Club 50 Wrap-Up: 1998

Years Completed:
1988 | 1989 | 1995 | 1998 | 1999 | 2001 | 2002 
2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

At first glance, 1998 was a very original year. There were only 3 sequels in the top 50 at the box office. None of those three were in the top ten, which is insane by today's standards. But '98 was all about the duplicates. There were two asteroid movies (Armageddon, Deep Impact), two insect movies (A Bug's Life, Antz), and two Adam Sandler movies (The Wedding Singer, The Water Boy). IMAX got into the game with three different educational films that inched their way up the chart for years (Everest, T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, Mysteries of Egypt). And while there weren't many sequels, there were all sorts of remakes (Doctor Dolittle, You've Got Mail) and reboots (Godzilla), not mention TV shows getting the bump (The X-Files, The Rugrats Movie). I've said some form of this before. As much as we go after current Hollywood for the ridiculous number of sequels, it wasn't much better then. It was just a little less obvious. With all the duplication going on, only 9 movies from the 50 have had sequels so far, which is a little low.

It was a pretty standard year from an Oscar perspective. Only three of the best picture nominees (Winner - Shakespeare in Love, Life is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan) broke the top 50, with Ryan even being the highest grossing movie of the year. The other two nominees, The Thin Red Line (#59) and Elizabeth (#65) weren't far off.

To wind down each year as I complete them, I'm going to hand out a few superlatives or anecdotal awards to highlight some of the highs and lows of the year's top 50 box office earners.

First Seen: The Wedding Singer

This was a lot of firsts for me. It was the first movie I saw on opening night - I'm pretty sure. That was the first time I'd ever seen more than one movie in theaters on the same day (Titanic in the afternoon and The Wedding Singer that night). That day may have even been the first time I saw PG-13 movies in theaters. Don't hold me to that though.

Last Seen: A Civil Action

With a title that generic, it's a wonder I remembered to get to it at all.

Happiest Surprise:  The Truman Show

It turns out that this Jim Carrey guy is more than a rubberfaced comedian.

Biggest Disappointment: Lost in Space

Part of me wanted to believe the the movie that finally knocked Titanic out of the #1 spot in the box office was something special, not just the movie that happened to have an ok opening on Titanic's 16th weekend.

Looked Better Then: The Waterboy

Remember the days when Adam Sandler movies weren't the Nickelback of the movie industry? It's a shame that his current run of movies has soured people on the early successes.

Looks Better Now: The Truman Show

At the time, we really didn't know just how accurate it was about reality TV. More importantly, with other acclaimed performances in Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it's become more clear that this wasn't a fluke for Jim Carrey.

Favorite: Saving Private Ryan

Perhaps the greatest war movie ever made. I'm pretty confident that if Spielberg hadn't won the Oscar for Schindler's List just a couple years before, this would've stormed the Oscars like it was Normandy.

2nd Favorite: The Truman Show

Aren't you tired of me bringing this up yet? It's a damn good movie and a fun thought experiment.

3rd Favorite: The Wedding Singer

It's a shame that every time Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are in a movie together it's not this delightful.

Honorable Mention:

Mulan

Featuring some of the best songs from the Disney Renaissance.

Life Is Beautiful

Over the years, I've heard a lot of people offer a lot of valid reasons to not like this movie. But, you see, I'm not dead inside, so I enjoy it.

A Bug's Life

It's hard to remember a time when Pixar had to prove itself to audiences.

Small Soldiers

This continues to be one of the more perplexing movies out there. The toys and advertising were clearly aimed at younger children, but they opted for the PG-13 rating. That doesn't matter as much these days (Marvel regularly is PG-13 and even the new Star Wars movie is), but I've always thought that prevented it from being a bigger hit in 1998.

Least Favorite: The Horse Whisperer

There's two strong contenders here in The Horse Whisperer and City of Angels. They're both sleepy movies that I checked out of several times while watching. ScarJo is too young to appreciate in The HW and City of Angels at least has "Iris" to its credit and is a full hour shorter than The HW. That inches it ahead in the standings. Make no mistake though, both movies are dreadful.