50 Fun Facts About 1998 Movies

Which disaster movie about a threat from space was the top-grossing film of 1998 at the worldwide box office?

Armageddon took $553.7 million worldwide, more than any other 1998 release. In US cinemas it finished second for the year, about $15 million behind a World War II drama.

Which country's beach stood in for Normandy in the D-Day landing that opens Saving Private Ryan?

Ireland supplied the sands of Curracloe in County Wexford, picked because they resemble Omaha Beach. About 1,000 Irish army and reserve soldiers took part in the landing scene.

Which film's 15-week run at number one in US cinemas was ended by Lost in Space in April 1998?

Titanic had led the chart every week since its release in December 1997. On March 1, 1998 it also became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Which romantic comedy controversially beat Saving Private Ryan to the Best Picture Oscar for 1998?

Shakespeare in Love was the first comedy to win Best Picture since Annie Hall in 1977. It took seven Oscars from thirteen nominations, the most of any film that night.

Which cocktail is the drink of choice for The Dude, the slacker hero of The Big Lebowski?

White Russian orders surged after the 1998 release, as fans copied the hero's mix of vodka, coffee liqueur and cream. He drinks them throughout the Coen brothers' comedy.

Which comedian voiced the dragon Mushu in Mulan and talked to animals in Dr. Dolittle in summer 1998?

Eddie Murphy had two of the year's ten biggest worldwide hits a week apart. The Disney animation reached US cinemas on June 19, 1998 and his talking-animal comedy on June 26.

Which actress debuted in cinemas playing both separated twins in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap?

Lindsay Lohan played both sisters with the help of motion-control photography and a double for shared scenes. Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson played the divorced parents.

Which online service's new-email greeting gave the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan comedy You've Got Mail its title?

AOL users heard the greeting whenever a message arrived. The plot itself reworks a 1937 Hungarian play that Hollywood had already filmed as The Shop Around the Corner.

Which city does the giant lizard come ashore to nest in during Hollywood's 1998 remake of Godzilla?

New York takes the damage, and the creature's nest turns up inside Madison Square Garden. Poor reviews did not stop the remake earning $379 million, third among 1998 releases.

Which comic actor played a man unaware that his whole life is a television broadcast in The Truman Show?

Jim Carrey's character, Truman Burbank, was adopted at birth by a television studio. He lives on a colossal soundstage, filmed around the clock by hidden cameras.

Which director's Saving Private Ryan was the top-grossing 1998 release in US cinemas, earning $216.5 million?

Steven Spielberg won the Best Director Oscar for it. The film led the US chart among 1998 releases, yet finished second at the worldwide box office.

Which rock band scored its only US number one with I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, from a 1998 blockbuster?

Aerosmith debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the Diane Warren ballad and stayed there for four weeks. Frontman Tyler's daughter Liv starred in the film.

Which actress won an Oscar for a brief appearance as Queen Elizabeth I in a 1998 romantic comedy?

Judi Dench took Best Supporting Actress and joked in her speech that she had been on screen for only eight minutes. Cate Blanchett was nominated that night for playing the same queen.

Which actor played the US president who warns the world of an approaching comet in Deep Impact?

Morgan Freeman's President Tom Beck gives the world a year's notice of the collision. The film opened in May 1998, two months before a rival about an asteroid, and made $349 million.

Which actress played the title role in the Farrelly brothers' 1998 comedy There's Something About Mary?

Cameron Diaz's comedy cost $23 million and took over $369 million worldwide, the fourth-highest total among 1998 releases. Several men compete for her character's affection.

Which filmmaker voiced Z, the anxious worker ant at the centre of DreamWorks' first animated feature, Antz?

Woody Allen led a voice cast that included Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone and Gene Hackman. The film reached US cinemas about seven weeks before a rival studio's insect comedy.

Which future pop star, then 17, recorded the single version of Reflection for Disney's Mulan?

Christina Aguilera's rendition became her debut solo single and led to a recording contract with RCA. Her self-titled debut album followed in 1999.

Which Chinese martial arts star made his Hollywood debut as the villain of Lethal Weapon 4?

Jet Li had never played a villain on film before taking the part of a high-ranking Triad member. The producer promised him the lead in Romeo Must Die in return.

Which comedian played LAPD detective James Carter opposite Jackie Chan's Hong Kong inspector in Rush Hour?

Chris Tucker won the part after Martin Lawrence and Dave Chappelle were among those considered. The buddy comedy took $245.3 million worldwide and led to two sequels.

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller did Gus Van Sant remake almost shot for shot in 1998?

Psycho was refilmed in colour with the 1960 script and camera moves largely intact, and Vince Vaughn in the lead. It won Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Remake and Worst Director.

In the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring, which cursed object brings death seven days after a person looks at it?

A videotape carries the curse, and its viewers get a phone call before their week runs out. Ring became the highest-grossing horror film in Japan on its release.

Which actress played a waitress in The Wedding Singer and a Cinderella figure in Ever After in 1998?

Drew Barrymore's Ever After drops the pantomime and magic of most retellings and plays the fairy tale as historical fiction in Renaissance France.

Which comedian starred in The Waterboy as Bobby Boucher, a water boy who becomes a feared linebacker?

Adam Sandler co-wrote the college football comedy, which made $39.4 million in its opening weekend in the US alone. The whole film had cost $23 million.

Which actor played the vampire hunter Blade in the 1998 hit based on a Marvel Comics character?

Wesley Snipes's dark superhero film took $131.2 million worldwide, a record at the time for a film drawn from that publisher's pages. His hero has a vampire's strengths without the weaknesses.

Which actor inherited the mask from Anthony Hopkins's ageing hero in the 1998 swashbuckler The Mask of Zorro?

Antonio Banderas plays the successor trained in a secret lair by the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega. He also falls for the old swordsman's long-lost daughter.

Which actress returned as Laurie Strode, two decades after first playing her, in Halloween H20?

Jamie Lee Curtis's heroine has faked her own death and is hiding as the head of a California boarding school. Josh Hartnett made his film debut in the cast.

Which actor played the title role in Patch Adams, about a medical student who treats patients with humour?

Robin Williams was playing a real doctor, Hunter Adams, whose life story the film loosely follows. The action is set in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Which biblical figure's rise from royal court to prophet is told in DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt?

Moses leads the Hebrews out of slavery in this adaptation of the Book of Exodus. It was the first traditionally animated film from the studio.

Which singer joined Mariah Carey on When You Believe, the Oscar-winning duet from The Prince of Egypt?

Whitney Houston and Carey recorded the pop version for the end credits, with extra music and words by Babyface. It won Best Original Song at the Oscars in March 1999.

Which Nickelodeon cartoon's 1998 film was the first non-Disney animation to pass $100 million in US cinemas?

Rugrats sent Tommy Pickles and his new baby brother into the wilderness for the first feature based on a Nicktoon. It closed with just over $100 million in the US and $141 million worldwide.

Which British director made his feature debut with the 1998 crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels?

Guy Ritchie had made only a single short film before the heist comedy brought him international acclaim. It also gave screen debuts to Jason Statham and footballer Vinnie Jones.

Which director cast Bill Murray as a tycoon competing with a teenager for a teacher's affection in Rushmore?

Wes Anderson gave Jason Schwartzman his film debut as the schoolboy, Max Fischer. The comedy also began Murray's second career as a respected actor in independent cinema.

Which actor played Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's 1998 adaptation of the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Johnny Depp spent four months living in the basement of author Hunter S. Thompson's home to study his habits and mannerisms. The film flopped, then became a cult classic.

Which actor earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination as reformed skinhead Derek Vinyard in American History X?

Edward Norton also played a pivotal part in editing the drama. Its director, Tony Kaye, publicly disowned the released cut and lost a bid to take his name off the film.

Which singer played the Marshal who shares a car trunk with George Clooney's bank robber in Out of Sight?

Jennifer Lopez's character, Karen Sisco, later got a spin-off television series of her own. The crime caper was the first of several films Clooney made with director Soderbergh.

Which actor played Death, who takes a young man's body to sample human life, in Meet Joe Black?

Brad Pitt's visitor strikes a deal with a media mogul played by Anthony Hopkins, postponing the tycoon's end. The story is based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday.

Which TV series reached cinemas in 1998 with a film set between its fifth and sixth seasons?

The X-Files film was written at the end of 1996 and shot after the show's fourth season. David Duchovny was among five regulars from the series who appeared.

Which 1998 film sends two modern teenagers into a 1950s sitcom whose monochrome world slowly gains colour?

Pleasantville stars Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon as twins trapped in the television show after a fight over a remote control. It was Gary Ross's first film as director.

In which city does Lola race to find 100,000 marks in 20 minutes in Tom Tykwer's thriller Run Lola Run?

Berlin and its surroundings provided the locations. Franka Potente's heroine needs the money to save her boyfriend, and the story restarts to play out different endings.

Which director followed his alien invasion hit Independence Day with the 1998 American remake of Godzilla?

Roland Emmerich took the job after Jan de Bont left in a budget dispute. He and his co-writer had earlier planned an asteroid disaster movie, then dropped it when a rival got there first.

Which Pacific island campaign is the setting of The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick's first film in 20 years?

Guadalcanal is where the film's C Company lands as reinforcements to seize the island from Japanese forces. The story is a fictionalised version of the Battle of Mount Austen.

Which actress played a witch in Practical Magic and a betrayed housewife in Hope Floats in 1998?

Sandra Bullock's sister in the witch film was played by Nicole Kidman. In Hope Floats, directed by Forest Whitaker, her character learns of her husband's affair on a talk show.

Which future star played the injured teenage rider in Robert Redford's 1998 drama The Horse Whisperer?

Scarlett Johansson's character and her horse are both badly hurt in a riding accident. Redford directed the film and also played the trainer hired to bring them back to health.

Which actor played both King Louis XIV and his imprisoned twin Philippe in The Man in the Iron Mask?

Leonardo DiCaprio's co-stars were the ageing musketeers: Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu, with Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan.

Which studio made A Bug's Life, the top-grossing animated film of 1998 at the worldwide box office?

Pixar's insect comedy took $363 million, well ahead of Disney's own Mulan. Its plot was first inspired by Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper.

Which actor played the paratrooper whom Tom Hanks's squad is sent to bring home in Saving Private Ryan?

Matt Damon's Private James Ryan is ordered home because his three brothers have been killed in action. He is serving with the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy.

Which NFL quarterback appears as himself, an ex-boyfriend of the heroine, in There's Something About Mary?

Brett Favre got the cameo only after Steve Young turned it down because of the comedy's coarse humour. In the story, a rival's lies had ended his romance.

Which real Florida town, a planned community on the Panhandle, served as the hero's home in The Truman Show?

Seaside hosted most of the filming, standing in for Seahaven Island. In the story, that town sits inside an enormous Los Angeles soundstage.

Which actress, later seen in The Mandalorian, spoke the part of the title heroine in Disney's Mulan?

Ming-Na Wen spoke the part while Lea Salonga sang it. She returned for the sequel and made a cameo appearance in the 2020 live-action remake.

Which band wrote the ballad Iris for City of Angels, the 1998 romance starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan?

Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik wrote the power ballad for the soundtrack. It then became the lead single of the group's sixth album, Dizzy Up the Girl.