Top Box Office in 1999


1	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
2	The Sixth Sense (1999)
3	Toy Story 2 (1999)
4	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
5	The Matrix (1999)
6	Tarzan (1999)
7	Big Daddy (1999/I)
8	The Mummy (1999)
9	Runaway Bride (1999)
10	The Blair Witch Project (1999)
11	The World Is Not Enough (1999)
12	Notting Hill (1999)
13	Double Jeopardy (1999)
14	Wild Wild West (1999)
15	Patch Adams (1998)

Best Picture in 1999:
American Beauty

Best Actor: Kevin Spacey, American Beauty
Best Actress: Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry
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1	Dirk Bogarde
2	Ellen Corby
3	Allen Funt
4	Madeline Kahn
5	Garson Kanin
7	DeForest Kelley
8	Stanley Kubrick
9	Brion James
10	Desmond Llewelyn
11	Clayton Moore
12	Dana Plato
13	Mario Puzo
14	Irving Rapper
15	Oliver Reed
16	Charles 'Buddy' Rogers
17	George C. Scott
18	Gene Siskel
19	Norman Wexler

Highest Rated in 1999


1	Fight Club (1999)
2	The Matrix (1999)
3	American Beauty (1999)
4	The Sixth Sense (1999)
5	Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill (1999) (V)
6	The Green Mile (1999)
7	The Straight Story (1999)
8	Toy Story 2 (1999)
9	Magnolia (1999)
10	The Insider (1999)
11	Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
12	Being John Malkovich (1999)
13	The Iron Giant (1999)
14	The Boondock Saints (1999)
15	Office Space (1999)

Editors picks for 1999


1	Election (1999)
2	The Cruise (1998)
3	Trick (1999)
4	Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
5	The Boondock Saints (1999)

Twenty-two years after we were introduced to Luke, Leia, Han, and others, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the first of three prequels to the original Star Wars films, is released. The film is a smash, earning nearly a billion dollars worldwide, though it doesn't open as big as predicted (most tellingly: it failed to break the opening weekend record set by The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997). Most everyone agrees, however, that the universe would have been better off without Jar Jar Binks.

The answer to "What Is The Matrix?" is answered, as the Wachowski Brothers film opens at #1. It goes on to become the fifth highest grossing movie of the year, and is currently #34 on the IMDb Top 250.

Julia Roberts signs a $20 million deal to star in Universal's Erin Brockovich, which goes into production under the direction of Steven Soderbergh in May.

The Sixth Sense introduces the world to writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, young actor Haley Joel Osment, and the phrase "I see dead people." The thriller goes on to become the second highest grossing film of the year in the U.S.

Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 is released over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The first (and only, to date) Pixar sequel was originally intended as a direct-to-video release, but early test scenes played so well that the studio started over and redeveloped it into a theatrical release.

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's poignant All About My Mother becomes an art-house hit. It goes on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Dr. Evil is back in New Line Cinema's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, the sequel to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The Mike Myers film is anything but shagless at the box office, becoming the most successful movie to date for a former Saturday Night Live star. In fact, Shagged makes more money its first weekend ($54 million) than its predecessor did during its entire theatrical run ($53.6 million, domestically). It once again shows the power of home video (where most people caught International) to alter the business of movies.

Two very different American films are released; one, American Beauty, will go on to earn five Oscars, including Best Picture; the other, American Pie, raunches its way to a $100+ million theatrical run.

On July 16, Artisan Entertainment releases the extremely low-budget horror film The Blair Witch Project to 27 theaters. It averages $56,000 per screen.

The German alternate reality film Run Lola Run becomes an indie hit in the U.S. and introduces audiences to the lovely Franka Potente and talented Tom Twyker.

January 19th: The miscellaneous crew list is split up into nine new lists: art-directors, casting-directors, set-decorators, assistant-directors, production-managers, stunts, sound-department, special-effects and the make-up-department list.

May 7th: The IMDb message boards are started. This first version is called the "Snack Bar" and has 11 boards, including "Name That Quote," "Mens Room," "Ladies Room," "Soapbox," and "Current Releases."

May 21st: IMDb has its first team meeting; people who have worked together for upto 9 years meet in person for the first time.

October 25th: The next site redesign is launched and the site switches from weekly updates to daily updates. The recommendations system is launched.

December 31st: IMDb covers nearly 220,000 movie titles, and credits total 3,251,842. 3,647,670 data items submitted in 1999 alone.

In his ongoing legal war between Disney chief Michael Eisner and his former employee, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Eisner says of the 5-foot-4 Katzenberg, "I think I hate the little midget." Katzenberg sues the studio for the $250 million incentive bonus he never received. It's acknowledged later in the year that Disney secretly paid Katzenberg $77 million in a partial settlement.

Despite South Park's declining ratings, its obscenity-laced theatrical spin-off, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, barges into theaters over the Fourth of July weekend. The film is released during a time when theater owners have resolved to card people buying tickets for R-rated movies; the New York Post tests the strengthened policy by sending two baby-faced teens to a theatre to buy tickets. Four theaters let them in, three refuse.

After 18 long years, Susan Lucci finally wins an Emmy for her portrayal of Erica Kane on All My Children.

Two shows from TV wunderkind David E. Kelley break new ground: Mark Harmon says "shit happens" on CBS's Chicago Hope, marking the first time the phrase is broadcast in the United States, and Calista Flockhart and Lucy Liu lock lips in an attempt to boost Ally McBeal's ratings during the Fox show's third season.

Public television show Teletubbies, already a national phenomenon, grabs more headlines when Rev. Jerry Falwell outs Tinky Winky, the purple teletubby who carries a "magic bag." Falwell goes on to assert his belief that the character is a homosexual role model for children.

On September 13th, the moon is ripped from its orbit and sent hurtling through the darkness of the galaxy, making life tough for those marooned on Moonbase Alpha, according to Space: 1999.

Things aren't much better on Earth. Public schools have deteriorated to the point where androids are sent in to teach the unruly students in 1990's Class of 1999.