Club 50 Wrap-Up: 1999

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

Was this the year that the sequel took over. Only four movies in the top 50 were sequels, but three of those (The Phantom Menace, Toy Story 2, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) were among the top four grossing movie that year. A total of 12 movies from that year have had sequels since (including all four of that year's sequels).

Television popularity continued to show its strength as well with Pokemon and South Park getting movies (arguably Inspector Gadget counts toward this as well).

The most interesting thing about this year has to be the massive success of horror movies. The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project both took over pop culture for a while there. The similarly titled The Haunting and The House on Haunted Hill both did quite well. Sleepy Hollow too. You can't find another year outside of maybe 1973 where over 10% of the money from the top 50 in the box office came from horror movies. I kind of want to break this down even more to make it clear how much of an outlier that is.

It was a good year for Oscar nominees. Only The Insider (#69) didn't make it into the top 50. The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, and American Beauty made over $100 million domestically. The Cider House Rules still made a respectable $57 million.

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: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

I'll always hold a special place in my heart for The Phantom Menace. It was the first time I was really blown away by seeing something in a movie theater. It was such a sensory overload in the best way. 

Last Seen: Message in a Bottle

And now the world know who Nicholas Sparks is.

Happiest Surprise: Bowfinger

Steve Martin is a genius. There's just no other explanation.

Biggest Disappointment: Three Kings

This was actually a pretty disappointing year. There's The World Is Not Enough, which is one of the worst Bond movies in quite some time. Pokemon: The First Movie had one job to do - have a lot of Pokemon fights - and failed to even have that. Three Kings takes it though. I've heard nothing but the most glowing reviews for this movie. It's...ok. It didn't impress me at all.

Looked Better Then: The Sixth Sense

It's still M. Night Shaymalan's best overall movie. All people remember it for is the twist though.

Looks Better Now: Toy Story 2

This might be the best Toy Story movie of all, which is really saying something.

Favorite: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

It has my favorite light saber fight and "Duel of the Fates". What more do you need?

2nd Favorite: Galaxy Quest

Where the hell did this movie come from? It had a journeyman TV director. This is the only IMDB credit for the screen writers. It is a near perfect satire of though.

3rd Favorite: Bowfinger

Honestly, it's the premiere night scene that made it for me.

Honorable Mention: 

Toy Story 2

The world of Toy Story was too big to be limited to one great movie.

The Matrix

The most influential movie of 1999?

American Pie

Admit it. You also say this and thought "This'll have three sequels and four straight-to-DVD spinoffs."

South Park - Bigger Longer and Uncut

One of the great musicals of the last two decades. No joke.

Notting Hill

Richard Curtis script + Hugh Grant + Julia Roberts = delightful.

Least Favorite: Message in a Bottle

There's a lot of easy targets: Wild Wild West, Inspector Gadget, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, but I'm going with Message in a Bottle for just doing an awful job with what's actually an interesting premise.