The latest: The cult classic Critters celebrates its 40th anniversary!
It’s 1986. The Challenger has exploded, Chernobyl has become a radiated wasteland, and an earthquake in El Salvador has claimed the lives of thousands. People needed to escape into the movies, and they had plenty of phenomenal choices to take their mind off of the tragedies that surrounded them.
Chief among these escapist flicks was Tony Scott’s Top Gun, which ruled the box-office with its machismo adrenaline and high-octane action. And if Top Gun had one too many volleyball serves, audiences could instead flock to the theater to laugh at Paul Hogan’s Australian antics in Crocodile Dundee, ditch school to go on adventures with Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or get grossed out by Jeff Goldblum’s metamorphosis into a monster in David Cronenberg’s The Fly.
1986 was also the year of great sequels. James Cameron took over for Ridley Scott to make Aliens, directing Sigourney Weaver to an Academy Award nomination. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home became a huge hit for the Star Trek franchise, finishing up a story thread that started in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And Ralph Macchio returned to kick some more butt in The Karate Kid Part II, this time in Okinawa.
At the Oscars, Oliver Stone’s Platoon took home four Academy Awards, including Best Picture (Stone also directed Salvador, which was nominated for two Academy Awards). Paul Newman finally got his long overdue Best Actor Academy Award for Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, and Marlee Matlin became the first hearing impaired actor to win an Academy Award when she won for Children of a Lesser God.
It was a great year for the movies, and we’re ranking all of the hits by Tomatometer. Check out the list below to see where your favorites landed! — Bryce Marrero