I look at this list and realize I used to go to the movies a whole lot more than I do now. Now I just wait for it to stream and roll the dice if I want to spend the $25 to see it early.. Lol
I used to go to the movies to see *everything.* We had a theater in my old neighborhood that showed movies for $1. I used to go by myself if nobody wanted to go with. Plus I knew everybody that worked there so I could get into R rated movies. I kinda miss that. I kinda miss having the _time_ to do that LOL
Summer of '88 we saw Bull Durham and Willow back-to-back on a Wednesday night.
I paid $3.00, and no I didn't sneak into Willow. I paid $1.50 for each ticket, full price the week after they came out.
So yeah, we saw a lot of movies that summer.
Looking at the cost and inflation calculators, supposedly it would have cost an average of about $3 to see E.T. in the theater, which is about $10 today. The average is suppsoed to be about that now, but where I live (L.A.) it is more like $17 per ticket, $35 for two.
Am I wrong, or was $6 a LOT easier to come by in '82 than $35 is now? I remember not even thinking about the cost when I would go see a movie, even when it was something like Star Wars and I was seeing it for the ninth time...
>I used to go to the movies a whole lot more than I do now
I actually counted on BoxOfficeMojo and had seen at least 50 of the top 100 movies in theaters every year between 1981 - 1985 (freshman high school to freshman college) ... wild.
I look at this list and I realize how weird I am compared to most other people in this generation. I’ve seen maybe 40% of these movies.
I did spend part of 83/84 seeing movies with the group of friends I had at the time but we mostly saw the crappiest horror movie playing in the theaters that weekend.
It always tripped me out when I was a kid when I got the picture book for E.T. after seeing the movie. Eight-year-old me was PISSED that I somehow missed Indiana Jones in the movie given that he was pictured in the book. restore the scene!
Star Wars and Indiana Jones two best franchises of the 80s. I was a huge fan. Watched the original Raiders of the Lost Ark less than a month ago. Still a great movie.
For like 20 years, Harrison Ford was the highest grossing actor of all time. I know Hugo Weaving took the spot in the mid-2000’s, but not sure where we stand today.
If you are only counting actors playing significant roles, it's Sam. If you count bit parts, too, Stan Lee cameos push him to the top. If you narrow it just lead roles, RDJ edges out Sam. No matter what method you use to decide if a box office take counts towards an actor, though, it's gonna be an MCU star at the top lol
I still love him in “Moving.” What a great movie, with Dana Carvey as the psychopath who stole his car 🤣
Richard Pryor, one of the greats of our time. RIP
“For Your Eyes Only” seems like it’s punching above its weight class. That’s a tremendous gross for a film franchise that wasn’t at its best in the 80s (I mean, I’m a fan and it was my first Bond film, so I love it, but I’m amazed it had such wide appeal at that juncture).
I think it is only surprising just since it's been a long time since Bond has been thought of as like one THE biggest of the big films of the year thing.
Also For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy were two of the best of the Bond films.
I don't disagree. I'm a fan. They were my first two Bond films. I just never thought they had wide appeal as they weren't wildly popular with kids my age back then, nor do you hear a lot of people talking about that era now. They were definitely making money though.
I remember as a kid going to see a Bond film and it had a double line queuing around the cinema. Think it might have been For your eyes only. Was in the UK
I remember seeing For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy on HBO when I was in elementary school. Loved both movies. For me, Roger Moore IS James Bond. Sean Connery was before my time.
Sean Connery had better material, but Mr. Moore is my James Bond as well. “Octopussy” was my first Bond in the theater, the second half of a double feature with “The Beastmaster.” It was heaven.
And pop song soundtracks; it used to be that movie soundtracks were largely instrumental, unless the movie was a musical, such as The Sound of Music, or Mary Poppins.
And it’s also when they were last relevant: when they present the Oscar for best song they always do a montage, and it never includes anything past 8 Mile (which came out in 2002 lol)
Batman being #2 is surprising. Seems like all the news that summer was how much it was making and how popular it was. I never did get to see it in theaters because it was sold out when I tried. Twice! I had to settle for Ghistbusters II.
Came here to say this... a little shocked that it took 2 and last crusade was 1. I love indy, but my memory isn't that batman came in behind it. Batmania was everywhere that summer. It was insane in merchandising.
Went to see that at an old-time theater with the giant 70mm screen - scared tf out of me (and yes, I was in high school!). So suspenseful, and Signouney Weaver was incredible, one of the early (and still one of the best!) female action heroes
5 Harrison Ford movies
3 Sly Stallone or Eddie Murphy movies
2 superhero or James Bond movies
3 Tom Cruise or Michael J Fox movies
9 comedies 7 scifi 2 chick flicks, 2 actual dramas
Yep, that's the 80's for you. Surprised Arnold didn't make the cut, what happened to Terminator? Also if the sleepers were included, Harrison Ford would be higher, Blade Runner?
Arnold movies in the 80's were successful, but they still kinda were for a niche audience. The movie that really broke him to the mainstream was Twins. By the time Terminatior 2 came around, you had his audience that was watching him along, the audience that couldn't see his movies in the theater and were watching them on VHS, and that new group that suddenly saw him as an attractive screen presence thanks to Twins. Throw in a truly great film, and the end result is that T2 becomes the biggest grossing (domestic) film of 1991.
> what happened to Terminator?
Terminator's rated R. Most "big dollar" movies, at least at the time, are rated PG-13 or lower, which appeal more to families, etc.
Eddie Murphy was gonna be in Ghostbusters but decided to do Beverly Hills Cop instead, which IIRC was going to be a Stallone vehicle.
So they cut his part in Ghostbusters down and Ernie Hudson got the role.
I watched all but six of these in theaters. Four of those, I still haven't watched. To this day, I still don't understand why my parents took me with them to watch 9 to 5.
I didn't really realize how young I was watching some of these in the theater I still remember watching ET and I was six. And I was only 7-9 when I saw Beverly Hills Cop Rambo and Aliens in the theater lol. I swear as long as it wasn't a porno my parents would just let me watch whatever.
I just check the 90's here [top 90's films per year, click each year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_film), and it's goes hard. Surprisingly less sequels.
90s was way more dominated by “film dude films”, thanks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and whatnot. Both decades went hard and both have their share of monsters, but they had very different vibes.
(And yes I know there were great arty films in the 80s, and great franchise movies/blockbusters in the 90s)
I guess I’m just talking good films in the pop consciousness then. Seemed to me that his films were all over the place.
[Also it came in 19th for 1994](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1994/) which for an Indy film was hot shit at the time.
Despite its awesome title, it’s probably one of the worse James Bond movies. The box office returns were more inertia than anything, as the script is pretty weak. I will say that Roger Moore is doing his best with what he’s got. But the villain isn’t good, and the plot is kind of a mess.
It also didn’t help that Sean Connery came back as Bond with his own film *Never Say Never Again* two months after the release of *Octopussy*. And it was regarded at the time as the better film.
It was. But Tom cruise wasn’t playing against type. He was a selfish cocky hotshot type, same thing he played in top gun and color of money. He was great though
It was not allowed to watch rated-R movie in most of the 80’s (born in ‘74 to very overprotective parents). Most of these that are rated-R, I’ve watched only recently. I literally just saw “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” a few years ago. I dig watching movies from that decade now. And I resent how corny most current depictions of the 80’s are- with “Stranger Things” being a solid exception.
I was 6 when ET came out. My parents said they were going to take me to see it. The nearest theater was about 30 minutes away, so I resigned myself to a long drive. After awhile it started to seem like we had gone way too far.
I never noticed the luggage in the back. They *did* take me to ET, but in Idyllwild, and we stayed the whole weekend. Core fond memory <3
I saw it in the theater as a 10 year old boy (thought the gags were funny) and then Re-watched as a 40 y/o man - lol - it was a completely different cringeworthy (still funny) movie for "grown-up-man-me"!
I just rewatched it (having completely forgotten it) a couple of weeks ago and I was disappointed. It really isn’t all that good. I rewatched Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire and I still liked those though.
Hold up, Batman was one of the most hyped movies i remember growing up. And it only ranked 2nd at the box office? I’ve thought it worked have been number 1 for sure!
E.T. is the first film I remember seeing in a theater... but I'm late GenX (1978) so it could have been during the '85 rerelease (otherwise I would have only been 3 years old)
I’ll never forget the time I wanted to see Karate Kid 2 and my dad wanted to see Top Gun. He won (obviously) and I begrudgingly sat through an amazing movie. As we were leaving the theatre for Top Gun he just silently pushed me into the door for Karate Kid 2 and we take our seats and shut the fuck up.
I miss the 80s.
Dang! I saw 27 of these in theatre's. A few I was too young for when released but saw later. These movies offer a glimpse why we are the way we are as a group.
I have seen all of these at least once, unsurprisingly.
But what the hell is Crocodile Dundee doing on there, that's probably the only one I wouldn't watch again.
13 of 30 were Sequels. We are now paying the price sequels feel like the majority of movies made. Remember the 70s, Godfather ll ……any other big sequels?? Maybe I just worked too hard today and I have gotten old.
So many great movies. Unique ones that were original stories instead of just IP masturbation like Marvel and The Hobbit bs trilogy
Spielberg owned the 80’s.
I saw at least one from each year in the theatre but weirdly the only one I saw all three was ‘89. Guess it’s not that weird as I had spending money by then.
1984 was next level. Quite the hat trick, but those movies only scratch the surface. Gremlins, Police Academy, Karate Kid, Footloose, Red Dawn, The Natural, Bachelor Party, Revenge of the Nerds, Terminator, The Never Ending Story…
25/30 watched
The ones not watched Rocky (neither sequel) & Top Gunn, Mad magazine had a parody of the movies that I skimmed. Rambo, eventually saw some snippets on TV and after 2 minutes changed to a different channel. Other movie not bothered with Fatal Attraction.
Of the 25 watched loved them all, and with the exception of Stir Crazy, watched almost all of them with our kids at least once.
Wow. Saw everyone of these. Star Wars Trilogy obviously more times than I can even count at this point and the rest quite a few throughout my life. I was in 9th grade when Batman came out in '89. Saw it 6 times in the theater.
Beverly Hills Cop 2 is easily the worst film on that list. It’s the only “bad” one on it IMO.
Rocky 4 and Rambo 2 aren’t great but were both much better the BHC2.
I look at this list and realize I used to go to the movies a whole lot more than I do now. Now I just wait for it to stream and roll the dice if I want to spend the $25 to see it early.. Lol
Yep. I saw every one of the movies - plus many many more - in the theater.
and drive in!
I used to go to the movies to see *everything.* We had a theater in my old neighborhood that showed movies for $1. I used to go by myself if nobody wanted to go with. Plus I knew everybody that worked there so I could get into R rated movies. I kinda miss that. I kinda miss having the _time_ to do that LOL
Summer of '88 we saw Bull Durham and Willow back-to-back on a Wednesday night. I paid $3.00, and no I didn't sneak into Willow. I paid $1.50 for each ticket, full price the week after they came out. So yeah, we saw a lot of movies that summer.
$1 movie theater if you could wait a month to see it!
I miss dollar theaters.
Looking at the cost and inflation calculators, supposedly it would have cost an average of about $3 to see E.T. in the theater, which is about $10 today. The average is suppsoed to be about that now, but where I live (L.A.) it is more like $17 per ticket, $35 for two. Am I wrong, or was $6 a LOT easier to come by in '82 than $35 is now? I remember not even thinking about the cost when I would go see a movie, even when it was something like Star Wars and I was seeing it for the ninth time...
Definitely. I don't think any theater sells tickets for $10 today. At least regular price ones.
>I used to go to the movies a whole lot more than I do now I actually counted on BoxOfficeMojo and had seen at least 50 of the top 100 movies in theaters every year between 1981 - 1985 (freshman high school to freshman college) ... wild.
Same. I saw at least half of these in the theater. It was such a fun experience going out to see a movie.
Yeah, I saw 16 of them.
I look at this list and I realize how weird I am compared to most other people in this generation. I’ve seen maybe 40% of these movies. I did spend part of 83/84 seeing movies with the group of friends I had at the time but we mostly saw the crappiest horror movie playing in the theaters that weekend.
Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy were on fire
Harrison Ford is in half of the top grossing movies for the entire decade 🤯
at one point it was 6/10 of all time
It always tripped me out when I was a kid when I got the picture book for E.T. after seeing the movie. Eight-year-old me was PISSED that I somehow missed Indiana Jones in the movie given that he was pictured in the book. restore the scene!
I saw those same movies and thought "Damn, John Williams was straight fire in the 80s" lol
Star Wars and Indiana Jones two best franchises of the 80s. I was a huge fan. Watched the original Raiders of the Lost Ark less than a month ago. Still a great movie.
So was Stallone.
For like 20 years, Harrison Ford was the highest grossing actor of all time. I know Hugo Weaving took the spot in the mid-2000’s, but not sure where we stand today.
Pretty sure these days it's Sam Jackson.
That wouldn’t be at all surprising!
If you are only counting actors playing significant roles, it's Sam. If you count bit parts, too, Stan Lee cameos push him to the top. If you narrow it just lead roles, RDJ edges out Sam. No matter what method you use to decide if a box office take counts towards an actor, though, it's gonna be an MCU star at the top lol
I give much less than zero fucks.
That is clearly untrue or you wouldn't have commented in the first place lol
it is now my duty to completely drain you
Have seen them all except 9 to 5 and Stir Crazy. I know what I’m doing this weekend.
9 to 5 is great film. Still holds up. Prototype for Office Space.
Run, don’t walk to watch 9 to 5.
Stir Crazy doesn’t quite hold up as well, but Richard Pryor makes everything worthwhile.
We bought tickets for Any Which Way You Can (PG) to sneak in to see Stir Crazy (R)
I still love him in “Moving.” What a great movie, with Dana Carvey as the psychopath who stole his car 🤣 Richard Pryor, one of the greats of our time. RIP
I LOVE that one!
Dolly gets all the accolades on Reddit, but I love Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman is really good as the antagonist.
9 to 5 is such an amazing film.
“For Your Eyes Only” seems like it’s punching above its weight class. That’s a tremendous gross for a film franchise that wasn’t at its best in the 80s (I mean, I’m a fan and it was my first Bond film, so I love it, but I’m amazed it had such wide appeal at that juncture).
The song!!! Sheena Easton was the shit!
I had to look up the song for Octopussy: All Time High by Rita Coolidge. Lovely song.
I loved both of those songs, and had both of them on 45s
Make no mistake. I love the film. My introduction to both the character and Roger Moore!
It was playing in my head before I read your comment
I think it is only surprising just since it's been a long time since Bond has been thought of as like one THE biggest of the big films of the year thing. Also For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy were two of the best of the Bond films.
I don't disagree. I'm a fan. They were my first two Bond films. I just never thought they had wide appeal as they weren't wildly popular with kids my age back then, nor do you hear a lot of people talking about that era now. They were definitely making money though.
Proving Rodger Moore was the best Bond.
3rd best. Connery and Brosnan are 1 and 2. And Dalton was actually the closest to what Fleming wanted.
No way Brosnan above Moore or Connery or Dalton. Now above Lazenby sure.
I remember as a kid going to see a Bond film and it had a double line queuing around the cinema. Think it might have been For your eyes only. Was in the UK
I think it was one of the series’ best decades, especially compared to the craziness of most of the ‘70s entries.
I remember seeing For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy on HBO when I was in elementary school. Loved both movies. For me, Roger Moore IS James Bond. Sean Connery was before my time.
Sean Connery had better material, but Mr. Moore is my James Bond as well. “Octopussy” was my first Bond in the theater, the second half of a double feature with “The Beastmaster.” It was heaven.
It looks like we popularized sequels and franchises.
And pop song soundtracks; it used to be that movie soundtracks were largely instrumental, unless the movie was a musical, such as The Sound of Music, or Mary Poppins.
The 90’s is when soundtracks really started blowing up.
The Top gun soundtrack was massive and that was in 1986
And it’s also when they were last relevant: when they present the Oscar for best song they always do a montage, and it never includes anything past 8 Mile (which came out in 2002 lol)
Planet of the Apes, my dude. We weren't the first.
Spielberg killed the 80s
So did Lucas
Batman being #2 is surprising. Seems like all the news that summer was how much it was making and how popular it was. I never did get to see it in theaters because it was sold out when I tried. Twice! I had to settle for Ghistbusters II.
The chart in the OP is for worldwide grosses. Batman was the No. 1 movie in North America. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1989/
Came here to say this... a little shocked that it took 2 and last crusade was 1. I love indy, but my memory isn't that batman came in behind it. Batmania was everywhere that summer. It was insane in merchandising.
I watched everything Eddie Murphy back then. Really excited for Beverly Hills Cop 4!
Dolemite Is My Name was good. Eddie can still bring it.
I'm surprised Stir Crazy made the list. I've always loved that movie. Never realized it was so successful.
Dirty Dancing & Ghostbusters sure held on for VHS popularity after coming in 3rd!!!
I remember hearing the adults in my life rave about Dirty Dancing. It was an independent film and nobody expected it would do as well as it did.
I think I have seen all but three of those (Flashdance, Roger Rabbit, and Aliens). The low key takeaway is that I really miss Roger Moore as Bond.
You haven’t seen Aliens?!? You need to correct that ASAP.
Lots of old stuff I missed out on for whatever reason. I recently watched *The Terminator* for the first time.
I envy you getting to see both those films for the first time…
Went to see that at an old-time theater with the giant 70mm screen - scared tf out of me (and yes, I was in high school!). So suspenseful, and Signouney Weaver was incredible, one of the early (and still one of the best!) female action heroes
I was about to say that about WFRR
You haven’t seen Aliens?! Game over, man! Game over!
5 Harrison Ford movies 3 Sly Stallone or Eddie Murphy movies 2 superhero or James Bond movies 3 Tom Cruise or Michael J Fox movies 9 comedies 7 scifi 2 chick flicks, 2 actual dramas Yep, that's the 80's for you. Surprised Arnold didn't make the cut, what happened to Terminator? Also if the sleepers were included, Harrison Ford would be higher, Blade Runner?
OG Terminator was a hit but wasn’t a big enough blockbuster to make top three. T2 in ‘91 was a completely different matter.
17/30 were original ideas, not a sequel or existing IP. And that’s just from the top 3 of each year.
Arnold movies in the 80's were successful, but they still kinda were for a niche audience. The movie that really broke him to the mainstream was Twins. By the time Terminatior 2 came around, you had his audience that was watching him along, the audience that couldn't see his movies in the theater and were watching them on VHS, and that new group that suddenly saw him as an attractive screen presence thanks to Twins. Throw in a truly great film, and the end result is that T2 becomes the biggest grossing (domestic) film of 1991.
I see two Tom Cruise films and two Michael J Fox films. What am I missing?
> what happened to Terminator? Terminator's rated R. Most "big dollar" movies, at least at the time, are rated PG-13 or lower, which appeal more to families, etc.
Eddie Murphy was gonna be in Ghostbusters but decided to do Beverly Hills Cop instead, which IIRC was going to be a Stallone vehicle. So they cut his part in Ghostbusters down and Ernie Hudson got the role.
Harrison Ford rocking it
I watched all but six of these in theaters. Four of those, I still haven't watched. To this day, I still don't understand why my parents took me with them to watch 9 to 5.
They couldn't find a babysitter. And it had Dolly Parton for your dad.
She IS a talented singer...🤔
I didn't really realize how young I was watching some of these in the theater I still remember watching ET and I was six. And I was only 7-9 when I saw Beverly Hills Cop Rambo and Aliens in the theater lol. I swear as long as it wasn't a porno my parents would just let me watch whatever.
PG-13 wasn’t a thing in the 80’s so PG movies sometimes did have some nudity back then.
PG-13 was created specifically for Temple of Doom.
Red Dawn was the first movie that received PG-13, not Temple of Doom, though it was one of the movies that led to it being created.
And that is how George Lucas bought a ranch
Hot take: Temple of Doom was not a good movie
Coldest take
Harrison Ford's decade.
Harrison Ford had a good decade. He was in half the top grossing movies of the 80s, and was the star in 3 of them.
Nice summary. What a decade for film. The best by far.
I just check the 90's here [top 90's films per year, click each year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_film), and it's goes hard. Surprisingly less sequels.
90s was way more dominated by “film dude films”, thanks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and whatnot. Both decades went hard and both have their share of monsters, but they had very different vibes. (And yes I know there were great arty films in the 80s, and great franchise movies/blockbusters in the 90s)
Pulp Fiction was nowhere close to being top three highest grossing of 1994.
I guess I’m just talking good films in the pop consciousness then. Seemed to me that his films were all over the place. [Also it came in 19th for 1994](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1994/) which for an Indy film was hot shit at the time.
not a single "Brat Pack" or John Hughes flick is surprising!
Most of these are special effects blockbusters.
ah, good call there!
Yeah, saw most of these in the theatres.
Bangers, one and all.
I saw every one of these on VHS. Video rental places must have made a killing back then!
The 80’s were the peak I think. The movies were great.
How is Batman #2 ?
What was octopussy? Seen them all but that one. Sounds good though.
Despite its awesome title, it’s probably one of the worse James Bond movies. The box office returns were more inertia than anything, as the script is pretty weak. I will say that Roger Moore is doing his best with what he’s got. But the villain isn’t good, and the plot is kind of a mess. It also didn’t help that Sean Connery came back as Bond with his own film *Never Say Never Again* two months after the release of *Octopussy*. And it was regarded at the time as the better film.
Nice! I’m actually gonna have to watch it. I love bad movies.
I watched it a ton as a kid. It wasn't *that* bad. Even for a Bond movie.
We had some great movies while growing up!
Wow the 80’s had some great movies!
I'm totally 80's myself, but sad truth, I've only seen 26 of the 30 movies I've basically watched 87% of the movies listed, still a great average.
A lot of Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy and surprisingly, Dustin Hoffman.
The most shocking on this list: Rain Man.
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, both playing against type. It was a monster.
It was. But Tom cruise wasn’t playing against type. He was a selfish cocky hotshot type, same thing he played in top gun and color of money. He was great though
Really illustrates how Spielberg and Lucas ruled the era
Great post. Love reminiscing about these
It was not allowed to watch rated-R movie in most of the 80’s (born in ‘74 to very overprotective parents). Most of these that are rated-R, I’ve watched only recently. I literally just saw “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” a few years ago. I dig watching movies from that decade now. And I resent how corny most current depictions of the 80’s are- with “Stranger Things” being a solid exception.
I was 6 when ET came out. My parents said they were going to take me to see it. The nearest theater was about 30 minutes away, so I resigned myself to a long drive. After awhile it started to seem like we had gone way too far. I never noticed the luggage in the back. They *did* take me to ET, but in Idyllwild, and we stayed the whole weekend. Core fond memory <3
The time between Back to the Future and Back to the Future II felt like 15 years. Only 4.
Best one: 9 to 5. Even tho they used the logo from the play instead of the movie. I’m so telling Dolly…
I saw it in the theater as a 10 year old boy (thought the gags were funny) and then Re-watched as a 40 y/o man - lol - it was a completely different cringeworthy (still funny) movie for "grown-up-man-me"!
What a time for graphic design!
Did Harrison Ford just sit on his ass all of 1982? What a loser.
Stir Crazy!! That is a hilarious movie. Also, See No Evil Hear No Evil. I haven’t thought of those movies in ages… 
Wait, you’re telling me they’re making a Batman movie with Mr. Mom as Bruce Wayne? Pffft, whatever.
The fact that Crocodile Dunndee beat Aliens is simply unforgivable. We should have known that the future was doomed right then and there.
Aliens is a horror movie. You limit your audience with the genre. It actually says a lot that it ranked 3rd.
Never ever saw “Flashdance”. Saw all the rest in the theater except “Dirty Dancing”.
I just rewatched it (having completely forgotten it) a couple of weeks ago and I was disappointed. It really isn’t all that good. I rewatched Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire and I still liked those though.
Saw all of those in the theater, except Fatal Attraction, which I have never had any interest in seeing
Saw all but 3 in the theaters.
Hold up, Batman was one of the most hyped movies i remember growing up. And it only ranked 2nd at the box office? I’ve thought it worked have been number 1 for sure!
Someone pointed out in this thread that this is worldwide gross, not domestic (which Batman won)
I just remembered Batman being EVERYWHERE that year. And the marketing wasn’t annoying then, it was magical. But then again, I was a kid.
E.T. is the first film I remember seeing in a theater... but I'm late GenX (1978) so it could have been during the '85 rerelease (otherwise I would have only been 3 years old)
My first date with my wife was dinner at pizza hut then going to see coming to America. Doesn't get more 80s than that.
1985 was awesome
1986 is the perfect top 3 IMHU.
Good decade for George.
Going to the movies is not the same as it used to be. It used to be an event. Now, it's "I hope no one interrupts the movie with their cell phone".
Never seen a single Rocky or James Bond flick - they just weren’t my jam back then or now. Saw everything else on that list, however.
Harrison Ford had five #1s in a decade 🔥
I’ll never forget the time I wanted to see Karate Kid 2 and my dad wanted to see Top Gun. He won (obviously) and I begrudgingly sat through an amazing movie. As we were leaving the theatre for Top Gun he just silently pushed me into the door for Karate Kid 2 and we take our seats and shut the fuck up. I miss the 80s.
Indiana Jones FTW!
Dang! I saw 27 of these in theatre's. A few I was too young for when released but saw later. These movies offer a glimpse why we are the way we are as a group.
Batman wasn't number 1 is the big shocker to me. 1989 is all about Batman in my memory.
i feel like the 90's started in '87
That orange and yellow blend font was popular in the 80s. Hadn’t noticed before.
Both 80 and 83 are very off-genres.
The rise of the movie franchise. Also, can we just acknowledge how much of FORCE Sylvester Stallone was in the 80's?
I didn't know Coming to America did that well. Lot's of Eddie Murphy on here.
My parents returned from seeing Fatal Attraction at the movies. The rabbit scene really bothered them.
Man, Stallone has three spots on that list and Schwarzenegger has none. I'd have lost that bet.
I have seen all of these at least once, unsurprisingly. But what the hell is Crocodile Dundee doing on there, that's probably the only one I wouldn't watch again.
I remember ET being my first theater experience with my mother.
except for Flashdance, I think I've seen every one of these - ok, maybe not roger rabbit
Spielberg, Stallone, and Harrison Ford really killed during that decade.
You have listed all my favorites. Thank you!
13 of 30 were Sequels. We are now paying the price sequels feel like the majority of movies made. Remember the 70s, Godfather ll ……any other big sequels?? Maybe I just worked too hard today and I have gotten old.
People complain today that everything is sequels and remakes. There’s at least a dozen on this list.
But they’re mostly unique stories instead of wanking off the same existing IPs over and over
I just remembered I saw Tootsie in the theater. I was 10. Why was I seeing Tootsie at 10? No idea. Is it a kids movie? No, no it’s not.
Funny though.
So many great movies. Unique ones that were original stories instead of just IP masturbation like Marvel and The Hobbit bs trilogy Spielberg owned the 80’s.
You know what I like about you British? Octopussy. I must have seen that movie... twice.
Lucas/Spielberg WERE movies in that decade.
So many good movies in the 80’s.
The gulf between Octopussy and Beverly Hills Cop feels like a decade, not one year.
Hola shit that's an amazing list. Show me 1 like that today.... I'll wait.... 🫸🫸🫸
Some people are talking about actors and directors, but how many of these are victory laps for ILM?
I can’t believe Crocodile Dundee made more than Aliens.
Harrison Ford starred in 5 of the top 10. Definitely money in the bank
I saw at least one from each year in the theatre but weirdly the only one I saw all three was ‘89. Guess it’s not that weird as I had spending money by then.
1984 was next level. Quite the hat trick, but those movies only scratch the surface. Gremlins, Police Academy, Karate Kid, Footloose, Red Dawn, The Natural, Bachelor Party, Revenge of the Nerds, Terminator, The Never Ending Story…
Jesus. Harrison Ford owned this time period.
'81 was a good year
25/30 watched The ones not watched Rocky (neither sequel) & Top Gunn, Mad magazine had a parody of the movies that I skimmed. Rambo, eventually saw some snippets on TV and after 2 minutes changed to a different channel. Other movie not bothered with Fatal Attraction. Of the 25 watched loved them all, and with the exception of Stir Crazy, watched almost all of them with our kids at least once.
Wow. Saw everyone of these. Star Wars Trilogy obviously more times than I can even count at this point and the rest quite a few throughout my life. I was in 9th grade when Batman came out in '89. Saw it 6 times in the theater.
Wow, 86 was a heck of a year at least for the movies I liked.
Fuck, the 80s had the best movies. So good, every year.
Beverly Hills Cop 2 is easily the worst film on that list. It’s the only “bad” one on it IMO. Rocky 4 and Rambo 2 aren’t great but were both much better the BHC2.
I somehow never saw The Last Crusade.
Most of those have not aged well at all.