Memorable Movies That Defined 1984: A Year in Film

For February, I decided this month's movie year would be 1984. 1984 was full of a lot of 80s classics including Beverly Hills Cops, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, The Karate Kid, and many more. I will share the highest grossing films of the year, the Oscar films, some other larger hits, and a quick ranking of the films I have seen.

This year saw the launch of a ton of franchises with many still relevant today such as

• Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy)

• Ghostbusters

• The Karate Kid

• The Terminator

• A Nightmare on Elm Street

The year also saw additions to prominent existing franchises like

• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (This film was key in the creation of the PG-13 rating)

• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

• The Muppets Take Manhattan

On the horror front we got some solid films like

• Gremlins

• Firestarter

• Children of the Corn

On the comedy side we got films like

• This is Spinal Tap

• Revenge of the Nerds

• Sixteen Candles

• All of Me

• The Woman in Red

• Hard to Hold

• Splash (Tom Hanks)

• Police Academy

This year also saw Sci-Fi and fantasy films like

• The Neverending Story

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai

• 1984

• Dune

• Supergirl

• Conan the Destroyer (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

• 2010

On the action/adventure side, there were movies like

• Cloak and Dagger

• Flashpoint

• Romancing the Stone (Michael Douglas)

Finally, the year saw other films like

• Purple Hearts (A War Drama)

• Purple Rain (The Prince Concert film)

• Once Upon a Time in America (Western)

• A Christmas Carol (Holiday Remake)

The highest grossing movies this year were

1. Beverly Hill Cop ($234,760,911)

2. Ghostbusters ($229,379,484)

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($179,877,399)

4. Gremlins ($159,699,203)

5. The Karate Kid ($90,829,379)

6. Policy Academy ($81,198,894)

7. Footloose ($80,040,974)

8. Romancing the Stone ($76,574,562)

9. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (76,551,989)

10. Splash ($69,821,334)

For the Oscars, these are the 5 films that were nominated for Best Picture

• Amadeus (Winner)

• The Killing Fields

• A Passage to India

• Places in the Heart

• A Soldiers Story

I have 11 seen from this year with all of them being the most famous and iconic ones. Here are my quick thoughts and ranking.

11. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

This was just another fairly generic Friday the 13th film claiming to be the final chapter but ended up with 5 more films after. It isn't the worst in the franchise but there are definitely better ones.

Score: 5/10 Grade: C

10. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

This was a good enough follow up to Wrath of Khan. It was fun to see Christopher Llyod as the main villain and I like the general story. However, this is the installment that can't quite decide if it wants to be serious or goofy and just ends up in the middle.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

9. A Christmas Carol

This is just a fairly standard Christmas Carol adaptation. It has all the right moments that give you the feels and is just another classic of Christmas.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

8. Sixteen Candles

This is a classic 80s rom-com. I thought the story was good enough. I think Samantha should have ended up with Ducky instead of Jake.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

7. Beverly Hills Cop

This is a fun Eddie Murphy action comedy. Eddie Murphy has great chemistry with whoever he is with and the investigation story was pretty fun.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

6. The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is a classic sports mentor story that has helped shape the sports genre. The relationship between Mr. Miyagi and Daniel is really sweet and the training and fights are a lot of fun to watch.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+

5. Gremlins

Gremlins is a really fun horror Christmas movie. It does a great job of combining both horror and comedy together. It is a lot of fun to watch the gremlins cause mischief.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a great horror film. Freddy Kruger is a classic villain and the concept of someone trying to kill you in your dreams is so terrifying.

Score: 8.5/10 Grade: A-

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

This is the weakest of the original trilogy but still a great film. Short Round is a great addition to the franchise and I like how this movie shows Indy as more heroic.

Score: 8.5/10 Grade: A-

2. The Terminator

The Terminator is another classic 80s film. Arnold Schwarzenegger was born to play this role. I love how this movie is one part slasher, one part Sci-fi, and one part time travel and combines it all together so well.

Score: 9/10 Grade: A

1. Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is another classic from the 80s. This is a great spooky comedy with a great cast and one of my favorite movies to watch every Halloween.

Score: 9/10 Grade: A