Most Popular Feature Films Released 1988-01-01 to 1988-12-31
1. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 678,237 | Gross: $83.01M
2. Willow (1988)
PG | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A reluctant dwarf must play a critical role in protecting a special baby from an evil queen.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh
Votes: 88,685 | Gross: $57.27M
3. Beetlejuice (1988)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy
When a recently-deceased ghost couple find their now-vacant home invaded by an obnoxious family, they hire a sleazy ghost who gets rid of humans to help them.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Annie McEnroe
Votes: 216,250 | Gross: $73.71M
4. Coming to America (1988)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Romance
An extremely pampered African Prince travels to Queens, New York, and goes undercover to find a wife whom he can respect for her intelligence and will.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Paul Bates, Garcelle Beauvais, Feather
Votes: 136,620 | Gross: $128.15M
5. Heathers (1988)
R | 103 min | Comedy
In order to get out of the snobby clique that is destroying her good-girl reputation, an intelligent teen teams up with a dark sociopath in a plot to kill the cool kids.
Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk
Votes: 71,217 | Gross: $1.11M
6. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 176,433
7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
PG | 104 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit's only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Votes: 159,329 | Gross: $156.45M
8. Cocktail (1988)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A talented New York City bartender takes a job at a bar in Jamaica and falls in love.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Lisa Banes
Votes: 68,778 | Gross: $78.22M
9. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 88,140 | Gross: $13.01M
10. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 127,058 | Gross: $0.55M
11. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
R | 155 min | Drama
A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli
Votes: 184,997 | Gross: $11.99M
12. Rain Man (1988)
R | 133 min | Drama
Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen
Votes: 421,823 | Gross: $172.83M
13. License to Drive (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy
A teen decides to go for a night on the town with his friends despite flunking his driver's test.
Director: Greg Beeman | Stars: Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Carol Kane, Richard Masur
Votes: 15,606 | Gross: $22.43M
14. Big (1988)
PG | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
After wishing to be made big, a teenage boy wakes the next morning to find himself mysteriously in the body of an adult.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard
Votes: 169,287 | Gross: $114.97M
15. The Big Blue (1988)
R | 168 min | Adventure, Drama, Sport
The rivalry between Enzo and Jacques, two childhood friends and now world-renowned free divers, becomes a beautiful and perilous journey into oneself and the unknown.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno, Rosanna Arquette, Paul Shenar
Votes: 42,308 | Gross: $3.50M
16. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 217,185
17. Bull Durham (1988)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Romance, Sport
A fan who has an affair with one minor-league baseball player each season meets an up-and-coming pitcher and the experienced catcher assigned to him.
Director: Ron Shelton | Stars: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson
Votes: 40,650 | Gross: $50.89M
18. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime
In London, four very different people team up to commit armed robbery, then try to doublecross each other for the loot.
Directors: Charles Crichton, John Cleese | Stars: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Votes: 117,256 | Gross: $63.49M
19. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Remake of the 1958 sci-fi horror classic about a deadly blob from another planet which consumes everything in its path. Teenagers attempt without success to warn the townspeople, who refuse to take them seriously.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 26,191 | Gross: $8.25M
20. Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A Southern California girl befriends three furry aliens after their spaceship lands in her swimming pool.
Director: Julien Temple | Stars: Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans
Votes: 17,944 | Gross: $3.92M
21. Bloodsport (1988)
R | 92 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Follows Frank Dux, an American martial artist serving in the military, who decides to leave the army to compete in a martial arts tournament in Hong Kong where fights to the death can occur.
Director: Newt Arnold | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Donald Gibb, Leah Ayres, Norman Burton
Votes: 65,749 | Gross: $11.81M
22. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
R | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz
Votes: 57,493 | Gross: $34.70M
23. The Land Before Time (1988)
G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
An orphaned brontosaurus teams up with other young dinosaurs in order to reunite with their families in a valley.
Director: Don Bluth | Stars: Pat Hingle, Gabriel Damon, Judith Barsi, Helen Shaver
Votes: 69,135 | Gross: $48.09M
24. Mystic Pizza (1988)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in the Connecticut town of Mystic.
Director: Donald Petrie | Stars: Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 20,919 | Gross: $12.79M
25. Mississippi Burning (1988)
R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, History
Two F.B.I. Agents, with wildly different styles, arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif
Votes: 73,304 | Gross: $34.60M
26. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Crime
Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of $50,000 first.
Director: Frank Oz | Stars: Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers
Votes: 55,957 | Gross: $42.04M
27. Hairspray (1988)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A 'pleasantly plump' teenager teaches 1962 Baltimore a thing or two about integration after landing a spot on a local TV dance show.
Director: John Waters | Stars: Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Divine, Debbie Harry
Votes: 17,627 | Gross: $6.67M
28. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
R | 171 min | Drama, Romance
In 1968, a Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint
Votes: 29,913 | Gross: $10.01M
29. Young Guns (1988)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
Director: Christopher Cain | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen
Votes: 47,359 | Gross: $45.66M
30. Rambo III (1988)
R | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rambo mounts a one man mission to rescue his friend Colonel Trautman from the clutches of the formidable invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Director: Peter MacDonald | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith
Votes: 102,963 | Gross: $53.72M
31. Child's Play (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
A single mother gives her son a much sought-after doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Votes: 71,054 | Gross: $33.24M
32. The Great Outdoors (1988)
PG | 91 min | Comedy
A Chicago man's hope for a peaceful family vacation in the woods is shattered when the annoying in-laws drop in.
Director: Howard Deutch | Stars: Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening
Votes: 32,717 | Gross: $41.46M
33. The Dead Pool (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Dirty Harry Callahan must stop a sick secret contest to murder local celebrities, which includes himself as a target.
Director: Buddy Van Horn | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, Evan C. Kim
Votes: 34,432 | Gross: $37.90M
34. The Accused (1988)
R | 111 min | Drama
After a young woman suffers a brutal gang rape in a bar one night, a prosecutor assists in bringing the perpetrators to justice, including the ones who encouraged and cheered on the attack.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan | Stars: Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson, Leo Rossi
Votes: 27,287 | Gross: $32.07M
35. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Incompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Director: David Zucker | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban
Votes: 129,161 | Gross: $78.04M
36. Colors (1988)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An experienced cop and his rookie partner patrol the streets of East Los Angeles while trying to keep the gang violence under control.
Director: Dennis Hopper | Stars: Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, Maria Conchita Alonso, Randy Brooks
Votes: 21,170 | Gross: $46.62M
37. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
Director: Stephen Chiodo | Stars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon
Votes: 26,690 | Gross: $15.63M
38. Beaches (1988)
PG-13 | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.
Director: Garry Marshall | Stars: Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, John Heard, Spalding Gray
Votes: 20,226 | Gross: $57.04M
39. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
R | 93 min | Horror, Thriller
Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Robert Englund, Rodney Eastman, John Beckman, Kisha Brackel
Votes: 41,617 | Gross: $49.37M
40. Stand and Deliver (1988)
PG | 103 min | Drama
The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout prone students to learn calculus.
Director: Ramón Menéndez | Stars: Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris
Votes: 13,745 | Gross: $13.99M
41. Twins (1988)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Crime
A physically perfect but innocent man goes in search of his long-lost twin brother, who is short, a womanizer, and small-time crook.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Webb
Votes: 97,683 | Gross: $111.94M
42. Midnight Run (1988)
R | 126 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
An accountant is chased by bounty hunters, the F.B.I., and the Mafia after jumping bail.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Votes: 60,863 | Gross: $38.41M
43. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed
Votes: 45,192 | Gross: $8.08M
44. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
Years after Tommy Jarvis chained him underwater at Camp Crystal Lake, the dormant Jason Voorhees returns to the camp grounds when he is accidentally released from his prison by a telekinetic teenager.
Director: John Carl Buechler | Stars: Terry Kiser, Jennifer Banko, John Otrin, Susan Blu
Votes: 25,641 | Gross: $19.17M
45. Married to the Mob (1988)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
An undercover FBI agent falls in love with a recently widowed mafia wife, who is trying to restart her life following her husband's murder while being pursued by a libidinous mafia kingpin seeking to claim her for himself.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Alec Baldwin, Paul Lazar, Captain Haggerty
Votes: 13,863 | Gross: $21.49M
46. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
R | 164 min | Drama
The life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Paul Greco
Votes: 44,206 | Gross: $7.63M
47. Working Girl (1988)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss' job.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 45,575 | Gross: $64.00M
48. For Keeps? (1988)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After she gets pregnant, a teenage girl must decide whether she should keep the baby or not.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Molly Ringwald, Randall Batinkoff, Kenneth Mars, Miriam Flynn
Votes: 3,402 | Gross: $17.51M
49. Red Heat (1988)
R | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Belushi, Peter Boyle, Ed O'Ross
Votes: 55,684 | Gross: $34.99M
50. Oliver & Company (1988)
G | 74 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A lost and alone kitten joins a gang of dogs engaged in petty larceny in New York City.
Director: George Scribner | Stars: Joey Lawrence, Billy Joel, Cheech Marin, Richard Mulligan
Votes: 36,937 | Gross: $74.15M