to drive home the point a little more of how awesome the 1980s are for movies, here are the top 10 at the box office for each year of the 1980s - not that the 10 that made the most money were the best, but just as something to reference.
1980
Empire Strikes Back, 9 to 5, Stir Crazy, Airplane!, Any Which Way You Can, Private Benjamin, Coal Miner's Daughter, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Blue Lagoon (I know what you're thinking about right now), The Blues Brothers
1981
Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, Superman II, Arthur, Stripes, The Cannonball Run, Chariots of Fire, For Your Eyes Only, the Four Seasons, Time Bandits
1982
E.T., Tootsie, An Officer and a Gentleman, Rocky III, Porky's, Wrath of Khan, 48 Hours, Poltergeist, The Best Little *****house in Texas, Annie
1983
Return of the Jedi, Terms of Endearment, Flashdance, Trading Places, WarGames, Octo*****, Sudden Impact (Clint Eastwood, not the 1995 Van Damme Oscar snub), Staying Alive, Mr. Mom, Risky Business.
1984
Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Police Academy, Footloose, Romancing the Stone, the Search for Spock, Splash.
1984 - arguably the best year of the 80s, as you also had Purple Rain, Amadeus, The Natural, Revenge of the Nerds, Bachelor Party, Red Dawn, The Terminator, Conan the Destroyer, Dune, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Woman in Red, Sixteen Candles, Top Secret, The Neverending Story, and of course, Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo
1985
Back to the Future, Rambo Part II, Rocky IV, The Color Purple, Out of Africa, Cocoon, The Jewel of the NIle, WItness, The Goonies, Spies like Us
1986
Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, Platoon, Karate Kid II, Star Trek IV, Back to School, Aliens, The Golden Child, Ruthless People, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1987
Three Men in a Baby, Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop II, Good Morning, VIetnam, Moonstruck, THe Untouchables, The Secret of My Success, Stakeout, Lethal Weapon, The Witches of Eastwick (Predator shamefully outside the top 10 at #12; ditto Robocop at #16)
1988
Rain Man, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coming to America, Big, Twins, Crocodile Dundee II, Die Hard, The Naked Gun, Cocktail, Beetlejuice (a Fish called Wanda 12th, Scrooged 13th, Bull Durham 18th, Young GUns 22nd). What kind of society were we living in that in 1988 Bull Durham made only $1.5 million more at the box office than NIghtmare on Elm Street 4?
1989
Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Look Who's Talking, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Back to the Future II, Ghostbusters II, Driving Miss Daisy, Parenthood, Dead Poets Society (When Harry Met Sally 11th, The Little Mermaid 13th, Christmas Vacation 15th, Uncle Buck 18th, Field of Dreams 19th, The Abyss 24th, Major League 26th, BIll & Ted 32nd, Weekend at Bernie's 39th, Road House 40th)
