To make this list a movie had to be made in 1994. Obviously many movies made in 1993 earned box office dollars in 1994. On the other side many movies made in 1994 made money in 1995 and later. This page will looks at over 200 movies made in 1994. 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 1994
1994 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 1994 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1994 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1994 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1994 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 1994 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1994 Movies received.
- Sort 1994 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.
I saw 61 including top 16. 10s and favorites: Forrest Gump (my all time number one), pulp fiction, shawshank redemption, speed, Nell, don Juan demarco(this movie got me to give Brando a second look), four weddings and a funeral. 9s and favorites: blown away, true lies, ace Ventura: pet detective. 10s not favorites: natural born killers(horrific), nobody’s fool. hidden gems: ill do anything (9), the paper (9), the madness of king George(8), ed wood (7). most of my favorites are hidden gems, I must have been out of synchronization with the movie going public. thankfully, a rebel who loves to laugh.
Hey bob cox…..61 seen puts you pretty close to Steve and his 67 seen…..but pretty far behind myself and even further behind Dan. Ah…good to see another Forrest Gump fan. It was actually a radio interview with Gary Sinese that got me motivated to skip ahead and do this year review page. He was talking about how shocked he was to realize that Gump was now 25 years old. Glowing words for Brando….you just made the other Bob so happy. Speed, Shawshank and Pulp Fiction are modern day classics. I love Four Weddings and A Funeral as well…Hugh Grant at his best. My dad loved The Paper…so glad to see you list it as a hidden gem. I have always wanted to see The Madness of King George….one day, I will make that happen. Good feedback as always.
The following 1994 films I saw in the theater. I’m just listing the numbers by your ranking.
1 – 17, 19, 20, 22-28, 30, 31, 34-38, 40, 41,45,48 -51 (Red Rock I saw in London), 55, 60-62, 65, 66, 71, 73, 75,77,78,82,85,93,95,97,100, 103,109,111,113,115,117,128,131-133,146,150-154,156,162-164,166,169,171-174,178,180,181,185,188,189,191,192,194,195,202-204,206-209,212-214,217-221,227-244,247,251,253-256/ I’ve seen more of the lower rated movies in cinemas, they’re probably wider releases.
I have seen 107 additional 1994 films since then as older movies (I usually say December 1992 but these are probably from 1996 on). Key is film, studio, date seen and source (TV, DVD or tape). I doubt there’s too many DVD’s at this time.
2002: RAPE OF EDEN 1994 PANORAMA 12/22 1996 TMC
8 SECONDS 1994 NL 3/2 2003 TRUE
ABOVE THE RIM 1994 NL 6/26 1997 TNT
AMERICAN CYBORG: STEEL WARRIOR 1994 GLOBAL 4/12 1995 TMC
ASSAULT OF THE PARTY NERDS II 1994 CHECK ENT. 1/31 1996 TMC
AVA’S MAGICAL ADVENTURE 1994 PRISM 5/7 1996 TMC
BACKBEAT (U.K.) 1994 GRAMERCY 5/4 1996 TMC
BARCELONA 1994 FL 9/4 1995 TMC
BIGFOOT: THE UNFORGETTABLE ENCOUNTER 1994 12/1 2011 DVD
BITTER MOON 1994 FL 4/23 2015 EPIX 2
BLUE SKY 1994 ORI 6/7 1996 TMC
BUSINESS AFFAIR 1994 1/2 1997 TMC
CHARLIE’S GHOST STORY 1994 PRISM 11/7 1995 TMC
CLERKS 1994 MIRAMAX 1/16 2003 MAX
COOL SURFACE 1994 FILM DOUVEAU 5/22 1995 TMC
COUNTRY LIFE 1994 MIRAMAX 3/2 1998 STZ
CROOKLYN 1994 UNI 1/9 1998 STZ
CRUMB (DOC.) 1994 SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 6/12 1997 TMC
CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS 1994 TRIMARK 1/13 2017 EPIX
CYBORG COP 2 1994 NU IMAGE 2/6 1996 TMC
DALLAS CONNECTION 1994 SKYHAWK 3/11 1996 TMC
DARK ANGEL: THE ASCENT 1994 FULL MOON/PAR 12/9 1995 TMC
DARK TIDE 1994 PROMARK 12/27 1995 TMC
DARK, THE (CAN.) 1994 2/4 2014 DVD
DEADFUL MELODY (H.K.) 1994 FILM CITY 12/30 1997 T-MR
DEADLY ADVICE (U.K.) 1994 CASTLE HILL 2/4 1998 STZ
DEADLY PAST 1994 ATLANTIC FILM 6/10 1996 TMC
DECEPTIONS 2: EDGE OF DECEPTION 1994 LIBRA 11/3 1996 TMC
DIRECT HIT 1994 PM ENT. 7/4 1996 TMC
DOUBLE HAPPINESS 1994 FL 1/3 1998 STZ
DREAM LOVER 1994 GRAMERCY 5/24 2015 EPIX-D
ENDLESS SUMMER II (DOC.) 1994 NL 4/8 1997 TNT
EXOTICA 1994 MIRAMAX 12/24 1997 TAPE
EYES OF THE SERPENT 1994 VISTA STREEP 2/3 1996 USA
FARINELLI 1994 SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 2/10 1998 BRAVO
FEDERAL HILL 1994 TRIMARK 2/15 1997 TMC
FRANK & JESSE 1994 TRIMARK 11/1 2016 SHO
FREEDOM ON MY MIND (DOC.) 1994 1/17 2017 TCM
GETTING EVEN WITH DAD 1994 MGM 7/16 1995 TMC
GNOME NAMED GNORM 1994 POLYGRAM 1/9 1998 STZ
GODZILLA VS. SPACEGODZILLA (JAP.) 1994 TOHO 5/23 1998 TAPE
GREAT DAY IN HARLEM (DOC.) 1994 CASTLE HILL 5/11 1997 BRAVO
HANDGUN 1994 12/7 1995 TMC
HEAVENLY CREATURES (NZ) 1994 MIRAMAX 2/22 1998 TAPE
I LIKE TO PLAY GAMES 1994 CAMEO 3/31 1997 TMC
ICE 1994 PM ENT. 9/7 2013 DVD
IMAGINARY CRIMES 1994 WB 3/12 1998 55
INDECENT BEHAVIOR II 1994 5/11 1996 TMC
INKWELL, THE 1994 TOUCHSTONE/BV 5/20 1996 TMC
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY 1994 MGM 2/19 1996 TMC
KARATE COP 1994 IMPERIAL 9/26 1995 TNT
KILLING ZOE 1994 OCTOBER 8/26 2001 IFC
LAND BEFORE TIME II: THE GREAT VALLEY ADVENTURE 1994 UNI 2/24 1997 DIS
LAST SEDUCTION 1994 ITC 6/30 1998 55
LEGEND OF THE RED DRAGON (H.K.) 1994 10/3 2009 ACTN
LEGEND OF WILD BILL HICKOK (DOC.) 1994 DAN DALTON PRODS. 1/5 2014 DVD
LEGEND OF WYATT EARP (DOC.) 1994 DAN DALTON PRODS. 5-Jan 1/5 2014 DVD
LEPRECHAUN 2 1994 TRIMARK 3/17 2011 SYFY
LETHAL NINJA 1994 VIDMARK 6/29 1996 TNT
LITTLE ODESSA 1994 LIVE 11/13 1997 7
LOVE IS A GUN 1994 TRIMARK 5/3 2018 EPIX
MADNESS OF KING GEORGE 1994 SAMUEL GOLDWYN 10/2 2001 IFC
MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (U.K.) 1994 SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 1/3 1997 TMC
MARTIN LAWRENCE YOU SO CRAZY 1994 4/6 2003 MAX
MILLION TO JUAN 1994 SAMUEL GOLDWYN 9/23 1995 TMC
MR. WRITE 1994 VISION 5/18 1998 STZ
MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE 1994 FL 5/17 1999 IFC
NATURAL CAUSES 1994 PACIFIC RIM 7/24 1995 TMC
NAVY WAY 1994 PAR 11/1 2012 DVD
NEW AGE 1994 WB 3/19 1998 55
NEW ROSE HOTEL 1994 AVALANCHE HOME ENT. 2/24 2013 DRA
NEXT KARATE KID 1994 COL HILARY SWANK 5/9 2006 ACTN
NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1994 RIALTO FILMS 6/3 2013 EFAM
NIGHT FIRE 1994 TRIBORO 4/24 1997 TMC
NO CONTEST 1994 NU STAR 5/26 1997 TAPE
NOBODY’S FOOL 1994 PAR 8/12 1995 TMC
OUTLAWS: THE LEGEND OF O.B. TAGGART 1994 1/29 2017 GET TV
PHANTASM 3 1994 5/4 1996 TMC
PRIVATE LESSONS II 1994 2/20 1996 TMC
PUMPKINHEAD II: BLOOD WING 1994 LIVE 10/23 1997 55
RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS (FR.) 1994 9/18 1999 TAPE
RISK 1994 SEVENTH ARTS 8/22 1996 TMC
SAVATE 1994 A-PIX ENT. 5/27 2003 WEST
SCISSORS 1994 DDM 4/30 1998 7
SCORNED 1994 PRISM 5/17 1995 TMC
SECRET OF ROAN INISH 1994 SAMUEL GOLDWYN XXX XXX 3/8 2004 SUND
SILENT TONGUE 1994 TRIMARK 2/19 2017 EPIX
SILK N’ SABOTAGE 1994 BRODER INTL. 3/30 1996 USA
SIMON MAGUS 1994 FIREWORKS 5/18 2003 SUND
SLEEP WITH ME 1994 MGM 4/13 1996 TMC
STEEL FRONTIER 1994 PM ENTERTAINMENT BO SVENSON 5/2 2005 ACTN
STONED AGE 1994 TRIMARK 11/26 1995 TMC
TANGENTS 1994 EDGEWOOD ENT 5/9 2013 DVD
TERESA’S TATTOO 1994 TRIMARK 12/4 2018 EPIX
THE PAGEMASTER 1994 FOX MACAULAY CULKIN 11/14 2004 ENC
THERE GOES MY BABY 1994 ORI 1/31 1996 TMC
THUMBELINA 1994 FOX 1/2 2018 HBO
TIGERA: A FIL THAT WAS NEVER FINISHED (FIN-GER-BRAZIL) 1994 MIRAMAX 8/5 1996 TMC
TOM AND VIV 1994 MIRAMAX 3/12 2003 MMAX
TRACKING DOWM MAGGIE: THE UNOFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY OF MARGARET THATCHER (U.K.) 1994 9/4 1996 TMC
TREACHEROUS 1994 3/6 1996 TMC
VAMPIRE VIXENS FROM OUTER SPACE 1994 5/18 1996 USA
VANYA ON 42ND STREET 1994 SONY CLASSICS 5/6 1996 TMC
VICE ACADEMY PT 4 1994 6/11 1995 USA
WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS NORTH 1994 CALEDONIA 1/13 1998 STZ
WIDOW’S PEAK 1994 FL MIA FARROW 5/3 2006 IFC
ZEIRAM 2 (JAP.) 1994 EMOTUM 2/14 1996 TAPE
Hey Dan….well even though my tally has gone from 84 to 118 after a recount (I guess I am Florida election officer)…I am still way far behind your tally. Your movie watching machine days were will in force in 1994. So you avoided The Postman in theaters? Heck it took me years to finally watch that one. Not thinking I saw too many of these movies in theaters….maybe 12 to 14….and some are really really lowly rated….The Pagemaster and On Deadly Ground come to mind. As always…your lists are truly impressive…happy to be in second place behind you in our little tally contest. Good stuff.
1994 already wow! The year of Pulp Fiction vs Forrest Gump.
I’ve seen 67 of the 267 films on the chart, there are 200 films I haven’t seen from that year! Looking at my files I have 69 films from 1994 in my movie collection.
My favorites are –
Clear and Present Danger
Crow ,The
Interview with the Vampire
Leon ‘The Professional’
Lion King ,The
Mask ,The
Maverick
Natural Born Killers
Pulp Fiction
Puppet Masters ,The
Shadow ,The
Shawshank Redemption ,The
Specialist ,The
Speed
Star Trek – Generations
StarGate
TimeCop
True Lies
Wolf
zz-China – Drunken Master II
zz-Japan Anime – Street Fighter II
I own Forrest Gump on DVD. I like Tom Hanks in the film, but it’s not a movie I watch often. Ditto Tom Cruise and Born on the Fourth of July. Daniel Day Lewis and Lincoln. Colin Firth and The King’s Speech. All are well made, well acted, award worthy and in my collection, but I’m not in a big hurry too watch them again.
Another epic movie page Bruce, good stuff. Vote Up!
Hey Steve. Thanks for the visit. 67 tally count. I am at 84….but I was half asleep when I did my tally. I wonder if it went up now that I am bright eyed and bushy tailed…let me see. Ah…yes much better…..118 seen. The list is so long…it made it hard to stay focused. Thinking I will limit the movies to 200 in the future.
The dislike of Forrest Gump has always surprised me. I thought everybody loved that movie…yet there is a big group that do not feel that way at all. Pulp Fiction’s legacy has grown so much since 1994. Our your favorites…right there with you on Speed, True Lies, Leon, Pulp Fiction and The Crow. Others I really like would include Fresh, Clerks and Nobody’s Fool….heck I expect I have 20 or so these movies that I really really like.
I know what you mean about good movies that do not beg for re-watchings…..Schlinder’s List is the top of that list for me. Good feedback.
I have seen 7 [or 46.66% as The Work Horse likes percentages] of the Top 15 most critically acclaimed movies in the above chart and 8 [or 53.33%] of the biggest box office hits. Not too bad for a guy who is more attached to the Classic Era of the cinema.
My own personal tastes are usually not as sophisticated as the Doyens of the film world’s critical class and/or those who dish out stars and ratings but as the cliché goes “a poor thing but mine own nevertheless!” so here are the Top 10 films I liked most .
Forrest Gump
True Lies
Speed
Disclosure
Wolf
When a Man Loves a Woman
Nobody’s Fool
Drop Zone
Shawshank Redemption
Don Juan DeMarco ***
It will be noted that Drop Zone is given a Cogerson critical rating of only 56% while Wolf with 60% just about slips into the “good” category and I had no interest in Little Women and didn’t like Red Rock West which Bruce credits with 84 and 82% respectively. The pairing of Newman/Willis and Brando/ Depp in nobody’s Fool and Don Juan respectively more attracted me to those movies rather than the films in their own right.
However regardless of my personal preferences I am once again keenly interested in the highly comprehensive oversight of the movie marketplace in the year concerned that these painstakingly compiled annual reviews always provide for films stats fanatics like me.
***TEACH
Both Wiki and IMDB show Don Juan DeBrando released in April 1995 in US and UK and that is my own recollection [and you will not be surprised that I closely tracked that one at the time]. IMDB shows it not being released ANYWHERE ELSE worldwide before 1996?
Hey Bob….thanks for checking out our 1994 page. Let’s see….Don Juan DeBrando was completed in 1994 (the date listed on IMDb….which is the date we always use), but you are correct…it did not get released into theaters until April 1995. You were keeping track of that movie? I find that very hard to believe…..lol.
Good tally numbers from you. Thanks for sharing. I have seen all Top 15 box office, reviewed and UMR movies. Actually…I have seen the Top 30 UMR movies. Thanks for your Top 10. I have seen them all….just recently re-watched Don Juan a few months ago. I love Nobody’s Fool, the last great Newman leading role…and Bruce is very good in a supporting role….their banter is the best part of the movie.
I have lots of lesser known favorites here….Swimming With Sharks (good movie…even though Spacey’s behavior now makes that one even harder to watch), Clerks – I discovered this one very very early. Loved and have loaned out my VHS, Laserdisc and DVDs of that movie many many times over the years. Cobb has some great performances…too bad nobody saw that movie.
As for Red Rock West….I really enjoyed that one back in the 1990s….I was not as impressed on a recent re-viewing of that one. Thanks for the kind words about our yearly pages…..went out of order a little bit….but something about the fact that Speed, Forrest Gump, The Lion King and Pulp Fiction are now a quarter of a century old really really fascinates me. Good stuff.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for the explanation about Don Juan DeBrando.
However is your practice not a bit misleading as you leave the impression that Don J earned its income in 1994 whereas it had not earned a dollar anywhere before 1995, the year in which both The Numbers and Mojo credit the film with income.
Also in making comparisons among the box office performances of films across the board in 1994 it is not possible to compare “apples with apples” if their incomes were not all generated in the same year.
Which leads me to my most serious concern on all – that the inflation adjustments applied will be out of sync, with Don J for example being adjusted from 1994 prices and other movies being measured against adjustments based on 1995 prices.
Don J could therefore be said to be gaining an unfair advantage over other movies – ie it is not a level playing field. However I personally am quite happy for the movies of Brando, Peck, Wayne, Ladd et al to be given such an advantage of course!
Of course the inconsistency doesn’t make much difference to a small grosser like Don J but if it was applied unfairly to a massive hit like Lion King the latter would gain an extra $25, maybe $50 million worldwide, million dollars in adjusted grosses to which it wasn’t entitled according to the US Bureau of Lab Stats which could eschew reasonably accurate comparisons among the very highest grossing movies.
Hey Bob….we made the decision to go with the IMDb years ago, as the one we use in the database. Yes, movies like Don Juan get a slight advantage….the only ones we include in the “next year” are the ones we do in the year they happened….2011 to 2019….as those movies are actually put into the database once they open in theaters. Yes, it is slightly misleading….but normally….year to year does not see much of a gain or in some cases decrease in average ticket cost. At this point we have gone too far to switch the rules….so we will have to stay with the IMDb year. Sorry about that.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for the further explanation. I guess the old adage applies that “A man convinced against his will, remains unconvinced still”
Take care.
So you skipped the rest of the 1980s and went to my high school graduating year. There is an error in the top paragraph. You have “movies made in 1983 earned box office dollars in 1994.”
I was very busy with classes and extracurricular activities that year and saw few movies. Some of the films I saw I saw on VHS.
I have seen 13 movies from 1994.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Forrest Gump which I hated and don’t understand why it is so highly regarded.
The highest rated film I have NOT seen is Pulp Fiction which is on my to-see list.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Love and a .45, an independent movie I saw for Rory Cochrane.
With the low total, I won’t list movie I have seen by tens. I’ll just list favourites and non-favourites.
Favourite 1994 Movies:
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Shawshank Redemption
Quiz Show
Ed Wood
Little Women (seen most versions of this book)
Love and a .45
Other Films From 1994 I Have Seen:
Forrest Gump
Maverick (have gotten so I cannot stand Mel Gibson)
Naked Gun 33 1/3
Clerks
Gaurding Tess
The Ref
Miracle on 34th Street
Hey Flora. I kept hearing people talking about some of these movies being 25 years old…..so I jumped a little ahead. I have seen 84 of these movies. 13 is pretty good considering you were busy. Thanks for the heads up on the error. I see I also have The Postino listed twice. I will fix both tomorrow morning….as I am currently away from the database. I have seen and enjoyed most of your favorites. Good to see that you have seen Clerks..Love that movie. Good feedback as always.