To make this list a movie had to be made in 1988. Obviously many movies made in 1987 earned box office dollars in 1988. On the other side many movies made in 1988 made money in 1989 and later. This page will looks at over 240 movies made in 1988. The movies are listed in two massive tables that lets you rank the movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1988
1988 Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort 1988 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1988 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1988 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1988 Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each 1988 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1988 Movies received.
- Sort 1988 Movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking Score (UMR). Our UMR score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
(Visited 1 times)
Saw 24 of these movies in theaters. Saw 72 of the Top 100, 39 of the next 100, and 14 of the lowest rated movies. That is a total of 125 seen. My favorites would include: Die Hard, Funny Farm, Midnight Run, Dirty Rottwn Scoundrels, Cherry 2000, The Chocolate War, Eight Men Out,A Fish Called Wanda, Heathers, Miracle Mile and Vampire’s Kiss. Falling asleep, will comment more tomorrow.
Hey Dan, thanks for your massive collection of 1988 movies watched. I was pleased with my total of 24 movies seen in theaters…that was until seeing you saw the Top 26 in theaters. That is so cool your job got you around big movie companies like that….not to mention free movie tickets. The Big Blue was true first movie I noticed Jean Reno. Cool that you saw that water movie in Hawaii. Your tally easily tops my total. Good feedback and good list.
This is a fine comprehensive rundown of the 1988 movies marketplace which is presented with the usual close attention to detail that one invariably finds on this site.
I have seen 7 of the Top 15 box office hits in the above surveys and my two favourite movies from 1988 are Mississippi Burning and Beaches.
The latter film appeals to me largely because of the presence in it of Barbara Hershey. She has never benefited from Master Love or a Cogerson page but I have followed her career from The Natural in 1984 [in which she played female assassin Harriet Bird] through the likes of Hoosiers in 1986, Beaches in 1988, the award winning TV movie A killing in a Small Town in 1990 and Black Swan in 2010.
Now aged 71 Barbara made her debut at the age of 20 in my Doris’ 1968 With Six You Get Eggroll. IMDB credits her with 15 acting awards and 21 nominations and Barbara has a reported net worth of $12 million.
I have mentioned before that I have always liked 1988’s Sunset because of the teaming of Willis and Garner as Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp respectively. I did not get much encouragement from you when I last praised that film and your James Garner page shows it attracting an adjusted worldwide gross of just around $12 million and you give it an artistic rating of only 45%.
However if Willis was disappointed by the poor reception of that movie he will presumably have been heartened by 1988 bringing us the first Die Hard movie, which attracted big box office and favourable reviews and heralded in the arrival of Brucie’s heyday as a mega star and of course introduced us to John McClane. All in all therefore this new page is “Voted Up!”
I have seen 21 movies from 1988.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Rain Man.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Die Hard.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Appointment With Death.
I will list movies I have seen from the top 10 and top 20.
Top 10 Movies I Have Seen:
Rain Man
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Big
Working Girl
The Naked Gun
A Fish Called Wanda
Beetlejuice
Top 20 Movie I Have Seen:
Mississippi Burning
Bull Durham
The Accidental Tourist (also have read the novel for English class)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Favourite 1988 Movies:
Rain Man
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Bull Durham
A Fish Called Wanda
The Accidental Tourist
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Young Guns
Big
Beaches
Oliver and Company
Other Films I Have Seen from 1988 Not in the Top 20:
Scrooged
Biloxi Blues
Cocktail
The Dead Pool
Without a Clue
Bright Lights, Big City
Appointment With Death
Hey Flora…thanks for the visit and thoughts on our 1988 page. 21 is a decent total……you were a pre-teen in that year…..so I imagine your parents were still very influential in the movies you saw…..pretty much the way I was in the 1970s.
As I have stated before no Die Hard?…..how can it be….how can it be…..lol. Maybe one day you will check that one out…..Emily (my baby) is due to watch this one in a year or two….Samantha has already been “educated” on the greatness of John McClane.
70% of the Top 10 and 55% of the Top 20…..not too bad of percentages. I have seen all 11 of your favorites. Without A Clue is an interesting movie to me…..the first time I saw it….I strongly disliked it…..the second time I saw it….I thought it was ok…..the third time I saw it…I liked it. I guess by the fifth viewing I will love it….lol. Good stuff as always.
Back in 1988 I worked as a dispatcher in a messenger service (pre BMI). We did all deliveries for Warner Brothers and Columbia / Tri-Star. Warner Brothers gave us free tickets to see Above the Law and Arthur 2: On the Rocks. I also remember seeing Married to the Mob, Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and The Big Blue while on vacation in Honolulu. Anyways these by your rankings are the 1988 films I saw in cinemas.
1 – 26, 28, 30 – 32, 34 – 37, 39 – 42, 44,47, 48,50-52,54,55,57-61,64,65,67.69,70,73,74,78-80, 90,92-94, 100-102,104,105,108-112,114,116-118,121-125,127,128,131,134,135,137-139,143-145,149,151,155,157-160,162,165-171,173,178,180, 182,18,187,189,190,193,194,197,204,209-213,215,217-220,222-224,226,229,233,234,237-239,241-247,249,251, 253 & 254 (don’t know why they’re formatting that way).
The following 54 1988 films I have seen since December 1992 (key – film, studio, stars if listed, date seen, source whether TV channel, tape or DVD).
ALIEN FROM L.A. 1988 CAN 2/26 1996 COM
AMERICAN ROULETTE (U.K.- AUSTRALIA) 1988 TRIMARK 1/27 1997 E!
ANOTHER WOMAN 1988 ORI 7/21 1996 A&E
APARTMENT ZERO 1988 3/12 1994 55
BEACH BALLS 1988 CONCORDE 5/6 2014 EPIX DI
BEAST, THE 1988 COL 12/27 1996 TMC
BLOOD RED 1988 HEMDALE 10/19 1995 USA
BORN TO RACE 1988 UA 10/14 1997 TMC
BUSTER (U.K.) 1988 MGM JULIE WALTERS 5/7 2002 TRUE
CALL ME 1988 VESTRON 5/22 2017 EPIX
COP GAME (IT.) 1988 FLORA FILM XXX XXX 10/6 2005 DVD
CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE 1988 NL 2/9 1997 SCI
CRUSOE 1988 ISLAND 6/4 1997 TMC
DARK SIDE OF THE SUN 1988 CINEQAURION PICTURES 6/3 2014 DVD
DAWNING, THE (U.K.) 1988 VISTA 11/19 1996 E!
DAY OF THE PANTHER (AUST.) 1988 CELEBRITY HOME 12/24 2011 DVD
DEAD RINGERS 1988 FOX JEREMY IRONS GENEVIEVE BUJOLD 8/29 2004 IFC
DECEIVERS, THE 1988 CINECOM 4/8 1995 BRAVO
DELTA FORCE COMMANDO (IT.) 1988 9/16 2013 DVD
DOMINICK AND EUGENE 1988 ORI 5/5 1997 TMC
FIRING LINE 1988 6/29 2015 DVD
FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY (U.K.) 1988 ATLANTIC 2/3 1997 TMC
FREEWAY 1988 NW 3/20 1996 11
HIGH FREQUENCY (IT.) 1988 10/30 1995 TMC
HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS 1988 CAMP/AIP 11/2 1995 TMC
HOWLING IV: THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE (U.K.) 1988 IMAGE ENT 4/28 2013 DVD
LADY IN WHITE 1988 SAMUEL GOLDWYN 2/4 1995 USA
MIAMI CONNECTION 1988 P.T.K. GROUP 6/7 2015 TCM
MILES FROM HOME 1988 CINETEL 11/7 1994 BRAVO
NEW ADVENTURES OF PIPPI LONGSTOCKING 1988 COL 5/16 1996 DIS
NI DE AQUI NI DE ALLA (MEX.) 1988 BLADYS 1/15 2013 DVD
NICO THE UNICORN 1988 KINGSBROUGH GREENLIGHT 11/3 2012 DVD
NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 1988 INTL. FILM MKTG. 2/5 1996 TMC
NIGHT OF THE SHARKS (IT.) 1988 9/19 2013 DVD
OBSESSED (CAN.) 1988 NEW STAR 2/21 1996 TMC
OUTLAW BROTHERS (H.K.) 1988 PARAGON 7/19 1999 TAPE
PAPERHOUSE (U.K.) 1988 VESTRON 6/16 1996 BRAVO
PASCALI’S ISLAND 1988 AVENUE BEN KINGSLEY CHARLES DANCE 3/31 1998 55
POW WOW HIGHWAY 1988 WB 8/4 1996 BRAVO
PRINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA 1988 NL 11/15 1995 BRAVO
R.O.T.O.R. 1988 MASON/WESTWIND 10/10 2012 DVD
REJUVENATOR 1988 4/22 1996 SCI
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PT. 2 1988 LORIMAR 9/25 1996 11
ROCKET GIBRALTER 1988 COL 5/10 1996 BRAVO
RUGO FAMPIRE 1988 FILMAWK INTL. 10/6 2012 DVD
SCARECROWS 1988 EFFIGY FILMS 10/3 2013 DVD
SHADOWS IN THE STORM 1988 8/10 2013 DVD
STOWAWAYS ON THE ARK (GER.) 1988 UNITED INTL. 8/24 1994 TNT
TAFFIN (IRISH) 1988 MGM 9/6 1994 TMC
TO KILL A PRIEST 1988 COL 8/10 1994 TMC
TOP LINE (IT.) 1988 8/2 2012 DVD
TORCH SONG TRILOGY 1988 NL 6/30 2017 TCM
WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU (U.K.) 1988 CINECOM 11/17 1996 BRAVO
WORLD APART (U.K.) 1988 ATLANTIC 1/11 1997 TMC