1984 in film
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.
This article is about the year 1984 in film. For the George Orwell property in film, see Adaptations of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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.
February 15 - establishes Touchstone Pictures to release films with more mature subject matter than the traditional Walt Disney Pictures banner.
The Walt Disney Studios
March 30 - is released and propels Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito and director Robert Zemeckis to super-stardom. The film also gave Zemeckis his first box office hit, which gave Universal Pictures confidence to allow him to direct his next film, Back to the Future.
Romancing the Stone
April 6 - , a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film, Where the Boys Are '84.
Tri-Star Pictures
May 4 - The first of the year's musicals is released, Breakin'. It is soon followed by Beat Street and its sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.
breakdancing
July 1 - The institutes the PG-13 rating, as a response to violent horror films such as Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Motion Picture Association of America
August 25 - becomes the biggest grossing comedy film of all time in the United States exceeding Tootsie's $177.2 million[23] going on to gross $229.2 million in its initial run.[24] It is overtaken by Beverly Hills Cop in summer 1985[25] but regains the record after its re-release in August 1985.[26] It also became the biggest grossing film released by Columbia Pictures.
Ghostbusters
September 22 - leaves Paramount Pictures to become head of Walt Disney Productions, while Frank Wells became chief operating officer and Jeffrey Katzenberg was later named chairman.
Michael Eisner
December 5 - is released. It will go on to become the 6th highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. at the time, the highest grossing comedy of all time at the time, as well as the highest grossing R-Rated film of all time, a record it would hold for 19 years.
Beverly Hills Cop
December 14 - is released after over a year of hype and anticipation.
Dune
wins 3 Australian Film Institute Awards including the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film.
Annie's Coming Out
List of American films of 1984
List of Argentine films of 1984
List of Australian films of 1984
List of Bangladeshi films of 1984
List of British films of 1984
List of Canadian films of 1984
List of French films of 1984
List of Hong Kong films of 1984
List of Hindi films of 1984
List of Japanese films of 1984
List of Mexican films of 1984
List of Pakistani films of 1984
List of South Korean films of 1984
List of Soviet films of 1984
List of Spanish films of 1984
January 1 - , Indian actor and comedian (d. 2023)
Kollam Sudhi
Priit Loog
January 7 - , German actor
Max Riemelt
Taraneh Alidoosti
January 21 - , Filipino actor and model
Richard Gutierrez
January 25 - , voice actor
Kaiji Tang
January 31 – , Israeli actor
Michael Aloni
Abbi Jacobson
February 8 - , American actress and comedian
Cecily Strong
February 12 - , Swedish actress
Alexandra Dahlström
February 13 - , voice actress
Brina Palencia
February 18 - , Canadian actress
Genelle Williams
February 19 - , American director, screenwriter and editor
Josh Trank
February 20 - , South African comedian, writer, producer, actor and television host
Trevor Noah
February 21 - , Japanese model and actress
Karina
February 24 - , Indonesian actor
Nicholas Saputra
February 28 - , American actress
Melanie Chandra
Blake Anderson
March 7 - , American stand-up comedian, rapper, actor, and writer
Brandon T. Jackson
March 8 - , Irish actress
Nora-Jane Noone
March 10 - , American actress
Olivia Wilde
March 12 - , American actress
Jaimie Alexander
Rachael Bella
March 14 - , American former actress
Liesel Pritzker Simmons
March 20 - , American stage and film actress and singer
Christy Carlson Romano
March 25 - , American singer and actress
Katharine McPhee
Emily Ann Lloyd
Ashley Peldon
April 3 - , American actress and singer
Chrissie Fit
April 4 - , Colombian actress and singer
Carolina Gaitán
Taran Noah Smith
Cara DeLizia
April 16 - , British actress
Claire Foy
April 18 - , American actress
America Ferrera
April 25 - , American comedian, actress and screenwriter
Jillian Bell
April 26 - , American actor
Ryan O'Donohue
April 28 - , American actress
Ana Cruz Kayne
April 29 - , Australian actor
Firass Dirani
May 1 - , American actress
Kerry Bishe
May 12 - , British actress
Emily Beecham
May 13 - , English actress
Hannah New
May 14 - , English singer-songwriter, presenter, voice actor and director
Olly Murs
Alejandro Edda
May 21 - , American actress (d. 2022)
Marnie Schulenburg
May 23 - , American actor
Adam Wylie
May 29 - , American actress and singer
Kaycee Stroh
May 30 - , American actress
DeWanda Wise
June 1 - , American actor
Taylor Handley
June 5 - , Australian-American singer and actor
Joel Smallbone
June 10 - , American actress
Betsy Sodaro
June 13 - , American actor
Phillip Van Dyke
June 15 - , American actor
Ray Santiago
June 19 - , American actor
Paul Dano
June 21 - , Indian actor and television host
Shiv Panditt
June 24 - , voice actor
Lucien Dodge
Aubrey Plaza
June 29 - , Mexican singer, actress and television host
Carla Medina
June 30 - , American singer and actress
Fantasia Barrino
Jared Keeso
July 2 - , American actress
Vanessa Lee Chester
July 7 - , American actor
Ross Malinger
July 9 - , American actress
Hanna R. Hall
July 10 - , American actress
Aviva Baumann
Serinda Swan
July 12 - , American actress
Mikaela Hoover
July 14 - , Estonian actress
Britta Soll
July 17 - , English actress and filmmaker
Mary Nighy
Kaitlin Doubleday
July 20 - , Hong Kong actor
Jacky Heung
July 25 - , English actress, playwright, director and narrator
Zawe Ashton
Taylor Schilling
July 28 - , American actor and producer
John David Washington
July 29 - , American actress (d. 2006)
J. Madison Wright Morris
Gina Rodriguez
Jon Foster
August 7 – , Taiwanese actress and model
Hsu Wei-ning
August 10 – , Filipina actress and model
Mariel Rodriguez
August 12 – , Filipino actress
Marian Rivera
August 15 - , American actor
Quinton Aaron
August 19 - , English actor, director and comedian
Simon Bird
August 28 – , Hong Kong actor
Him Law
Garrett Hedlund
September 4 - , American actor, comedian and writer
Kyle Mooney
September 5 - , English actress
Annabelle Wallis
September 10 - , British actor and singer
Luke Treadaway
Adam Lamberg
September 17 - , Filipino director and producer (d. 2022)
Mark Shandii Bacolod
Nina Arianda
Lydia Hearst
September 21 - , American actress
Ahna O'Reilly
September 22 - , Canadian actress
Laura Vandervoort
September 22 - , American film director
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
September 23 - , Dutch-American actress and singer
Anneliese van der Pol
September 25 - , American actor and comedian
Zach Woods
September 27 - , Canadian singer-songwriter
Avril Lavigne
October 1 - , American actor, comedian and writer
Beck Bennett
October 2 - , American actor
John Morris
Chris Marquette
October 4 - , former English actor
Will Theakston
Tiana Benjamin
October 7 - , American actor
Andy Bean
October 10 - , Japanese actress and singer
Chiaki Kuriyama
October 11 - , Canadian actress
Martha MacIsaac
October 14 - , American actor (d. 2020)
Jason Davis
October 17 - , American actor
Chris Lowell
Tod Fennell
October 25 - , American singer-songwriter and actress
Katy Perry
Kelly Osbourne
October 28 - , American actor and screenwriter
Finn Wittrock
November 1 - , English actress and musician
Natalia Tena
November 6 - , American actress and singer
Patina Miller
Britt Irvin
Slavko Sobin
November 15 - , American actor
Asia Kate Dillon
November 16 - , American actress
Kimberly J. Brown
November 17 - , American actress
Lauren Maltby
November 18 - , Indian actress
Nayanthara
Lindsey Haun
November 22 - , American actress
Scarlett Johansson
November 23 - , American actor and singer
Lucas Grabeel
November 24 - , English actor
Max Bennett
November 25 - , French actor (d. 2022)
Gaspard Ulliel
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
November 30 - , English-American actress
Lydia Wilson
Ryan Binse
December 11 - , Mexican actress and singer
Sandra Echeverría
December 14 - , American actor, singer and musician
Jackson Rathbone
December 16 - , English actor and producer
Theo James
December 17 - , British drummer and actress
Tennessee Thomas
December 19 - , Indian actress
Ankita Lokhande
December 23 - , American actress, singer and songwriter
Alison Sudol
December 24 - , American actor
Austin Stowell
Mike Rianda
December 29 - , Australian actor and producer
Chris Pang
Archived 2009-07-28 at the Wayback Machine by Chris Nashawaty - Entertainment Weekly online