# 1991 in film
**1991 in film** refers to the significant events, releases, awards, and industry developments in cinema during the calendar year 1991. The year's releases included *Terminator 2: Judgment Day*, *The Silence of the Lambs*, *Beauty and the Beast*, *JFK*, *Thelma & Louise*, and *Boyz n the Hood*, while the Cannes Film Festival crowned the [Coen brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/coen-brothers)' *Barton Fink* with the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/) Commercially the year was difficult: after a decade of growth, the United States box office collapsed, even as two of the year's biggest hits set new records for production budgets and computer-generated imagery.[2](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-1991-nearly-broke-hollywood/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Palme d'Or | *Barton Fink* by Joel and Ethan Coen, awarded unanimously; Joel Coen also won Best Director and John Turturro Best Actor[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/) |
| Top domestic film | *Terminator 2: Judgment Day*, $204,843,345 in the United States and Canada[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1991/) |
| Top worldwide film | *Beauty and the Beast*, $248,824,279 worldwide, of which $145,863,363 domestic[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1991/) |
| Budget record | *Terminator 2* was the first film in history to cost $100 million to produce[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) |
| Academy Awards | *The Silence of the Lambs* swept Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) |
| Animation milestone | *Beauty and the Beast* was the first fully animated feature nominated for Best Picture[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) |
| Industry deal | Pixar and Disney agreed in 1991 to co-produce *Toy Story*, released four years later[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) |
## Cannes Film Festival
The 44th Cannes Film Festival gave its top prize, the Palme d'Or, to *Barton Fink* by Joel and [Ethan Coen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ethan-coen), awarded unanimously. The same film took the Best Director award for [Joel Coen](https://www.edgepedia.org/joel-coen) and the Best Actor award for [John Turturro](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-turturro).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/) Jacques Rivette's *La Belle Noiseuse* received the Grand Prix, and the Jury Prize was shared between Maroun Bagdadi's *Hors la vie* and Lars von Trier's *Europa*.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/)
Other winners included [Irène Jacob](https://www.edgepedia.org/irene-jacob) as Best Actress for Krzysztof Kieślowski's *The Double Life of Véronique*, Samuel L. Jackson as Best Supporting Actor for Spike Lee's *Jungle Fever*, and the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize for *The Double Life of Véronique*.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/) In the short film competition, Mitko Panov's *Z Podniesionymi Rękami* won the Palme d'Or and [Bill Plympton](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-plympton)'s *Push Comes to Shove* the Jury Prize. The Caméra d'Or for a first feature went to Jaco Van Dormael's *Toto le héros*, with special distinctions shared by [Deepa Mehta](https://www.edgepedia.org/deepa-mehta)'s *Sam and Me* and Jocelyn Moorhouse's *Proof*.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/)
## Academy Awards
The 63rd Academy Awards, held on Monday, March 25, 1991, at the Shrine Civic Auditorium, honored films released in 1990; winners included [Jeremy Irons](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeremy-irons) for *Reversal of Fortune*, Whoopi Goldberg for *Ghost*, and John Barry and Dean Semler for *Dances with Wolves*.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1991) Films of 1991 itself were honored at the following year's ceremony, where *The Silence of the Lambs* became the third film in history to win the top five Academy Awards, after *It Happened One Night* (1934) and *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* (1975): Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
*Terminator 2: Judgment Day*, from six nominations, won four Oscars: Best Makeup, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) John Singleton, at 24 years and 44 days a USC film graduate, received nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for his debut *Boyz n the Hood*, the first time an African-American was nominated in the directing category, and he remains the youngest Best Director nominee.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) [Callie Khouri](https://www.edgepedia.org/callie-khouri) won Best Original Screenplay for *Thelma & Louise*.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
## Box office
*T2* led the domestic chart at $204,843,345, followed by *Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves* at $165,493,908 and *Beauty and the Beast* at $145,863,363.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1991/) On Box Office Mojo's worldwide ranking for the year, *Beauty and the Beast* placed first at $248,824,279, with *Terminator 2* second at $205,543,130; most other top films drew essentially all of their gross from the domestic market.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1991/) A retrospective account lists *Hook* at $300,800,000 worldwide among the era's highest-grossing films.[7](https://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/xNON_ACTIVE_CLASSES/FILMST_101/20_FILM_BUISNESS/BoxOfficeReturns_films.pdf)
The commercial backdrop was troubled. After a decade of recession-proof growth, the 1991 US box office collapsed; the summer's takings dropped 11 percent against 1990, and admissions in August and September were the worst since 1978. Studios had been paying more than ever for stars, with [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://www.edgepedia.org/arnold-schwarzenegger) receiving a then-unheard-of $15 million for *Terminator 2*, yet many star vehicles failed, leaving Hollywood uncertain about star power for the first time in a generation.[2](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-1991-nearly-broke-hollywood/) [Orion Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/orion-pictures), despite releasing two consecutive Best Picture winners in *Dances with Wolves* and *The Silence of the Lambs*, filed for bankruptcy late in 1991 after years of money-losing pictures.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
## Technology and animation
**Computer-generated imagery** reached a turning point in 1991 with two releases. *Terminator 2: Judgment Day* introduced the liquid-metal T-1000 cyborg, described as the first truly believable, naturally moving computer-generated character and Hollywood's first CGI main character; more than 300 special effects shots made up 16 minutes of the film, including computer morphing that transformed characters on screen.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) [Industrial Light & Magic](https://www.edgepedia.org/industrial-light-and-magic), led by visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, scanned actor [Robert Patrick](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-patrick) to create a digital double for the character.[8](https://theasc.com/article/dennis-muren-asc/) The same year, Disney's *Beauty and the Beast* placed its hand-drawn characters inside an entirely computer-generated ballroom for the title song sequence, and the film's use of the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), begun at [Lucasfilm](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucasfilm) and completed at Pixar, made cels and animation cameras obsolete.[9](https://d23.com/ever-a-surprise-the-history-and-the-magic-behind-the-ballroom-in-beauty-and-the-beast/)
*Beauty and the Beast* became the first fully animated feature nominated for Best Picture and, with domestic revenues above $140 million, the most successful animated feature in motion picture history up to that time.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) • [10](https://d23.com/a-to-z/beauty-and-the-beast-film/) Also in 1991, Pixar and Disney agreed to co-produce *Toy Story*, the first fully computer-generated feature film, released in 1995.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
## Notable releases and milestones
Several 1991 releases marked firsts in American cinema. Julie Dash's *Daughters of the Dust* was the first independent film produced, written, and directed by an African-American woman to receive wide general distribution in the United States, and in 2004 it became the first film by an African-American woman added to the National Film Registry.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) *Thelma & Louise*, directed by Ridley Scott from Callie Khouri's debut script, was described as the first feminist-buddy road film with two female outlaw heroines, and it launched Brad Pitt as a new star.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) *Boyz n the Hood* was culturally significant as the first mainstream movie to deal with gang violence in America's urban ghettos.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
Oliver Stone's three-hour *JFK*, starring Kevin Costner as New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, provoked demands that records related to the Kennedy assassination be opened; Congress responded with the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, under which about five million pages were eventually released.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) Stanley Kubrick's *Spartacus* (1960) was reissued in a 70mm version with its cut bathing-seduction scene restored, with Anthony Hopkins dubbing the late Laurence Olivier's voice.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html) The cable channel Comedy Central launched on April 1, 1991.[5](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
## Critical reception
Contemporary critics judged the year harshly. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the 10-best task was tougher than usual because of a painful dearth of quality films, and reduced his list to nine selections.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-22-ca-1261-story.html) A Washington Post poll of 81 critics across the country found the most splintered voting in that poll's 12-year history: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named *Bugsy* Best Film, the New York Film Critics Circle chose *The Silence of the Lambs*, and the National Society of Film Critics picked Mike Leigh's *Life Is Sweet*, with Best Picture votes spread across 25 candidates.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1992/01/12/and-the-winner-is/1fa1a16b-3410-4528-a530-a61cf56ac11e/) The critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, writing in the Chicago Reader, concluded that the big studio releases of 1991 added up to a year without enduring masterpieces, while praising independent and international work including *My Own Private Idaho*, *Chameleon Street*, Jane Campion's *An Angel at My Table*, Zhang Yimou's *Ju Dou*, and the restoration of Jean Vigo's *L'Atalante*.[13](https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/12/1991-in-movies/)
## References
1. [Retrospective 1991 Awards, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1991/awards/)
2. [How 1991 nearly broke Hollywood, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-1991-nearly-broke-hollywood/)
3. [Domestic Box Office For 1991, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1991/)
4. [1991 Worldwide Box Office, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1991/)
5. [Film History Milestones - 1991, Filmsite](https://www.filmsite.org/1991-filmhistory.html)
6. [The 63rd Academy Awards, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1991)
7. [All Time Highest Grossing Movies Worldwide, SBCC](https://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/xNON_ACTIVE_CLASSES/FILMST_101/20_FILM_BUISNESS/BoxOfficeReturns_films.pdf)
8. ["No Right or Wrong Way": Dennis Muren, ASC, American Society of Cinematographers](https://theasc.com/article/dennis-muren-asc/)
9. [Ever a Surprise: The History and the Magic Behind the Ballroom in Beauty and the Beast, D23](https://d23.com/ever-a-surprise-the-history-and-the-magic-behind-the-ballroom-in-beauty-and-the-beast/)
10. [Beauty and the Beast (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/beauty-and-the-beast-film/)
11. [The Top 9 in a Year That Came Up Short, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-22-ca-1261-story.html)
12. [And the Winner Is..., The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1992/01/12/and-the-winner-is/1fa1a16b-3410-4528-a530-a61cf56ac11e/)
13. [1991 in Movies, Jonathan Rosenbaum](https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/12/1991-in-movies/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Box office records and number-one lists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license