The 8 Biggest Movies of 1998, and Whether They Were Any Good

1998 had Spielberg, Peter Weir and Michael Bay all chasing your ticket money. Here's the worldwide top 8, ranked by gross and graded by movie.guru.

The year's biggest hit sits at #1. Its score is going to start a fight.

1. 8
   Rush Hour (1998)6.8

   Jackie Chan carried it, and the crowd knew it.

   Critics shrugged with a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences handed it an A CinemaScore. A reported $33 to 35M budget became $244.7M worldwide. movie.guru score: 6.8.
2. 7
   You've Got Mail (1998)6.1

   Pleasant, forgettable, and powered mostly by a modem noise.

   Hanks and Ryan pulled $250.8M worldwide on a reported $65M budget. Metacritic gave it a 58. A 6.1 movie.guru score is a warm blanket, not a great movie.
3. 6
   Enemy of the State (1998)7.1

   The paranoid thriller that aged better than anyone expected.

   A reported $90M budget became $250.8M worldwide. Will Smith and Gene Hackman earned a 7.1 movie.guru score. In 1998 it played as fiction. Now it plays like Tuesday.
4. 5
   The Truman Show (1998)8.3

   Fifth in money, top two in actually holding up.

   94% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 90 on Metacritic, an 8.3 movie.guru score. Opening crowds still gave it a B CinemaScore. Jim Carrey played it straight and it made $264.1M worldwide.
5. 4
   Shakespeare in Love (1998)8.5

   Good movie. Its 8.5 is still a little generous.

   movie.guru scores it 8.5, above Truman. IMDb voters say 7.1. A reported $25M budget turned into $289.3M worldwide. Guru's Take: 7.9. Charming, not a top two film.
6. 3
   There's Something About Mary (1998)6.3

   A monster hit whose jokes didn't all survive the decades.

   A reported $23M budget, $369.9M worldwide, third biggest of the year. Critics gave it 84% back then. The movie.guru score sits at 6.3 because a few gags aged like milk.
7. 2
   Saving Private Ryan (1998)9.5

   The real champion of 1998, in money and in quality.

   A 9.5 movie.guru score, the highest here. Critics and audiences both beat 96% of movies. $482.4M worldwide. Spielberg made the beach landing impossible to forget, and nobody has topped it since.
8. 1
   Armageddon (1998)5.1

   Biggest movie of 1998. Weakest movie on this list.

   $553.7M worldwide on a reported $140M budget. Rotten Tomatoes 42%, Metacritic 42, movie.guru 5.1. Oil drillers sent to space. Guru's Take: 4.7. Audiences still gave it an A minus.

$553.71 says the first comment defends Armageddon with the words "but it's fun."

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Current mood: ready to fight about it