1990-1999

1990

• Dances with Wolves becomes a triumphant directorial debut for Kevin Costner.
  
• Martin Scorsese directs Goodfellas.
  
• Pretty Woman, directed by Gerry Marshall, makes Julia Roberts a star.
  
• United Artists last film is Rocky V.
  
• Boyz N the Hood and Straight Out of Brooklyn continues the development of Black independent film in the United States
  
• Dick Tracy is the first 35mm feature film with a digital soundtrack.
  
• Sony Entertainment of Japan buys MGM, who already own Columbia and Tristar.
  
• Japanese corporation Matsushita Industrial Inc. acquires MCA/Universal for $6.1 billion.
  
• There are almost 23,000 multiplex theater systems now opened.
  
  1991
  
• Beauty and the Beast becomes the first animated film to be nominated for Oscars Best Picture.
  
• JFK, directed by Oliver Stone becomes controversial view of Kennedy asassination.
  
• Thelma and Louise, directed by Ridley Scott, stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis
  
• James Cameron directs his own sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, setting new standards of computer animation and special effects.
  
• Cable penetration in the U.S reaches 60%, VCR's reach 70%
  
  1992
  
• Clint Eastwood wins accolades with the western Unforgiven.
  
• Quentin Tarantino makes directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs, a film he wrote while a video store clerk.
  
• Batman Returns is the first film to use Dolby Digital sound.
  
  1993
  
• Schindler's List, directed by Steven Speilberg, stars Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and RalphFiennes, is filmed almost entirely in Black and White, and becomes the best portrayal of the WWII Jewish Holocaust.
  
• Speilberg's Jurassic Park sets box-office records and is the first film with DTS sound.
  
• Tom Hanks turns in the first of two best-actor Oscars, as a man dying of AIDS in Philadelphia.
  
• Voyager's Multimedia CD release of A Hard Day's Night is the first digital CD to include an entire film. This will lead to the DVD revolution
  
• Macintosh & Windows release versions of NCSA Mosaic browsers. The Internet Web begins its rise
  
• Disney buys the successful maverick studio Miramax for $65 million.
  
  1994
  
• Members of the Academy of Motion Pictures begin viewing Oscar-nominated films on videotape rather than attending special film screenings.
• Tom Hanks turns Forrest Gump into a cultural icon. It collects 8 oscars and $300 million. It also uses digital effects to insert a person into historical footage.
  
• Quentin Taratino writes and directs Pulp Fiction.
  
• Digital Satellite System (DSS) direct-to-home broadcasting begins in the U.S.
  
• The Independent Film Channel is launched by Bravo as an outlet for independent movies.
  
• Speilberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen announce the formation of Dreamworks SKG, the first major studio to be built in half a century.
  
• Viacom buys Paramount Pictures after a bidding war with USA Networks/QVC.
  
• Disney becomes the first studio to gross $1 billion at the box office.
  
  1995
  
• Mel Gibson directs and stars in Braveheart.
  
• Pixar Animation Studios goes public a few days after it's first production, Toy Story, is released by Disney. It is the first fully computer-animated feature film.
  
• A standard for the DVD format is agreed upon. Combining the proposed dual-layer and double sided technologies assures the backward compatibility the computer industry needs with the high capacity the entertainment industry wants.
  
• Apple releases Quicktime VR technology for simple, inexpensive virtual-reality production
  
• Seagram buys MCA/Universal from Matsushita, who's owned it for only 5 years, for $5.7 billion and rename it Universal Studios.
  
• Disney buys the ABC television network.
  
  1996
  
• The Coen brothers write and direct Fargo.
  
• Scream revitalizes the teen horror genre.
  
  1997
  
• James Cameron directs Titanic with a whopping budget of $200 million dollars, the largest ever. When the movieÕs opening day gets pushed back six months critics being to sense a major flop, but it becomes the biggest movie ever, taking in $500 million in the US and a billion worldwide. It collects eight oscars and makes a star of Leonardo DiCaprio.
  
• DVD-video sales begin in the U.S. offering better quality sound and picture than videotapes, and many discs include extras such as trailers, deleted clips, behind the scene footage and commentaries.
  
• Metromedia announces the sale of its 2,200 film library, along with the remains of Orion Pictures and Goldwyn Entertainment to the new MGM. After the deal is complete, MGM-near death 2 years earlier- will control the world's largest film library
  
• Internet growth continues at an extreme rate with 26 million computers linked
  
  1998
  
• Digital television broadcasting begins in the U.S.
  
• The movie screens see double with: two World War II epics (Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line); two Elizabethan Pageants (Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth); two Meteoric disasters (Armegeddon, Deep Impact); and two digital bug cartoons (Antz, A Bug's Life)
  
  1999
  
• MGM completes the purchase of the Polygram film library from Universal. The once bankrupt studio now owns the rights to more than half the made Hollywood film library.
  
• Days after completing post-production work on his first film in 12 years, Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick dies at 70
  
• George Lucas returns to his Star Wars series after 16 years with The Phantom Menace. He uses this film to create the first completely digital (CGI) acting character, Jar Jar Binks, and test digital projection in New York and Los Angeles.
  
• The Blair Witch Project becomes the most financially successful film. Made for $30,000, it grosses over $140 million. One of the keys to its success is advertising over the internet
  
  
  

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