To make this list a movie had to be made in 1998. Obviously many movies made in 1997 earned box office dollars in 1998. On the other side many movies made in 1998 made money in 1999 and later. This page will looks at over 250 movies made in 1998. 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 Top 50….Statistically Speaking…..Movies of 1998
1998 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 1998 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1998 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1998 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1998 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 1998 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1998 Movies received.
- Sort 1998 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’ve seen 70 of the 285 films on the chart, not bad I suppose considering most of the films were rubbish that year. But I do have a fondness for the bad as well as the good, depends on how bad.
Looking at my files I have 86 films from 1998 in my movie collection, lots of bad films here too. 😉
My favorites include –
American History X
Antz
Armageddon
Big Hit ,The
Big Lebowski ,The
Blade
Bug’s Life ,A
Dark City
Deep Impact
Deep Rising
Elizabeth
Faculty ,The
Godzilla (1998)
John Carpenter’s Vampires
Lethal Weapon 4
Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels
Lost in Space
Mask of Zorro ,The
Mighty Joe Young.
Mulan
Out of Sight
Prince of Egypt
Replacement Killers ,The
Ronin
Rush Hour
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
Sphere
Star Trek VIIII – Insurrection
Thin Red Line ,The
You’ve Got Mail
Top rated films I haven’t seen include – Happiness, The General and A Simple Plan.
My most watched films from that year I would say are – Armageddon, Godzilla, Star Trek Insurrection, Lost in Space, Blade and Antz.
The best film of 1998 is Saving Private Ryan (and the most successful) but it’s not a film I watch often, and the other big WWII film of 1998 The Thin Red Line, even less often. I have them both on blu-ray.
Good stuff Bruce. These pages are getting longer and longer, have your yearly charts reached 300 films yet? Vote Up!
Hey Steve…..thanks for the feedback on our latest yearly page. Only 70 seen? I figured your total would be closer to triple digits. I have seen all of your favorites….with Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, Armageddon, Dark City, You’ve Got Mail, Saving Private Ryan and Bug’s Life being my favorites. WoC has two favorites from this year…Bug’s Life and Mulan. Happiness is a bleak depressing movie that is hard to watch…a one and done movie for me….well done but not a movie I recommend. I have not seen The General. A Simple Plan would be the one I would recommend seeing…though the book is much better.
The Thin Red Line has some great parts (Nick Nolte is amazing in the movie), it looks amazing, has a great cast….yet somehow it bores me when I watch it. This yearly reviews could be over 300 movies long….heck they could be almost 500 movies long…but after a while…..the movies did so little at the box office and they feature unknown (currently) actors…I have decided to not include them. At this point….I basically look at the Top 50 (first table) when I look at this pages for my own entertainment purposes. Good feedback.
I saw 62. 17 of top 22, I missed the anime surprisingly. not a good year for great movies for me. 10s and favorites: Shakespeare in love, saving private ryan (a happier ending away from best war movie ever), Armageddon(over a billion world wide box office). 9 and favorites: something about mary, you’ve got mail. 9s not favorites: thin red line, Elizabeth, primary colors, bulworth, playing by heart, 1900, stepmom, the negotiator , lethal weapon 4. I might have overrated some of these because of paucity of 10s this year. hidden gems: American history x (a 7), big Lebowski (a 7), mercury rising (an 8 with the bruce). a non UMR listing , who am I, a Jackie chan movie with one of the funniest car chase scene ever (an 8).
Hey bob cox…..62 is not too bad. 17 of 22 is much more impressive. I think I enjoyed 1998 much more than you. The summer of 1998 was a battle between potential blockbusters….Armageddon eventually won that battle….as it earned a ton of money. Godzilla did ok….and Deep Impact got the critical glory. Knowing of that battle…..will make the scene in Armageddon where a dog attacks a Godzilla toy much more funny. I will have to check out Who Am I….maybe that car chase scene is on You Tube. Good feedback as always.
I have seen 13 [or 43.4%] of the top 30 highest domestic grossers in the above charts. My own Top 20 faves in no particular order are as follows [CR=Cogerson Rating]
Fallen
A Civil Action
Mask of Zorro-CR 73%
Elizabeth
A Perfect Murder-CR 58%
Primary Colours
The Work Horse Whisperer [Joel?]70%-I am watching Redford’s The Natural now!
Godzilla
The Faculty- I saw this one in America on my visit the US
Gods and Monsters
You’ve Got Mail
Man in the Iron Mask-49%
Enemy of the State
Shakespeare in Love-83%
The Replacement Killers
Sliding Doors
Mighty JoeL Young-54%
Twilight
Urban Legend-47%
Little Voice
Out of all of those films, THE highlight for me was Sir Maurice Micklewhite defying his tormentors by drunkenly singing Roy Orbison’s ‘It’s [f******] Over’ – magic! like this painstakingly comprehensive review. Sir Maurice deservedly won a Golden Globe for that mesmerising performance, demonstrating once again that he is up there with Brando, Nicholson, DeNiro and all those perceived great Yankee actors. I have no Globes to give out but I can award a hearty “Voted Up!” to this fine piece of Cogerson work.
Hey Bob….thanks for sharing your thoughts on our 1998 page….only ten more yearly reviews to go. I have seen all of your favorites..I especially enjoyed You’ve Got Mail (Hanks shines in that one), Twilight (need a trailer page on that one) and A Civil Action (one of Travolta’s best roles). I agree that Caine shines in Little Voice. Still shocked that performance did not get him an Oscar nomination…if memory serves me correctly….he was a favorite to win an Oscar for the role…that was of course before the nominations came out. Gladly, he only had to wait one more year to get that second Oscar. Good stuff.
HI BRUCE Thanks for your feedback. I have explained to you that I provide more stories about Brando than about actors whom I find more entertaining than he, like Widmark and Peck, because I have more information at my fingertips about Marlon. An example of how Brando trivia often fell into my lap without my having to search for it is the S o Bob apple story that I gave you.
However I don’t’ think that have explained to you that the sixties and early seventies were my formative years as an adult moviegoer. The B westerns of the fifties were well behind me and the ones made in the sixties were fewer and in my view not as good so sir Maurice – plain Mr Micklewhite then – was one of the actors who filled the vacuum with films like Alfie, Zulu, Gambit, Italian Job, Get Carter, Sleuth and especially the Harry Palmer trilogy Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain.
I loved Harry Palmer as a character as he was a great “ordinary Joe” contrast to the showy, glamorous, smart-ass, womanizing Bond type spy. In addition Harry seemed to me more his own man than the deferential-to-authority Bond-
“I was depending on you to be an insubordinate b*****d Palmer.” [Col Ross, Harry’s spy superior]
Accordingly my nostalgia for the Caine of that 1960s – early 1970s period and his films then always encourage me to take advantage of every opportunity to offer comment on this site about Sir M and his work. Sir M is of course a fine actor to boot.
On IMDB’s 2012’s “ultimate” list of the Top 100 greatest male actors of all time Sir M is a high 14th, up there in the Top 15 with the more publicized Nicholson, Brando, Tracy, Day-Lewis and Olivier. Don’t “arise Sir Maurice!” – take a bow! [He is said to be worth $75 million, traditionally great for a British artist
Hey Bob….thanks for the explanation of your “sixties and early seventies were my formative years as an adult moviegoer”. For me it would be the 1980s. I started the decade at the age of 12….by the end of the decade I was 22, married with one child. During that 10 year span, my movie taste really developed….led by Harrison Ford, Michael Caine, Kurt Russell and Paul Newman. Bruce Willis was a late addition to the party….at least on the movie side of things. Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for the information about your own formative years.
I knew about all the guys you’ve mentioned except Kurt. That did surprise me as I cannot recall you drooling over him the way you have over the others and of course over the King of Critics too!
Hey Bob….I have been a fan of Kurt Russell for almost 50 years. I remember his Disney movies as a kid…..then his Dexter Riley teenage Disney movies. I knew him as the jungle boy on an episode of Gilligan’s Island. By the time he graduated to R rated movies like Used Cars (a very funny movie) and Escape From New York (a sci-fi classic) I was at the age where I was trying to sneak into movies even though I was a little too young. He might not be a Top 3 favorite….but if he is not in the Top 5….he is pretty close to it.
My Top 10. Caine, Willis and Grant in Top 3. Ford, Russell, Hanks, Wayne would be fighting for the last 2 spots in the Top 5…..while Bateman, Bale, Bloom, Nelson and probably a few others rotate in the Top10. Kurt is one of the few that has more than one UMR page. He has his movie ranking page….and an entire page on facts about him. He has had a wonderful life…filled with many of the most famous people to walk this earth. Walt Disney, Elvis, Lady Diane, James Stewart and UFOs. Good comment.
I moved to Bayside in 1998, bought a computer and started listing the films I saw in Queens (Bayside is in Queens). This is all the films I saw in theaters I typed in back then. I did not list any films I had seen in the Bronx or Manhattan after the letter H (those before were done in retrospect which I stopped in H because it was too annoying going through afterward). Until 2002 I still saw films in the city and the Bronx where mom lived. The last film I saw in the Bronx was Clockstoppers in 2002 and the last in the city was 2004’s The In-Laws. So this is an incomplete list but I could probably do it from memory.
54
AIR BUD: GOLDEN RECEIVER
ALAN SMITHEE FILM: BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN
ALMOST HEROES
ANTZ
APT PUPIL
ARMAGEDDON
AVENGERS, THE
BABE: PIG IN THE CITY
BASEKETBALL
BIG HIT
BIG LEBOWSKI
BLACK DOG
BLADE
BLUES BROTHERS 2000
BORROWERS, THE
BRIDE OF CHUCKY
BUG’S LIFE
BULWORTH
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
CITY OF ANGELS
CLAY PIGEONS
CLOCKWATCHERS
DANCE WITH ME
DARK CITY
DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS
DEE SNIDER’S STRANGELAND
DEEP IMPACT
DEEP RISING
DESPERATE MEASURES
DIRTY LAUNDRY
DIRTY WORK
DR. DOLITTLE
ELIZABETH
ENEMY OF THE STATE
FACULY, THE
FALLEN
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
FIRESTORM
GINGERBREAD MAN
GODZILLA
HALF BAKED
HARD RAIN
HE GOT GAME
HOLY MAN
HOME FRIES
HOMEGROWN
I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
JANE AUSTIN’S MAFIA
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (IT.)
LIVING OUT LOUD
MEET JOE BLACK
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG
NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY
ONE TOUGH COP
OPPOSITE OF SEX
OUT OF SIGHT
PLEASANTVILLE
PRACTICAL MAGIC
RINGMASTER
RONIN
RUSH HOUR
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS
SMALL SOLDIERS
SNAKE EYES
SPANISH PRISONER
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION
STEPMOM
THE NEGOTIATOR
THE SIEGE
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
THIN RED LINE
VERY BAD THINGS
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE
WRONGFULLY ACCUSED
YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
Jane Austin’s Mafia was the first film I saw in Bayside after I moved in. The first film I actually saw in Bayside was 1997’s The Spanish Prisoner which had expanded in 1998 and I saw was apartment shopping. The Avengers is the first film I spent as high as $9 on and it stunk.
The following 97 1998 films I have seen since 1999 on DVD, tape or TV with date shown..
AFFLICTION 1998 2/23 2003 IFC
AIRBORNE 1998 ALLIANCE ATLANTIC 8/12 2014 DVD
AIRBOSS II: PREMATURE STRIKE 1998 ANSELL 7/7 2014 DVD
AMERICAN DRAGONS 1998 MPCA MICHAEL BIEHN 3/11 2009 ACTN
AMONGST GIANTS 1998 FOX SEARCHLIGHT 10/14 2004 MAX
AYN RAND: A SENSE OF LIFE 1998 STRAND 1/12 2002 IFC
BESIEGED (UK-IT.) 1998 FINE LINE XXX XXX 10/12 2009 DRA
BLOOD ORANGES 1998 TRIMARK 11/23 2016 EPIX
BLOOD, GUTS, BULLETS AND OCTANE 1998 SHORT FAST 1/12 2005 MMAX
BLOODSPORT II 1998 TRANSCONTINENTAL FILM 2/14 2004 ACTN
BONGWATER 1998 FIRST LOOK 9/20 2001 TAPE
BOY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS 1998 SONAR ENT. 5/6 2015 EFAM
BUTTER 1998 LIVE 6/12 2012 SUSP
CAN’T HARDLY WAIT 1998 COL 7/9 1999 HBO
CELEBRITY 1998 MIRAMAX 1/24 2000 TAPE
COOL, DRY PLACE 1998 FOX SEARCHLIGHT 6/21 2012 FXM
COUSIN BETTE 1998 FOX SEARCHLIGHT 11/15 1999 MMAX
CUBE (CAN.) 1998 TRIMARK 2/15 2018 EPIX
DANGEROUS BEAUTY 1998 WB 11/28 1999 HBOP
DIGGING TO CHINA 1998 LEGACY REL. 6/20 2006 MMAX
DIVORCING JACK (U.K.) 1998 MOSAIC MOVIES 8/18 2011 SUSP
ESCAPE FROM WILDCAT CANYON 1998 HALLMARK/SHOWTIME 11/13 2013 EFAM
EVASIVE ACTION 1998 HALLMARK ENT. 5/7 2014 DVD
EXTRAMARITAL 1998 PM ENT. 8/19 1999 MAX
FEMALION 2: THE SEARCH FOR KARA 1998 7/4 2001 TAPE
FREEDOM STRIKE 1998 A-PIX ENT. 12/18 2012 ACTN
FREERIDERS (DOC.) 1998 11/14 2002 ACTN
GENERAL, THE (IRISH) 1998 3/2 2004 TRUE
GODS AND MONSTERS 1998 SHOWTIME 9/21 2000 SUND
GORGEOUS (H.K.) 1998 TRI 2/1 2001 TAPE
GOVERNESS, THE 1998 SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 11/29 2000 SUND
GREATEST PLACES 1998 SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA 2/17 2003 TAPE
GUNSLINGER’S REVENGE (IT.) 1998 4/27 2013 WEST
HAPPINESS 1998 GOOD DAMAGE 8/28 2001 MMAX
HIDEOUS KINKY (U.K.) 1998 9/19 2000 SUND
HI-LIFE 1998 LIONS GATE 4/16 2017 STZ
HOPE FLOATS 1998 FOX 6/28 1999 HBO
HORSE WHISPERER 1998 TOUCHSTONE / BV 5/17 2005 LOVE
HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK 1998 FOX 2/23 2003 WE
I WENT DOWN 1998 ARTISAN 3/9 2017 EPIX
ILLUMINATA 1998 ARTISAN 3/17 2002 MAX
JUNGLE BOOK: LOST TREASURE 1998 LE MONDE ENT. 6/5 2015 DVD
KISS THE SKY 1998 MGM 6/11 2013 LOVE
KISSING A FOOL 1998 UNI 2/15 2005 LOVE
KUCH KUCH HOLA HAI (INDIA) 1998 7/11 2002 TAPE
LAND BEFORE TIME VI: THE SECRET OF SAURUS ROCK 1998 UNI 12/19 2018 HBO
LAST LEPRECHAUN 1998 PEAKVIEWING TRANSATLANTIC 11/22 2012 DVD
LAST NIGHT 1998 LIONSGATE 1/25 2005 MMAX
LEGEND OF 1900 (IT.) 1998 MEDUSA 7/26 2005 IFC
LITTLE MERMAID (AUSTRALIA) 1998 BURBANK ANIMATION 5/8 2013 DVD
LULU ON THE BRIDGE 1998 TRIMARK 7/25 2001 MMAX
MARY JANE’S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE 1998 12/2 2018 TCM
MR. JEALOUSY 1998 LIONS GATE 7/28 2002 IFC
MRS. DALLOWAY (U.K.) 1998 FIRST LOOK 9/1 2011 IFC
MURDER OF CROWS 1998 NEW CITY 6/10 2013 SUSP
MYSTERIES OF EGYPT 1998 DESTINATION CINEMA 8/2 2005 DVD
NAKED MAN 1998 OCTOBER 2/5 2006 SUND
NATURALLY NATIVE 1998 RED-HORSE NATIVE 5/26 2010 TCM
NEXT STOP WONDERLAND 1998 MIRAMAX 4/12 2007 LOVE
NIGHT FLYER 1998 NL 4/17 2002 MAX
NIGHTMARE IN BIG SKY COUNTRY 1998 NILELITE/ABC 2/18 2014 DVD
NO CODE OF CONDUCT 1998 DIMENSION 2/26 2014 DVD
O.K. GARAGE 1998 NEW CITY 9/23 2001 TAPE
OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION 1998 FOX 8/6 2007 MMAX
ONE TRUE THING 1998 UNI 3/3 2008 LOVE
OPERATION DELTA FORCE 3: CLEAR TARGET 1998 NU IMAGE 1/26 2004 MAX
OUTSIDE OZOMA 1998 TRI 6/6 2013 SUSP
PANDRA PROJECT 1998 CINETEL 9/16 2010 DVD
PERMANENT MIDNIGHT 1998 ARTISAN / LIVE 6/25 2013 DRA
PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION 1998 SILVER SPHERE 10/23 2017 SYFY
POLISH WEDDING 1998 FOX SEARCHLIGHT 12/6 1999 HBOP
POSSUMS 1998 HSX FILMS 10/15 2012 EFAM
POSTAL WORKER 1998 TAUS 2/24 2000 HBOP
REBIRTH OF MOTHRA 3 (JAP.) 1998 TRI STAR 11/11 2011 EFAM
RETURN TO SAVAGE BEACH 1998 MALIBU BAY 11/15 1998 MMAX
SAFE MEN 1998 OCTOBER 11/30 1999 HBO
SECOND ARRIVAL 1998 3/28 2007 MAX
SECRET KINGDOM 1998 KUSHNER-LOCKE 11/28 2017 DVD
SENDER, THE 1998 NEW CITY/PM ENT. 8/2 2010 DVD
SHADRACH 1998 COLUMBIA 1/13 2017 GET TV
SHATTERED IMAGE 1998 11/28 2004 MMAX
SHRUNKEN CITY (ROMANIA) 1998 AMAZING FANTASY ENT. 11/28 2017 DVD
SLAPPY AND THE STINKERS 1998 TRI 10/26 2009 WAM
SMOKE SIGNALS 1998 MIRAMAX 12/4 2017 SHO
SPARKLE 1998 STRAND 5/7 2000 TAPE
STANDOFF 1998 TRIMARK 11/4 2016 EPIX
STORM TROOPER 1998 NEW CITY REL. 8/24 2010 DVD
T.N.T. 1998 ASCOT VIDEO 6/4 2006 MAX
TACTICAL ASSAULT 1998 MPCA 5/17 2004 MMAX
THICK AS THIEVES 1998 OCTOBER / ROGUE 2/24 2005 THRMAX
TUMBLEWEEDS 1998 FL 8/14 2001 LOVE
TWICE UPON A TESTERDAY 1998 TRIMARK 11/29 2005 IFC
VAMPIRE’S SEDUCTION 1998 E.I. ENT. 10/6 2003 DVD
VELVET GOLDMINE 1998 MIRAMAX 4/17 2005 IFC
WAKING NED DEVINE 1998 FOX SEARCHLIGHT 3/18 2003 WE
WHAT RATS WON’T DO (U.K.) 1998 POLYGRAM FILMED ENT. 6/10 2007 SUND
WOO 1998 NEW LINE 8/11 2013 ENC
The following 15 films were seen on videotape within a year of their debuts in theaters.
BARNEY’S GREAT ADVENTURE
CIVIL ACTION
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
HILLARY AND JACKIE (U.K.)
HURLYBURLY
IN GOD’S HANDS
JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES
LOLITA
PECKER
PI
PLAYERS CLUB
REPLACEMENT KILLERS
RUSHMORE
SIMPLE PLAN
Hey Dan….it might be an incomplete list….but it is still a massive and impressive list. That is a lot of movies seen in The Bronx and Manhattan. Sorry you had to pay all the higher prices that are associated with living in New York. But….you do get the opportunity to see every movie ever made on the big screen. Living in Chesapeake….that is not an option….we have one theater that plays “art movies”….and even then they only play one art movie on two days during the week. The weekend they show more popular movies. I would say our tally count of movies watched would be close…though I would still give you the edge. Thanks as always for sharing this information…and remember…you are The Man!
I have seen 9 films from 1998. Only one of them is in the top 10. I will answer this review and if over 5 films I will answer 1999. I was in my upper level courses at university and didn’t have time for movies.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Shakespeare in Love.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Saving Private Ryan.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is The Adventures of Sebastian Cole.
Favourite 1998 Movies:
Shakespeare in Love
The Horse Whisperer
Pleasantville
Little Voice – surprised Michael Caine isn’t listed as a star of the film
Other 1998 Movies I Have Seen:
City of Angels
What Dreams May Come
A Simple Plan
Waking Ned Devine
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Hey Flora….even though these movies seem like recent movies…at 21 years old….they are almost antiques….which some people say happens at 25 years old. Overall I have seen 114 of these movies….47 of the Top 50. 84 of the top 100. Then only 30 of the bottom 182. Your tally is small compared to some of the older yearly reviews….but still…more than many people. Of your favorites….loved Pleasantville and like Little Voice…..but I loved Caine’s performance. You are so right….why is Caine not listed as a co-star. Bad database…bad database. I will fix that error as soon as I finish this comment. Of your nine…the only one I have not seen is The Adventures of Sebastian Cole…and honestly…I have never heard of it before reading your comment. WoC most have uploaded that movie when she was doing some research on Box Office Mojo. Good stuff….these yearly reviews are coming towards the end. Thanks for the feedback.
Michael Caine is now listed as a co-star in Little Voice…thanks again Flora.