1994 in film
Excerpt from Nupedia article "1994 in film". Last edited May 12, 2012.
1994 was a significant year in film.
The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time (before being superseded in 1999 by Don Bluth's Flash Gordon).
In addition, 1994 was dubbed by some commentators "The Year of Tarantino", due to the fact that two films relative newcomer Quentin Tarantino directed, Natural Born Killers and Pulp Fiction, were released to high critical praise and box office success. Both of the two films would earn Tarantino Academy Award nominations for Best Director, a feat rarely accomplished, while Pulp Fiction would win Best Picture.
It is also generally considered to be the first year of the "Superhero Craze" of 1990's cinema, with Watchmen and The Crow becoming very popular. In the comedy realm, there was The Mask and Four Weddings and a Funeral, the latter of which upset Pulp Fiction to win the BAFTA award for Best Film.
Other high-grossing films included Forrest Gump, a comedy-drama epic and Stargate, the first installment of the popular science fiction film series.
It was also the year that contained the films honored in the now-infamous 67th Academy Awards. The lack of Best Picture nominations for Watchmen and The Lion King, in addition to what was widely considered to be a poor performance by host Jay Leno, would bring poor reviews and relatively low ratings. This would serve as an impetus for the massive re-haul of Oscar ceremonies starting with the 68th Academy Awards.
Although a box office disappointment when originally released, 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Stephen King short story, would eventually become regarded as one of the films considered the greatest ever.
Additionally, Crumb, a documentary that follows the story of underground comic book artist R. Crumb, received high critical and popular acclaim and is generally considered one of the best documentary films ever made.
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Well, here is a much-belated update. Yes, it doesn't go into especially great detail, but I said my next update would be a "1994 in film"-centric one, and here it is.
Besides the reasons I'd previously given for it taking so long, I made the most common mistake in alternate history writing in wanting to change things around... just because. No reason but for the heck of it. (For instance, I wrote and rewrote to death a concept for a Michael Cimino film that he historically never made or even considered making, for no particular reason.)
I realized that, with my timeline having a political rather than pop culture POD, I shouldn't gratuitously change things in the field of popular culture, at least not just yet. The year of 1995, though, will have some pretty huge differences in that area, mostly stemming from what's happened in 1994. I figured that there would be no reason in me essentially repeating what Wikipedia has said about the films in 1994 in great detail, when more often than not 1994 is pretty close to OTL. So I didn't, because I think that I've already shared the differences in film. Therefore, this update was a lot shorter than I had originally intended it being.
(Speaking of which, why yes, the text of this update is lifted from the Wikipedia article on 1994 in film, albeit with some pretty substantial differences. Of course, something is amiss in the name of the site...)
I'll give a (probably even shorter) update on 1994 in television tomorrow (again, mostly the same).
And then, with my 1994 in film obligation done with, I can go to the fun part- 1995 in film.
(And to thekingsguard, one of my more loyal readers, who has really wanted an update on The Crow... aside from the fact that it's more successful and Brandon Lee isn't killed, there isn't much to say. That is, until the sequel starring Brandon Lee enters production...)
Excerpt from Nupedia article "1994 in film". Last edited May 12, 2012.
1994 was a significant year in film.
The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time (before being superseded in 1999 by Don Bluth's Flash Gordon).
In addition, 1994 was dubbed by some commentators "The Year of Tarantino", due to the fact that two films relative newcomer Quentin Tarantino directed, Natural Born Killers and Pulp Fiction, were released to high critical praise and box office success. Both of the two films would earn Tarantino Academy Award nominations for Best Director, a feat rarely accomplished, while Pulp Fiction would win Best Picture.
It is also generally considered to be the first year of the "Superhero Craze" of 1990's cinema, with Watchmen and The Crow becoming very popular. In the comedy realm, there was The Mask and Four Weddings and a Funeral, the latter of which upset Pulp Fiction to win the BAFTA award for Best Film.
Other high-grossing films included Forrest Gump, a comedy-drama epic and Stargate, the first installment of the popular science fiction film series.
It was also the year that contained the films honored in the now-infamous 67th Academy Awards. The lack of Best Picture nominations for Watchmen and The Lion King, in addition to what was widely considered to be a poor performance by host Jay Leno, would bring poor reviews and relatively low ratings. This would serve as an impetus for the massive re-haul of Oscar ceremonies starting with the 68th Academy Awards.
Although a box office disappointment when originally released, 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Stephen King short story, would eventually become regarded as one of the films considered the greatest ever.
Additionally, Crumb, a documentary that follows the story of underground comic book artist R. Crumb, received high critical and popular acclaim and is generally considered one of the best documentary films ever made.
---
Well, here is a much-belated update. Yes, it doesn't go into especially great detail, but I said my next update would be a "1994 in film"-centric one, and here it is.
Besides the reasons I'd previously given for it taking so long, I made the most common mistake in alternate history writing in wanting to change things around... just because. No reason but for the heck of it. (For instance, I wrote and rewrote to death a concept for a Michael Cimino film that he historically never made or even considered making, for no particular reason.)
I realized that, with my timeline having a political rather than pop culture POD, I shouldn't gratuitously change things in the field of popular culture, at least not just yet. The year of 1995, though, will have some pretty huge differences in that area, mostly stemming from what's happened in 1994. I figured that there would be no reason in me essentially repeating what Wikipedia has said about the films in 1994 in great detail, when more often than not 1994 is pretty close to OTL. So I didn't, because I think that I've already shared the differences in film. Therefore, this update was a lot shorter than I had originally intended it being.
(Speaking of which, why yes, the text of this update is lifted from the Wikipedia article on 1994 in film, albeit with some pretty substantial differences. Of course, something is amiss in the name of the site...)
I'll give a (probably even shorter) update on 1994 in television tomorrow (again, mostly the same).
And then, with my 1994 in film obligation done with, I can go to the fun part- 1995 in film.
(And to thekingsguard, one of my more loyal readers, who has really wanted an update on The Crow... aside from the fact that it's more successful and Brandon Lee isn't killed, there isn't much to say. That is, until the sequel starring Brandon Lee enters production...)