It Must Have Been Love’ and Go West’s ‘King of Wishful Thinking.’

2. Home Alone

Budget: $18 million
Box-office: $476,684,675

Likely one of everyone’s favourite Christmas movies, Home Alone is once again not the kind of blockbuster you see coming in at number two for the whole year in our modern movie-going landscape. Selling itself on the image of its rising pint-sized star Macauley Culkin, the strength of its concept (what kid didn’t want the whole house to themselves?) and the brand recognition of being a John Hughes production, Home Alone knocked it out of the park upon its release and has continued to be a seasonal favourite. Opening in November of 1990, the film stayed at the number one spot for 12 straight weeks, remaining popular even beyond the Christmas season. It’s not hard to see why, what with it being a perfectly pitched live-action cartoon, making this a film that people in their millions continue to revisit year after year.

1. Ghost

Budget: $22 million
Box-office: $505,702,588

Now, this is the movie that most encapsulates how different the box office trends of the ’90s are to what you see today. Ghost, with box office takings that would equate to around a billion dollars when adjusted for inflation, is not the kind of movie that makes that kind of money these days. It is a high concept romantic drama featuring movie stars at the peak of their game. Not only is it Whoopi Goldberg in Oscar-winning form, but it’s Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore at their most gorgeous. With a well-thought concept, in which the ghost of Swayze tries to protect his girlfriend from the same people that killed him, Ghost is funny, touching and satisfyingly strange. It was a perfect storm for box-office success, telling a story with elements of the supernatural with big emotion and movie star good looks. It also changed the way people think of The Isley Brothers and pottery for all-time. They sure don’t make many like this anymore.