The year 1999 in film involved some significant events, and was arguably the most successful year for films released in the 1990s. Several new feature films including Star Wars Episode I, The Sixth Sense, new sequel Toy Story 2, first of The Matrix, Disney's animated Tarzan, The Mummy, and the suburban American Beauty were released.
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was awarded to All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain/France. (For more about films in foreign languages, check sources in those languages.)
Events
Top grossing films
Please note that following the tradition of the English language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the United States and Canada in 1999; because they may have made most of their income in a later year, they may not be the top-grossing films for calendar year. The top ten films of 1999 as of January 26, 2006 (U.S. and Canada), January 26, 2006 (UK) and January 26, 2006 (Australia) are as follows:
| 1999 Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Worldwide Gross |
U.S/Canada Gross |
U.K. Gross |
Australia Gross |
| 1. |
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace |
20th Century Fox |
$924,317,558 |
$431,088,301 |
£50,734,924 |
$38,828,310 |
| 2. |
The Sixth Sense |
Buena Vista |
$672,806,292 |
$293,506,292 |
£25,407,279 |
$29,298,667 |
| 3. |
Toy Story 2 |
Disney/Pixar |
$485,015,179 |
$245,852,179 |
£43,294,228 |
$20,131,422 |
| 4. |
The Matrix |
Warner Bros. |
$460,379,930 |
$171,479,930 |
£16,918,842 |
$23,160,219 |
| 5. |
Tarzan |
Buena Vista |
$448,191,819 |
$171,091,819 |
£17,694,331 |
$11,399,994 |
| 6. |
The Mummy |
Universal Pictures |
$415,933,406 |
$155,385,488 |
£17,362,781 |
$18,107,396 |
| 7. |
Notting Hill |
Universal Pictures |
$363,889,678 |
$116,089,678 |
£30,403,825 |
$20,831,399 |
| 8. |
The World Is Not Enough |
MGM |
$361,832,400 |
$126,943,684 |
£28,367,515 |
$14,168,737 |
| 9. |
American Beauty |
DreamWorks |
$356,296,601 |
$130,096,601 |
£21,261,601 |
$19,016,237 |
| 10. |
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me |
New Line Cinema |
$312,016,858 |
$206,040,086 |
£25,635,589 |
$22,380,168 |
In total 41 films gross more than $100,000,000 and 6 films grossed more than $400 million, reaching international blockbuster motion picture status, the first time that over five films released in one year reached IBMP status (Only 4 films released in 1990 made IBMP status).
For a complete list of 1999's top-grossing films, follow these links:
Awards
Academy Awards
- Best Picture: American Beauty
- Achievement in Directing: Sam Mendes - American Beauty
- Academy Award for Best Art Direction: Sleepy Hollow
- Best Actor: Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
- Best Actress: Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
- Best Supporting Actor: Michael Caine - The Cider House Rules
- Best Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie - Girl, Interrupted
- Best Foreign Language Film: All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain / France
Golden Globe Awards
- Drama
- Best Picture: American Beauty
- Best Actor: Denzel Washington - The Hurricane
- Best Actress: Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
- Musical or comedy
- Best Picture: Toy Story 2
- Best Actor: Jim Carrey - Man on the Moon
- Best Actress: Janet McTeer - Tumbleweeds
- Other
- Best Director: Sam Mendes - American Beauty
- Best Foreign Language Film: All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), Spain / France
BAFTA Awards
- Best Picture: American Beauty
- Best Actor: Kevin Spacey
- Best Actress: Annette Bening
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
- Rosetta, directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, France / Belgium
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
- Not One Less (Yi ge dou bu neng shao), directed by Zhang Yimou, China
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- The Thin Red Line, directed by Terrence Malick, Canada / U.S.A.
Films released in 1999
- 8mm
- 10 Things I Hate About You, directed by Gil Junger
- After Stonewall
- All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)
- American Beauty
- American Pie, directed by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz
- Arlington Road
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, directed by Jay Roach
- Beautiful People
- Being John Malkovich
- Beyond the Mat
- Bicentennial Man
- Big Daddy, directed by Dennis Dugan
- The Big Kahuna
- Blast from the Past
- Blue Streak
- The Blair Witch Project
- The Boondock Saints
- Bowfinger
- Boys Don't Cry
- Bringing Out the Dead
- But I'm a Cheerleader
- Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000, directed by David Orr
- Chutney Popcorn
- The Cider House Rules
- Coming Soon
- The Cup
- The Debt Collector
- Deep Blue Sea
- Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
- Detroit Rock City
- Dick
- Dill Scallion
- Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith
- The Dogwalker
- Dudley Do-Right, starring Brendan Fraser, narrated by Corey Burton, based on the characters by Jay Ward, directed by Hugh Wilson
- The Duke
- EDtv, directed by Ron Howard
- Election
- El Intruso
- The End of the Affair
- End of Days
- Entrapment
- eXistenZ
- Eye of the Beholder
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Fantasia 2000
- Fight Club
- The Five Senses
- The Florentine
- A Force More Powerful
- Friends & Lovers
- Forces of Nature
- Galaxy Quest
- Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
- Ghost in Love
- Girl, Interrupted
- Godzilla 2000: Millennium
- The Green Mile
- Guinevere
- The Haunting
- The Hi-Line
- Holy Smoke!
- House on Haunted Hill
- Idle Hands
- The Insider
- In Dreams
- Inspector Gadget, starring Matthew Broderick, Rupert Everett, Joely Fisher, Michelle Trachtenberg, Andy Dick and Dabney Coleman, voices by D.L. Hughley, performed by Youngstown (band), directed by David Kellogg
- The Iron Giant, voices by Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston and Christopher McDonald, directed by Brad Bird
- Just a Little Harmless Sex
- Just the Ticket
- Liberty Heights
- Lycanthrope
- Magnolia
- Man of the Century
- Man on the Moon
- A Map of the World
- The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human
- The Matrix
- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
- The Mod Squad
- The Mummy
- Music of the Heart
- My Favorite Martian
- My Voyage to Italy (documentary)
- Mystery Men
- Never Been Kissed
- New Waterford Girl
- Not One Less (Yi ge dou bu neng shao)
- Notting Hill
- October Sky
- Office Space
- Our Friend, Martin
- The Omega Code
- Payback
- Pitch People (1999 film)
- Pokemon: The First Movie
- Propaganda
- Pushing Tin
- Random Hearts
- Rites of Passage
- Rogue Trader
- Rosetta
- She's All That
- Shiri
- Shower (film) (Xizao)
- Simply Irresistible
- The Sixth Sense
- Sleeping Beauties
- Sleepy Hollow
- A Slipping-Down Life
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
- Speedway Junky
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Stir of Echoes
- Swing
- The Straight Story
- Tarzan, voices by Minnie Driver, Rosie O'Donnell, Glenn Close and Wayne Knight, performed by Phil Collins, directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck
- Tea With Mussolini
- The Thirteenth Floor
- The Thirteenth Year
- The Thomas Crown Affair
- Three Kings
- Three Seasons
- Three to Tango
- Toy Story 2
- Trick
- Trippin'
- True Crime
- Tube Tales
- Tumbleweeds
- The Virgin Suicides
- Walking Across Egypt
- The War Zone
- Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?
- Why Not Me? (Pourquoi pas moi?)
- Wild Wild West
- The Winslow Boy
- The World Is Not Enough
- Yellow Hair
Wide-release movies
January-March
April-June
- April 1999
- April 2 - Cookie's Fortune, The Out-of-Towers, A Walk on the Moon
- April 9 - Go, Never Been Kissed
- April 16 - Life, Friends & Lovers
- April 23 - Lost & Found, Pushing Tin
- April 30 - Idle Hands
- May 1999
- May 7 - The Mummy, Election
- May 14 - Endurance, A Midsummer Night's Dream
- May 19- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- May 21 - The Love Letter
- May 28 - Notting Hill, The Thirteenth Floor
- June 1999
- June 4 - Instinct
- June 11 - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
- June 18 - The General's Daughter, An Ideal Husband, Tarzan
- June 25 - Big Daddy
- June 30 - South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Wild Wild West
July-September
- July 1999
- July 9 - American Pie, Arlington Road
- July 16 Eyes Wide Shut, Lake Placid, The Wood
- July 23 - Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Haunting, Inspector Gadget
- July 28 - Deep Blue Sea
- July 30 - The Blair Witch Project, Runaway Bride
- August 1999
- August 4 - Dick
- August 6 - The Iron Giant, Mystery Men, The Sixth Sense, The Thomas Crown Affair
- August 13 - Bowfinger, Brokedown Palace, Detroit Rock City
- August 20 - Mickey Blue Eyes, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Universal Soldier: The Return
- August 25 - In Too Deep
- August 27 - The 13th Warrior, The Astronaut's Wife, Dudley Do-Right, The Muse
- September 1999
- September 1 - Chill Factor, Outside Providence
- September 10 - Love Stinks, Stigmata, Stir of Echoes
- September 17 - Blue Streak, For Love of the Game
- September 24 - Double Jeopardy
October-December
*November 1999
- November 5 - The Bachelor, The Bone Collector
- November 10 - Pokemon: The First Movie
- November 12 - Anywhere but Here, Dogma, Light It Up, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
- November 19 - Liberty Heights, Sleepy Hollow, The World Is Not Enough
- November 24 - End of Days, Flawless, Mansfield Park, Toy Story 2
- December 1999
- December 10 - The Cider House Rules (film), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. The Green Mile, Ride with the Devil
- December 17 - Bicentennial Man, Stuart Little
- December 21 - Wakko's Wish
- December 22 - Any Given Sunday
- December 25 - Galaxy Quest, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Births
Deaths
| Date |
Name |
Age |
Notes |
| January 15 |
Betty Box |
83 |
film producer |
| February 20 |
Gene Siskel |
53 |
film critic, Siskel and Ebert' |
| March 5 |
Richard Kiley |
73 |
actor |
| March 7 |
Stanley Kubrick |
70 |
film director |
| March 13 |
Garson Kanin |
86 |
writer/director |
| March 22 |
David Strickland |
29 |
actor |
| April 14 |
Ellen Corby |
87 |
actress, Grandma Walton in the "The Waltons" |
| April 21 |
Buddy Rogers |
94 |
actor, husband of Mary Pickford |
| April 28 |
Rory Calhoun, |
76 |
actor |
| May 2 |
Oliver Reed |
61 |
actor |
| May 8 |
Dirk Bogarde |
78 |
actor/author |
| May 21 |
Vanessa Brown |
71 |
actress |
| May 23 |
Owen Hart |
34 |
professional wrestler |
| June 11 |
DeForest Kelley |
79 |
actor, best known for "Star Trek" |
| June 29 |
Allan Carr |
62 |
movie producer |
| July 1 |
Sylvia Sidney |
88 |
actress |
| July 2 |
Mario Puzo |
78 |
writer/author, "The Godfather" |
| August 4 |
Victor Mature |
86 |
actor |
| September 9 |
Ruth Roman |
76 |
actress |
| September 22 |
George C Scott |
71 |
Oscar winning actor |
| November 3 |
Ian Bannen |
71 |
actor |
| December 3 |
Madeline Kahn |
57 |
actress |
| December 17 |
Rex Allen |
78 |
cowboy actor, singer |
| December 19 |
Desmond Llewelyn |
85 |
actor, 'Q" in James Bond films |
| December 23 |
Lois Hamilton |
56 |
actress, artist, model |
