MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > ☝️ Pop vs. Box 👇 1989

☝️ Pop vs. Box 👇 1989

posted 3 years ago by Redsfan001 (6035)
30 replies | jump to latest

Continuing in the series of the rise and fall of a movies popularity to father time.

Current Popular movies of 1989 *indicates Box Office

1. 🎖️ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade *2
2. Batman *1
3. Steel Magnolias *14
4. Dead Poets Society *11
5. The Little Mermaid *8
6. Field of Dreams *19
7. Back to the Future part II *6
8. Heathers n/a
9. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure *32
10. Weekend at Bernie's *38

(Popularity rankings are fluid and can change day to day)

Box Office 1989 * indicates current popular rank

1. 🎖️ Batman (251m) *2
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (197m) *1
3. Lethal Weapon 2 (147m) *13
4. Look Who's Talking (140m) *52
5. Honey I Shrunk the Kids (130m) *14
6. Back to the Future part II (118m) *7
7. Ghostbusters II (112m) *18
8. The Little Mermaid (111m) *5
9. Driving Miss Daisy (106m) *51
10. Parenthood (100m) *24

Biggest Winner:☝️

🏆 Weekend at Bernie's +28

Biggest Loser:👇

💣 Look Who's Talking -48

Additional:

Heathers - limited release

Movie with most votes:✍️

🗽Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (705k)

The Forgotten:🤔
(Movies with good-moderate box office and low vote count)

Dad 19m : 4k votes
Skin Deep 19m : 4k votes
Blaze 19m : 3k votes
Her Alibi 18m : 6k votes
Cousins 22m : 4k votes
Three Fugitives 40m : 11k votes

The Newcomers:👶
(Movies with a good vote count and low Box Office)

Heathers 90k : 1m
The Killer 46k : n/a
Dead Calm 37k : 7m
Drugstore Cowboy 33k :4m
Mystery Train 26k : n/a

👇 Additional scoring page2 👇

(Added 9/1/21)

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[–] huwdj (4562) 3 years ago

Some old favourites there but the only ones I've watched recently are Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
I did start Field of Dreams a little while back but lost interest after 15 minutes - sometimes you're just not in the right mood to settle down and watch a film.
But I think the one I most want to see now is Driving Miss Daisy - I should look up a copy somewhere.

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

It's an award winning movie, but I have never seen it.

One of those movies that I almost never come across on cable anymore. I'll hazard a guess less than half of millennials and Gen Z ever heard of the film, as it dropped 42 slots in ranking.

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[–] huwdj (4562) 3 years ago

It's nicely referenced in The Holiday when Jack Black starts noodling with the theme from Driving Miss Daisy.

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

My top 10 of 89 looks pretty different to both lists:

1. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
2. Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down
3. Dead Calm
4. Do The Right Thing
5. Heathers
7. Crimes & Misdemeanors
8. Uncle Buck
9. Meet The Feebles
10. The Delinquents

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

You have 2 on the "Newcomers" list.

Possibly two more in a few years- Meet the Feebles (20kvotes), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down 25k votes : 4m box

The only one I've seen on the Newcomers list is Drugstore Cowboy, which I recommend.

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[–] CKid (3828) 3 years ago

My favorite films from 1989, in alphabetical order, were ...
(* an asterisk indicates that I own the film on either DVD or Blu-ray)

The Abyss
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Black Rain*
Chances Are*
Driving Miss Daisy
Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!*
The Fabulous Baker Boys
Fat Man and Little Boy
Field of Dreams*
Glory*
Immediate Family*
Lean On Me
Major League*
Road House*
Say Anything
True Believer*
Uncle Buck*
When Harry Met Sally
I guess I should add that I also own Weekend at Bernie's, but that is only because it was included in a five-pack of DVDs, four of which I wanted. Weekend at Bernie's was not one that I wanted, thus it is not on this list.

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

I watched Weekend at Bernie's once sometime three decades ago, that was enough. Seems to be a bit more popular with the new generations.

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[–] chilidoggg (13290) 3 years ago

I'm surprised Glory was not on either list. That was promoted heavily IIRC nominated for more than a few Oscars. I never saw it.

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[–] rudeboymurray (3241) 3 years ago

I never liked Last Crusade - to me a tired retread of Raiders, with added tiresome Ford/Connery banter. There, I’ve said it.

Like every year of the 80s I have seen a huge amount of junk from ‘89, but there were a few good ones.

My favourites:

1. Crimes & Misdemeanours
2. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
3. Jesus of Montreal
4. When Harry Met Sally…
5. Drugstore Cowboy
6. Why Has Bondi-Dharma Left for the East?: A Zen Fable
7. Kuroi ame
8. A City of Sadness
9. Apartment Zero
10. Mystery Train

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

Appreciate your honesty. Kinda felt the same with Indiana series, getting long in the tooth. The River Phoenix sequence bums me out...

Second one who recommended #2. Will put it on my watch list, thanks for adding.

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[–] IrinaOma (648) 3 years ago

Leviathan and DeepStar Six were so underrated that year.

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

The Abyss pretty much stole their thunder. How many underwater movies can one see in a year?

I've watched Leviathan, I don't remember if I've seen Deep Star.

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[–] IrinaOma (648) 3 years ago

The funniest thing is that both Leviathan and DeepStar Six were released like 5-6 months BEFORE The Abyss. We also had Lords of the Deep, The Rift (main release in 1990 tho) and The Evil Below that year.

DeepStar Six is my #1 among all those 6 underwater films. Leviathan is my #2 - great mix of Alien & The Thing

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

That's studio strategy! Studios have people that spy on other studios, or people who get a paycheck for spilling the beans on how a project is coming along.

Cameron was red hot after the success of Aliens. Rival studios wanted to know what he was working on. The idea was to get the information and get the movie out BEFORE Camerons work. By the time Abyss came to the movie theaters, the moviegoers would be sick of underwater adventures, thus torpedoing the high budget Abyss.

The Abyss was #25 in rankings for that year, so it seems to have worked.

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[–] IrinaOma (648) 3 years ago

Yes, I've heard about that stratedy too. Anyway, DeepStar Six and Leviathan look more like underwater versions of Alien & The Thing, specially Alien

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

Didn't mean to take away any credibility from those movies. But they most likely wouldn't have been made if Cameron wanted to do a different project.

Mr. Cameron is not the type of person to make the same career mistake twice.

His next film was the Terminator 2 : Judgement Day

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[–] Jamfo (408) 3 years ago

Hard to believe Major League wasn’t on either list, and was happy to see you include it on your list of personal favorites.

Of all the films you listed, that is the one I would still go out of my way to watch. Great performances all around (still hard to believe Dennis Haysbert was Cerrano), and the movie still holds up, even today.

In fact, I may need to pop out the BluRay and watch it tonight! It’s about baseball, and what’s more American on Independence Day?

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

"Just a bit outside...."👍

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I'd say Back To The Future II and Uncle Buck are probably my most viewed movies of 1989, so I'll say that's my favorites.

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

The pancake scene is burned into my memory.

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[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

The entire movie is burned into my memory.

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

The shave your head while your sleeping line was also a good one.

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[–] Thaisticks (2649) 3 years ago

WTF man, 1989?!? NONE of these movies are watchable now! (unless as nostalgia)

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

There are a few nuggets, but it was a very commercialized year....kinda like today's movies😉.

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[–] Thaisticks (2649) 3 years ago

Would you spend 2 hrs of your life to watch any of these movies now?

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[–] Redsfan001 (6035) 3 years ago

Crimes and Misdemeanors, Drugstore Cowboy, and Field of Dreams have, in my opinion, high artistic merit.

But choosing a movie to watch can depend on a person's mood. A silly movie from the 1980's? Weekend at Bernie's will do. Need a John Candy movie to lift your spirits? ..Uncle Buck is fine.

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