1990 in film

The year 1990 in film involved many significant events as shown below. Universal Pictures celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1990, despite its actual 75th anniversary taking place in 1987.

Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 1990 by worldwide gross are as follows:

Events

 * March 2 - The Hunt for Red October is released. It is the first film in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan franchise and is met with critical and blockbuster commercial success.
 * March 23 – Pretty Woman is released and grosses $463 million, making Julia Roberts a worldwide star.
 * March 30 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is released to massive box office success. At the time, it is the highest-grossing independent film in history.
 * May 25 – Universal Pictures unveils a new opening logo with music composed by James Horner, which debuts on Back to the Future Part III. It is the first change to the Universal opening logo in 27 years.
 * June 1 – CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall.
 * June 15 – Following a massive media and marketing blitz, Dick Tracy is released. Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg expressed disappointment in a studio memo that noted that the film had cost about $100 million in total to produce, market and promote and with its disappointing performance claimed "We made demands on our time, talent and treasury that, upon reflection, may not have been worth it".
 * June 22 – The use of real-time computer graphics or "digital puppetry" to create a character in a motion picture is performed, in RoboCop 2.
 * July 4 – The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2.
 * July 13 - Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, is released and grosses $506 million, making it the third highest-grossing movie at the time.
 * November 9 – Kevin Costner's directorial debut, Dances with Wolves, is released. It later earns twelve Academy Award nominations and wins seven, including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner.
 * November 16
 * Home Alone is released. It spends twelve consecutive weeks at number one on the United States box office, becoming both the highest-grossing film of the year and the highest-grossing comedy of all-time.
 * The Rescuers Down Under is considered as the first fully digital film ever made.
 * December 24 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman marry.
 * Buchwald v. Paramount decided, a leading case on the financial rewards due to writers of film treatments.

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1990
 * List of Argentine films of 1990
 * List of Australian films of 1990
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1990
 * List of British films of 1990
 * List of Canadian films of 1990
 * List of French films of 1990
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1990
 * List of Indian films of 1990
 * List of Hindi films of 1990
 * List of Kannada films of 1990
 * List of Malayalam films of 1990
 * List of Marathi films of 1990
 * List of Tamil films of 1990
 * List of Telugu films of 1990
 * List of Japanese films of 1990
 * List of Mexican films of 1990
 * List of Pakistani films of 1990
 * List of Soviet films of 1990
 * List of South Korean films of 1990
 * List of Spanish films of 1990

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1990
 * List of animated feature films of 1990
 * List of avant-garde films of 1990
 * List of crime films of 1990
 * List of comedy films of 1990
 * List of drama films of 1990
 * List of horror films of 1990
 * List of science fiction films of 1990
 * List of thriller films of 1990
 * List of western films of 1990

Births

 * January 1 - Tom Ackerley, British producer and former assistant director
 * January 7 – Liam Aiken, American actor
 * January 13 – Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor
 * January 14 - Grant Gustin, American actor and singer
 * January 15 - Chris Warren, American actor
 * January 18 - Zeeko Zaki, Egyptian-born American actor
 * January 19 - Shaunette Renée Wilson, Guyanese-born American actress
 * January 21 - Jacob Smith, American actor
 * January 23 - Joel Basman, Swiss actor
 * January 25 - Dustin Ingram, American actor and musician
 * January 26 – Christopher Massey, American actor, comedian and rapper
 * January 29 – François Civil, French actor
 * January 30
 * Eiza González, Mexican actress and singer
 * Jake Thomas, American actor and voice actor
 * February 1 - Toby Onwumere, Nigerian-American actor
 * February 2 - Julia Fox, Italian-American actress
 * February 4 - Will Denton, American actor
 * February 5
 * Charlbi Dean, South African actress and model (died 2022)
 * Anthony Ingruber, Dutch-Australian actor and impressionist
 * February 8 - Christian Madsen, American actor
 * February 9 - Tyson Houseman, Canadian actor
 * February 15 - Callum Turner, British actor and model
 * February 16 - The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter
 * February 21 – Flavio Aquilone, Italian voice actor
 * February 28 - Georgina Leonidas, British actress
 * March 1 – Harry Eden, British actor
 * March 2 - Tiger Shroff, Indian actor
 * March 11 - Reiley McClendon, American actor
 * March 12 – Jörgen Liik, Estonian actor
 * March 24 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
 * March 25 - Kiowa Gordon, American actor of Hualapai descent
 * March 26 - Choi Woo-shik, Korean-Canadian actor
 * March 28 – Laura Harrier, American actress
 * March 29 - Josh Blaylock, American actor
 * March 30 - Chelsea Harris, American actress
 * April 5 - Haruma Miura, Japanese actor (died 2020)
 * April 9 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
 * April 10 – Alex Pettyfer, English actor, model
 * April 15 – Emma Watson, English actress
 * April 16 – Lorraine Nicholson, American actress
 * April 17 – Gia Mantegna, American actress
 * April 18 - Britt Robertson, American actress
 * April 23 – Dev Patel, British actor
 * April 25 - Meghann Fahy, American actress
 * May 1 - Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress and singer
 * May 2 - Kay Panabaker, American retired actress
 * May 3 - Harvey Guillén, American actor
 * May 6 - Moses Storm, American writer, actor and comedian
 * May 14
 * Rea Lest-Liik, Estonia actress
 * Sasha Spielberg, American actress, daughter of producer/director Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw
 * May 15 - Sophie Cookson, English actress
 * May 16
 * Deniz Akdeniz, Australian actor
 * Thomas Brodie-Sangster, British actor
 * Marc John Jefferies, American actor
 * May 17
 * Ross Butler, American actor
 * Leven Rambin, American actress
 * May 18 - Luke Kleintank, American actor
 * May 20 - Josh O'Connor, British actor
 * May 27 - Chris Colfer, American actor and singer
 * May 30
 * Im Yoon-ah, South Korean actress
 * Mason Lee, Taiwanese-American actor
 * May 31 - Phillipa Soo, American actress and singer
 * June 2 – Jack Lowden, British actor
 * June 13 - Aaron Taylor-Johnson, British actor
 * June 15 - Denzel Whitaker, American actor
 * June 17 - Monica Barbaro, American actress
 * June 18 - Jeremy Irvine, English actor
 * June 20 - Jacob Wysocki, American actor and comedian
 * July 2 – Margot Robbie, Australian actress
 * July 4
 * Melissa Barrera, Mexican actress and singer
 * David Kross, German actor
 * July 6 – Jeremy Suarez, American actor
 * July 12 – Rachel Brosnahan, American-British actress
 * July 15 - Olly Alexander, British musician, actor and screenwriter
 * July 16
 * Eddie Hassell, American actor (died 2020)
 * James Maslow, American actor
 * July 19 - Steven Anthony Lawrence, American actor
 * July 24 – Daveigh Chase, American actress
 * July 27 – Indiana Evans, Australian actress and singer-songwriter
 * July 29 – Matt Prokop, American actor
 * July 31 - Ruby Modine, American actress, model and singer
 * August 1 - Jack O'Connell, English actor
 * August 4 - Chet Hanks, American actor and musician
 * August 9
 * Bill Skarsgård, Swedish actor
 * Emily Tennant, Canadian actress
 * August 10 – Lucas Till, American actor
 * August 15 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress
 * August 17 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
 * August 20 - Win Morisaki, Burmese singer and actor
 * August 23 – Wesley Singerman, American record producer, songwriter and guitarist, and voice actor
 * August 24 – Elizabeth Debicki, Australian actress
 * August 29
 * Nicole Gale Anderson, American actress
 * Erika Harlacher, American voice actress
 * September 1 - Aisling Loftus, English actress
 * September 3 - Bianca Bin, Brazilian actress
 * September 9 – Klaudia Tiitsmaa, Estonian actress
 * September 11 - Georgina Terry, British actress
 * September 15 – Matt Shively, American actor
 * September 20 – Saara Pius, Estonian actress
 * September 21
 * Christian Serratos, American actress
 * Allison Scagliotti, American actress and director
 * September 28 - Kirsten Prout, Canadian actress
 * October 5
 * Wesley Morgan, Canadian actor and model
 * Taylour Paige, American actress and dancer
 * October 6 - Scarlett Byrne, English actress and model
 * October 8 - Tom Rhys Harries, Welsh actor
 * October 13
 * Florian Munteanu, German-Romanian actor and model
 * Himesh Patel, British actor
 * October 18 - Carly Schroeder, American actress
 * October 22 – Jonathan Lipnicki, American actor
 * October 31 - Patti Harrison, American actress and comedian
 * November 2 – Kendall Schmidt, American actor
 * November 4 – Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Canadian actor
 * November 6 - Bowen Yang, Australian-born American actor, comedian and writer
 * November 9 – Chris Di Staulo, Canadian filmmaker
 * November 14 - Jessica Jacobs, Australian actress and singer (died 2008)
 * November 16 - Milo Gibson, American actor
 * November 24 - Sarah Hyland, American actress
 * November 26 - Rita Ora, British actress, singer and songwriter
 * November 28 - Carla Diaz, Brazilian actress
 * November 29 - Diego Boneta, Mexican actor, producer and singer
 * December 20 – JoJo, American singer-songwriter and actress
 * December 23
 * Moses J. Moseley, American actor, writer and model (died 2022)
 * Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress and singer