The following is an overview of events in 1984 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

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The year's highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada was Beverly Hills Cop. Ghostbusters overtook it, however, with a re-release the following year. It was the first time in five years that the top-grossing film did not involve George Lucas or Steven Spielberg although Spielberg directed and Lucas executive produced/co-wrote the third placed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the highest-grossing film worldwide that year); Spielberg also executive produced the fourth placed Gremlins.[1]

U.S. box office grosses reached $4 billion for the first time and it was the first year that two films had returned over $100 million to their distributors with both Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom achieving this.[1] Beverly Hills Cop made it three for films released in 1984 after its performance during 1985 took it to rentals of $108 million.[2] Other popular films included The NeverEnding Story, which was the most expensive film produced in West Germany, The Karate Kid and Romancing the Stone. A high number of sci-fi/fantasy films were released in 1984.

Highest-grossing films edit

United States edit

The top ten 1984 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1984[3]
Rank Title Distributor Box-office gross
1 Ghostbusters Columbia $229,242,989
2 Beverly Hills Cop Paramount $224,760,478
3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Paramount $179,870,271
4 Gremlins Warner Bros. $153,083,102
5 The Karate Kid Columbia $90,815,558[4][5][6]
6 Police Academy Warner Bros. $81,198,894
7 Footloose Paramount $80,035,402
8 Romancing the Stone 20th Century Fox $76,572,238
9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Paramount $76,471,076
10 Splash Buena Vista $69,821,334

International edit

International market Title Director Production country Revenue Admissions Source(s)
Brazil Gremlins Joe Dante United States $1,505,985 [7]
France Marche à l'ombre Michel Blanc France 6,168,425 [8]
Hong Kong Aces Go Places 3 Tsui Hark Hong Kong HK$29,286,077 [9]
India Tohfa K. Raghavendra Rao India ₹90,000,000 [10]
Italy Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Steven Spielberg United States 838,309 [11]
Japan Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Steven Spielberg United States ¥3,200,000,000 [12]
South Korea Project A Jackie Chan Hong Kong ₩1,189,308,000 396,436 [13][14][15]
Soviet Union Disco Dancer Babbar Subhash India $75,900,000 60,900,000 [n 3][19]
Spain Gremlins Joe Dante United States $4,255,642 3,202,047 [20][7]
United States and Canada Beverly Hills Cop Martin Brest United States $234,760,478 67,150,000 [21]
West Germany Police Academy Hugh Wilson United States 5,187,443 [22]

Events edit

Awards edit

Category/Organization 42nd Golden Globe Awards
January 27, 1985
38th BAFTA Awards
March 5, 1985
57th Academy Awards
March 25, 1985
Drama Comedy or Musical
Best Film Amadeus Romancing the Stone The Killing Fields Amadeus
Best Director Miloš Forman
Amadeus
Wim Wenders
Paris, Texas
Miloš Forman
Amadeus
Best Actor F. Murray Abraham
Amadeus
Dudley Moore
Micki & Maude
Haing S. Ngor
The Killing Fields
F. Murray Abraham
Amadeus
Best Actress Sally Field
Places in the Heart
Kathleen Turner
Romancing the Stone
Maggie Smith
A Private Function
Sally Field
Places in the Heart
Best Supporting Actor Haing S. Ngor
The Killing Fields
Denholm Elliott
A Private Function
Haing S. Ngor
The Killing Fields
Best Supporting Actress Peggy Ashcroft
A Passage to India
Liz Smith
A Private Function
Peggy Ashcroft
A Passage to India
Best Screenplay, Adapted Amadeus
Peter Shaffer
The Killing Fields
Bruce Robinson
Amadeus
Peter Shaffer
Best Screenplay, Original Broadway Danny Rose
Woody Allen
Places in the Heart
Robert Benton
Best Original Score Maurice Jarre
A Passage to India
Ennio Morricone
Once Upon a Time in America
Maurice Jarre
A Passage to India
Prince
Purple Rain
Best Original Song "I Just Called to Say I Love You"
The Woman in Red
"Ghostbusters"
Ghostbusters
"I Just Called to Say I Love You"
The Woman in Red
Best Foreign Language Film A Passage to India
United Kingdom
Carmen
France
Dangerous Moves
Switzerland

Golden Raspberry Awards:

Worst Picture: Bolero
Worst Director: John Derek - Bolero
Worst Actor: Sylvester Stallone - Rhinestone
Worst Actress: Bo Derek - Bolero
Worst Supporting Actor: Brooke Shields (with a moustache) - Sahara
Worst Supporting Actress: Lynn-Holly Johnson - Where the Boys Are '84
Worst Screenplay: John Derek - Bolero

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders, France / West Germany

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

A Year of the Quiet Sun (Rok spokojnego slonca), directed by Krzysztof Zanussi, Poland

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Love Streams, directed by John Cassavetes, United States

1984 films edit

By country/region edit

By genre/medium edit

Births edit

Deaths edit

Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films
January 6 Ernest Laszlo 85 Hungary Cinematographer
11 Jack La Rue 70 US Actor
20 Johnny Weissmuller 79 US Actor
29 Frances Goodrich 93 US Screenwriter
February 11 Arlette Marchal 82 France Actress
15 Ethel Merman 76 US Singer, Actress
17 Lucille Benson 69 US Actress
29 Kenneth Strickfaden 87 US Set Designer
March 1 Jackie Coogan 69 US Actor
1 Ronald Culver 83 UK Actor
4 William E. Snyder 82 US Cinematographer
5 William Powell 91 US Actor
6 Henry Wilcoxon 78 Dominica Actor
10 I. S. Johar 64 India Actor
18 Paul Francis Webster 76 US Lyricist
20 Richard L. Van Enger 69 US Film Editor
21 Sam Leavitt 80 US Cinematographer
24 Sam Jaffe 93 US Actor
27 Jack Donohue 75 US Director, Choreographer
27 Derek Francis 60 UK Actor
28 Carmen Dragon 69 US Composer
April 1 George Glass 73 US Producer
2 William C. Thomas 80 US Producer, Director
7 Samuel G. Engel 79 US Producer, Screenwriter
10 Ray Middleton 77 US Actor
13 Richard Hurndall 73 UK Actor
14 Thorold Dickinson 80 UK Director, Film Editor
15 Glen MacWilliams 85 US Cinematographer
16 Byron Haskin 84 US Director
18 Francis de Wolff 71 UK Actor
18 John Lee Mahin 81 US Screenwriter
25 Richard Benedict 64 Italy Actor
26 May McAvoy 84 US Actress
May 4 Diana Dors 52 UK Actress
10 Robert Moore 57 US Director
12 Ben Roberts 68 US Screenwriter
13 Antonio Castillo 75 Spain Costume Designer
16 Andy Kaufman 35 US Actor
16 Irwin Shaw 71 US Screenwriter
20 Peter Bull 72 UK Actor
21 Andrea Leeds 72 US Actress
21 Ann Little 93 US Actress
22 John Marley 76 US Actor
28 D'Urville Martin 45 US Actor, Director
June 1 Ruthelma Stevens 80 US Actress
15 Ned Glass 78 Poland Actor
17 Leslie I. Carey 88 US Sound Engineer
17 Nobuo Nakagawa 79 Japan Director, Screenwriter
18 Luis Moglia Barth 81 Argentina Director, Screenwriter
19 Sunny Johnson 30 US Actress
20 Estelle Winwood 101 UK Actress
22 Joseph Losey 75 US Director
24 William Keighley 94 US Director
26 Carl Foreman 69 US Screenwriter, Producer
30 Lillian Hellman 79 US Screenwriter
July 2 Lenore Coffee 87 US Screenwriter
7 Flora Robson 82 UK Actress
11 Hugh Morton 81 UK Actor
14 Ernest Tidyman 56 US Screenwriter
23 Lloyd Gough 76 US Actor
23 Anthony Sharp 69 UK Actor
24 Vincent Beck 59 US Actor
25 Akihiko Hirata 56 Japan Actor
26 Roger H. Lewis 66 US Producer
27 James Mason 75 UK Actor
29 Woodrow Parfrey 61 US Actor
August 2 Quirino Cristiani 88 Argentina Director
4 Walter Burke 75 US Actor
4 Mary Miles Minter 82 US Actress
5 Richard Burton 58 UK Actor
5 Roland Kibbee 70 US Screenwriter
8 Richard Deacon 63 US Actor
14 J. B. Priestley 89 UK Screenwriter
19 George Meeker 80 US Actor
25 Truman Capote 59 US Screenwriter, Actor
25 Henry Lynn 89 US Director, Screenwriter
29 Pina Menichelli 94 Italy Actress
30 Emil Newman 73 US Composer
September 3 Arthur Schwartz 83 US Composer, Producer
6 E. J. André 76 US Actor
11 William Sands 61 US Film Editor
14 Janet Gaynor 77 US Actress
17 Richard Basehart 70 US Actor
19 June Preisser 64 US Actress
24 Neil Hamilton 85 US Actor
25 Walter Pidgeon 87 Canada Actor
October 9 Joan Young 84 UK Actress
10 Leonard Rossiter 57 UK Actor
11 H. Bruce Humberstone 82 US Director
16 Peggy Ann Garner 52 US Actress
21 François Truffaut 52 France Director, Screenwriter, Actor
23 Oskar Werner 61 Austria Actor
24 Walter Woolf King 84 US Actor
24 Edith Massey 66 US Actress
25 Pascale Ogier 25 France Actress
30 June Duprez 66 UK Actress
31 Eduardo De Filippo 84 Italy Actor, Screenwriter, Director
November 1 Norman Krasna 74 US Screenwriter, Director
3 Milo Anderson 75 US Costume Designer
7 George Mathews 73 US Actor
13 Dorothy Arnold 66 US Actress
20 Peter Welch 62 UK Actor
December 2 Harry Sukman 72 US Composer
7 Jeanne Cagney 65 US Actress
8 Luther Adler 81 US Actor
11 Robert E. Kent 73 US Screenwriter
11 George Waggner 81 US Director
13 Margaret Livingston 89 US Actress
19 Edward Carrere 78 Mexico Art Director
24 Ian Hendry 53 UK Actor
24 Peter Lawford 61 UK Actor
24 Harry Waxman 72 UK Cinematographer
28 Sam Peckinpah 59 US Director, Screenwriter
29 Leo Robin 84 US Songwriter

Film debuts edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Disco Dancer: 60 million Soviet rubles in 1984,[16] 0.791 rubles per US dollar in 1984[17]
  2. ^ 12.43 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1984[18]
  3. ^ Disco Dancer in Soviet Union: US$75.9 million[n 1] (94.34 crore)[n 2] in 1984

References edit

  1. ^ a b "'Ghostbusters' Tops Comedies". Variety. January 16, 1985. p. 16.
  2. ^ "Nobody Climbed $100-Mil Mountain". Variety. January 1986.
  3. ^ "1984 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  4. ^ Thomas, Bob (November 6, 1985). "The Karate Kid Returns". AP News. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 June 2020. It is the film location for Columbia Pictures' "Karate Kid II," a sequel to Hollywood's biggest sleeper of 1984. "The Karate Kid" surprised almost everyone by amassing a domestic gross of $100 million. That's phenomenal for a modest film with no stars and a title that sounded like a combination of Bruce Lee and a kidflick.
  5. ^ Siskel, Gene (15 June 1986). "Ralph Macchio's Baby Face Can't Mask Maturing Talent". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  6. ^ Hurlburt, Roger (20 June 1986). "'Karate Kid II' Kayos Legacy Of Predecessor". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  7. ^ a b "'Gremlins' Hits In Int'l Marts". Daily Variety. February 15, 1985. p. 43. highest-grossing film ever by WB in Iberia, taking in $4,255,642
    $1,505,985 in five weeks of release, making it the highest-grossing film [in Brazil] in 1984
  8. ^ "Bilan Annuel France - 1984". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Hong Kong Film Archive". Hong Kong Film Archive. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  10. ^ "Box Office 1984". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  11. ^ "Bilan Annuel Italie - 1984". JP's Box-Office. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  12. ^ "1984年(1月~12月)". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  13. ^ "【ジャッキーチェン興行成績】 第10回:韓国での興行収入". KungFu Tube (in Japanese). 5 September 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  14. ^ "KOFIC 영화관 입장권 통합전산망". Korean Film Council (in Korean). September 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  15. ^ Park, Seung Hyun (2000). A Cultural Interpretation of Korean Cinema, 1988-1997. Indiana University. p. 119. Average Ticket Prices in Korea, 1974-1997 [...] * Source: Korea Cinema Yearbook (1997-1998) * Currency: won [...] Foreign [...] 1984 [...] 3,000
  16. ^ Bollywood returns to Russian screens[dead link], Russia Beyond the Headlines, September 2009
  17. ^ Archive of Bank of Russia http://cbr.ru/currency_base/OldDataFiles/USD.xls
  18. ^ "Reserve Bank of India - Publications". Archived from the original on 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
  19. ^ Indian Films in Soviet Cinemas: The Culture of Movie-going After Stalin, page 211, Indiana University Press, 2005
  20. ^ "Bilan Annuel Espagne - 1984". JP's Box-Office. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  21. ^ "Beverly Hills Cop (1984)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  22. ^ "Bilan Annuel Allemagne - 1984". JP's Box-Office. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  23. ^ "Tootsie". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  24. ^ "Ghostbusters". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  25. ^ "Beverly Hills Cop". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  26. ^ "Ghostbusters". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  27. ^ Meddy Mulisa (April 8, 2012). "Tanzania: Kanumba's Mother - My Son Was the Most Precious Gift". Tanzania Daily News. Retrieved December 6, 2021.

External links edit