1988 in film

The following is an overview of events in 1988 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 1988 by worldwide gross are as follows:

Events

 * May 25 – Rambo III is released as the most expensive film ever made with a production budget between $58 and $63 million. The film fails to match the box office earnings from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
 * July 15 – Die Hard defies low commercial expectations to gross $141.5 million worldwide. Hailed as an influential landmark in the action film genre, it influences a common formula for many action films in the 1990s, featuring a lone everyman against a colorful terrorist character who is usually holding hostages in an isolated setting.
 * September 19 – English character actor Roy Kinnear suffers a fall from a horse which will prove fatal while filming The Return of the Musketeers in Toledo, Spain.
 * October 10 – Batman officially commences filming at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.
 * October 27 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is released on VHS and laserdisc; to combat piracy, the tapeguards and tape hubs on the videocassettes are colored green, and the tape itself is affixed with a small, holographic sticker of the 1963 Universal logo (much like the holograms on a credit card), and encoded with Macrovision. In North America alone, VHS sales come to $75million.
 * December 16 – Rain Man is released to critical and commercial success and becomes the highest grossing film of 1988 worldwide with a gross of $355 million. Winning four Academy Awards including Best Picture, it is the last MGM title to be nominated for Best Picture until Licorice Pizza (2021) 33 years later.

Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival)
 * Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle erobreren), directed by Bille August, Denmark

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)
 * La leggenda del santo bevitore (The Legend of the Holy Drinker), directed by Ermanno Olmi, Italy / France

Golden Bear (Berlin International Film Festival)
 * Red Sorghum (Hong gao liang), directed by Zhang Yimou, China

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1988
 * List of Argentine films of 1988
 * List of Australian films of 1988
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1988
 * List of British films of 1988
 * List of Canadian films of 1988
 * List of French films of 1988
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1988
 * List of Indian films of 1988
 * List of Hindi films of 1988
 * List of Kannada films of 1988
 * List of Malayalam films of 1988
 * List of Marathi films of 1988
 * List of Tamil films of 1988
 * List of Telugu films of 1988
 * List of Japanese films of 1988
 * List of Mexican films of 1988
 * List of Pakistani films of 1988
 * List of South Korean films of 1988
 * List of Soviet films of 1988
 * List of Spanish films of 1988

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1988
 * List of animated feature films of 1988
 * List of avant-garde films of 1988
 * List of comedy films of 1988
 * List of drama films of 1988
 * List of horror films of 1988
 * List of science fiction films of 1988
 * List of thriller films of 1988
 * List of western films of 1988

Births

 * January 3 - Karl Glusman, American actor
 * January 6 - Mehwish Hayat, Pakistani actress
 * January 7 – Haley Bennett, American actress and singer
 * January 12 – Andrew Lawrence, American actor
 * January 14 - Tom Rosenthal, English actor, comedian and writer
 * January 21 - John Early, American comedian and actor
 * February 2
 * Amadou Ly, Senegalese-born actor, writer and producer
 * Zosia Mamet, American actress and musician
 * February 6 – Anna Diop, Senegalese-born American actress
 * February 8 - Ryan Pinkston, American actor
 * February 11 - Jazz Raycole, American actress
 * February 12
 * Afshan Azad, British actress, model and media personality
 * Nana Eikura, Japanese actress
 * February 13
 * Ferdinand Kingsley, British actor
 * Erica Mendez, American voice actress
 * February 16 - Steven Caple Jr., American director, producer and screenwriter
 * February 17 – Nagita Slavina, Indonesian actress, television host, film producer, and singer
 * February 18 - Sarah Sutherland, Canadian-American actress
 * February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer, songwriter and actress
 * February 29
 * Reilly Dolman, Canadian actor
 * Langston Fishburne, American actor
 * March 4
 * Josh Bowman, English actor
 * Cody Longo, American actor (died 2023)
 * March 14 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player
 * March 21 - Kevin Guthrie, Scottish actor
 * March 22 - Tania Raymonde, American actress
 * March 24 - Finn Jones, English actor
 * March 25 - Erik Knudsen, Canadian actor
 * March 27 – Brenda Song, American actress, singer and model
 * March 27 – Holliday Grainger, English actress
 * April 2 - Jesse Plemons, American actor
 * April 3 - Ruby Bentall, English actress
 * April 4 - Maggie Geha, American actress and model
 * April 6 – Mike Bailey, English actor
 * April 10 – Haley Joel Osment, American actor
 * April 13
 * Allison Williams, American actress
 * Katie Lucas, American actress and writer
 * April 14
 * Ben Lloyd-Hughes, British actor
 * Chris Wood, American actor
 * April 18 – Allison Williams, American actress
 * April 18 – Vanessa Kirby, English actress
 * April 21 - Robbie Amell, Canadian actor and producer
 * April 23 – Carla Quevedo, Argentine actress
 * April 25
 * Jonathan Bailey, English actor
 * Sara Paxton, American singer and actress
 * April 27
 * Lizzo, American singer, actress, and flautist
 * Regé-Jean Page, British actor
 * April 30 – Ana de Armas, Cuban actress
 * May 1
 * Nicholas Braun, American actor
 * Anushka Sharma, Indian actress
 * May 2 - Laura Brent, Australian actress
 * May 7 - Brandon Jones, American actor, producer and musician
 * May 16 - Jermaine Fowler, American actor, comedian, producer and writer
 * May 17 – Nikki Reed, American actress and writer
 * June 2 – Awkwafina, American actress, comedian, writer, producer and rapper
 * June 4 – Li Man, Chinese actress
 * June 5 – Nuh Omar, Pakistani writer and director
 * June 7 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
 * June 9
 * Lauren Landa, American voice actress
 * Mae Whitman, American actress
 * June 13 - Cody Walker, American actor
 * June 14 - Dayo Okeniyi, Nigerian-American actor
 * June 16 - Jonny Weston, American actor
 * June 22 - Shefali Chowdhury, British actress
 * June 23
 * Pippa Bennett-Warner, British actress
 * Isabella Leong, Hong Kong singer, actress and model
 * June 25 - Daniel Webber, Australian actor
 * July 2 - Edward Randell, English musician and actor
 * July 7 - Jack Whitehall, English actor, comedian, presenter and writer
 * July 10 - Pavlo Lee, Ukrainian actor (died 2022)
 * July 12 – Christine Marie Cabanos, American voice actress
 * July 13 - Chris Sheffield, American actor
 * July 14 - Elise Gatien, Canadian actress
 * July 15 - Aimee Carrero, Dominican-born American actress
 * July 18 - Chen Tang, Chinese-American actor
 * July 19 – Cherami Leigh, American voice actress
 * July 20 - Julianne Hough, American dancer, actress, singer and songwriter
 * July 24 - Joe Pera, American comedian, writer and actor
 * July 25 - Mamoudou Athie, Mauritanian-American actor and producer
 * July 26 - Francia Raisa, American actress
 * July 30 - Nico Tortorella, American actor and model
 * July 31 - Charlie Carver, American actor
 * August 1 - Max Carver, American actor
 * August 16
 * Kevin Schmidt, American actor
 * Rumer Willis, American actress
 * August 17 - Joyner Lucas, American rapper and actor
 * August 24 – Rupert Grint, English actor
 * August 26
 * Evan Ross, American actor and musician
 * Danielle Savre, American actress
 * August 27 – Alexa PenaVega, American actress and singer
 * September 6 – Jovan Adepo, English actor
 * September 12
 * Matt Martians, American record producer
 * Clara Paget, British actress
 * September 17 - Ritu Arya, English actress
 * September 22 – Sana Saeed, Indian actress
 * September 26 - Lilly Singh, Canadian comedian, former talk show host and YouTuber
 * September 28
 * Olivia Jordan, American actress and model, Miss USA 2015
 * Hana Mae Lee, American actress, model and comedian
 * October 1 - Nick Whitaker, American actor
 * October 3 – Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress
 * October 4 – Melissa Benoist, American actress, singer and dancer
 * October 5 - Bobby Edner, American actor and singer
 * October 6 - Everlyn Sampi, Australian actress
 * October 17 - Dee Jay Daniels, American former actor
 * October 18 – Tessa Schram, Dutch actress and director
 * October 21
 * Glen Powell, American actor, writer and producer
 * Mark Rendall, Canadian actor
 * October 22
 * Corey Hawkins, American actor
 * Sharon Rooney, Scottish actress
 * October 23 - Ritesh Rajan, American actor
 * October 28 - Edd Gould, British animator, artist, writer, director and voice actor (died 2012)
 * October 29 – Devon Murray, Irish actor
 * November 6 – Emma Stone, American actress
 * November 9
 * Nikki Blonsky, American singer and actress
 * Alexandrea Owens-Sarno, American actress
 * Lio Tipton (credited as Analeigh Tipton up to 2021), American model and actress
 * November 17 - Justin Cooper, American producer and former child actor
 * November 20 - Demetrius Shipp Jr., American actor
 * November 22
 * Jamie Campbell Bower, English actor and singer
 * Reece Thompson, Canadian actor
 * November 26 - Tamsin Egerton, English actress
 * November 30 - Rebecca Rittenhouse, American actress
 * December 1
 * Nadia Hilker, German actress and model
 * Im Si-wan, Korean actor and singer
 * Zoe Kravitz, American actress
 * December 2 – Alfred Enoch, English actor
 * December 7
 * Emily Browning, Australian actress
 * Benjamin Clementine, British composer, musician and actor
 * December 14 – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress and singer
 * December 15 - Gregg Chillin, English actor and writer
 * December 16
 * Anna Popplewell, English actress
 * Park Seo-joon, South Korean actor
 * December 17 – Rin Takanashi, Japanese actress and model
 * December 21 - Shelley Regner, American actress and singer
 * December 27 - Hera Hilmar, Icelandic actress
 * unknown - Celine Song,Korean-Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter