Events

• Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. (Basinger would lose the town to her partner in the deal, the pension fund of Chicago-based Ameritech Corp., in 1993 after being forced to file for bankruptcy when a California judge ordered her to pay $7.4 million for refusing to honor a verbal contract to star in the movie Boxing Helena.) '
• September - Columbia Pictures and Tri-Star Pictures are sold to Sony
• The James Bond film Licence to Kill is released. Unknown to anyone at the time, its release would be followed by years of legal wrangling over the future of the popular film series. The next Bond film, GoldenEye, will not be released until 1995. While still considered parts of the same series, Licence to Kill is considered the last of the "old-style" Bond films as produced since 1962.
• Screen and stage legend Sir Laurence Olivier appeared in his last filmed role before his death in 1989 as an old soldier in War Requiem

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy - Majestic Films International, Zanuck Company., Warner Bros.

Best Director: Oliver Stone - Born on the Fourth of July

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot

Best Actress: Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy

Best Supporting Actor: Denzel Washington - Glory

Best Supporting Actress: Brenda Fricker - My Left Foot

Best Foreign Language Film: Nuovo cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy

Best Art Direction/Set Decoration: Anton Furst and Peter Young - Batman

Drama:

Best Picture: Born on the Fourth of July

Best Actor: Tom Cruise - Born on the Fourth of July

Best Actress: Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy

Best Actor: Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy

Best Actress: Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy

Other

Best Director: Oliver Stone, Born on the Fourth of July

Best Foreign Language Film: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso), Italy

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Sex, lies, and videotape, directed by Steven Soderbergh, United States

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

A City of Sadness (Beiqing chengshi), directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, China

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Rain Man, directed by Barry Levinson, United States

Films released in 1989

• 84 Charlie Mopic
• The Abyss, starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn
• All Dogs Go To Heaven
• Always, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman
• Apartment Zero, directed by Martin Donovan - Golden Space Needle award
• Babar: The Movie
• Back to the Future Part II, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd; the second sequel of Back to the Future trilogy
• Batman, starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger
• Bert Rigby, You're a Fool
• Best of the Best
• Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter
• Black Rain, starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia and Kate Capshaw
• Born on the Fourth of July - Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Drama), directed by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Cruise
• The 'Burbs, starring Tom Hanks
• Buy and Cell
• Cameron's Closet
• Camille Claudel, starring Isabelle Adjani
• Casualties of War, starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn
• Chances Are, starring Cybill Shepherd and Robert Downey, Jr.
• Checking Out
• C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.
• Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) - Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• A City of Sadness (Beiqing chengshi) - Golden Lion award
• Cohen & Tate
• Cold Feet
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
• Cousins, starring Ted Danson, Isabella Rosselini, Sean Young and William Petersen
• Crimes and Misdemeanors, directed by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Martin Landau
• Criminal Law
• Crusoe
• Cyborg
• The Dawning
• Dead Bang, starring Don Johnson
• Dead Calm, starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane
• Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams
• Deepstar Six
• Dream a Little Dream, starring Corey Feldman, Corey Haim and Meredith Salenger
• Dimenticare Palermo
• Disorganized Crime
• Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, starring Lee and Danny Aiello
• The Dream Team
• The Dressmaker
• Driving Miss Daisy - Academy and Golden Globe (com./mus.) Awards for Best Picture, starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd
• Drugstore Cowboy
• Edge of Sanity
• Enemies, a Love Story
• The Experts
• Farewell to the King
• Fat Man and Little Boy, starring Paul Newman and Dwight Schultz
• Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner
• Fletch Lives, starring Chevy Chase
• The Fly II
• For Queen and Country
• Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
• Getting It Right
• Ghostbusters II, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Peter MacNicol
• Gleaming the Cube
• Glory, starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington
• Godzilla vs. Biollante
• Great Balls of Fire!, starring Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder and Alec Baldwin
• Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
• Hard Times
• Heart of Midnight
• Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater
• Henry V, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh
• Her Alibi, starring Tom Selleck and Paulina Porizkova
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, starring Rick Moranis
• Horror Show
• How I Got Into College
• How to Get Ahead in Advertising
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford and Sean Connery
• Jacknife
• The January Man
• Jesus of Montreal
• K-9, starring James Belushi
• The Karate Kid, Part III, starring Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita
• Kickboxer
• Kiki's Delivery Service (orig. release in Japan)
• Killing Dad
• Lauderdale
• Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman
• Leningrad Cowboys Go America, directed by Aki Kaurismäki, starring Leningrad Cowboys
• Lethal Weapon 2, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover
• Licence to Kill, from the James Bond series
• Listen to Me
• The Little Mermaid
• Look Who's Talking, starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley
• Major League, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen and Corbin Bernsen
• Meet the Feebles
• Meet the Hollowheads
• Miss Firecracker
• Music Box - Golden Bear award (for 1990), starring Jessica Lange
• My 20th Century
• My Left Foot, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker
• My Mom's A Werewolf
• Mystery Train
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo
• New York Stories (three short films:)
• Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Richard Price
• Life Without Zoe, directed and written by Francis Ford Coppola, co-written by Sofia Coppola
• Oedipus Wrecks, directed and written by Woody Allen.
• Night Game
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
• No Holds Barred
• Nowhere to Run
• Parenthood, directed by Ron Howard, starring Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Dianne Wiest, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton and Keanu Reeves
• Pet Sematary
• Penn & Teller Get Killed
• Prom Night III: The Last Kiss
• The Punisher
• Return To Paradise
• Roger & Me
• Rosalie Goes Shopping
• ''Say Anything..., starring John Cusack and Ione Skye
• Sex, lies, and videotape - Palme d'Or award, starring James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo
• She's Out of Control
• Signs of Life
• Skin Deep
• Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
• Society
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Steel Magnolias, starring Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine and Daryl Hannah
• Teen Witch
• Three Fugitives
• The Toxic Avenger Part II
• The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie
• Triumph of the Spirit
• Tropical Snow
• True Love - won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
• Turner & Hooch, starring Tom Hanks
• UHF, starring "Weird Al" Yankovic
• Uncle Buck, starring John Candy and Amy Madigan
• War Requiem, starring Sir Laurence Olivier in his final role.
• The War of the Roses, starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito
• Weekend at Bernie's, starring Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman
• When Harry Met Sally..., starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan
• White Hot aka Crack in the Mirror
• The Wizard, starring Fred Savage

Births

• January 3 - Alex D. Linz, actor
• February 5 - Jessica Sumpter, actress
• February 5 - Jeremy Sumpter, actor
• February 13 - Carly McKillip, actress, singer
• February 16 - Elizabeth Olsen, actress
• March 5 - Jake Lloyd, actor
• March 11 - Anton Yelchin, Russian actor
• March 15 - Caitlin Wachs, American actress
• April 18 - Alia Shawkat, American actress
• April 20 - Alex Black, American actor
• June 27 - Matthew Lewis, British actor
• July 14 - Javier Zamora,
• July 23 - Daniel Radcliffe, actor
• August 21 - Hayden Panettiere, American actress
• September 15 - Connor Sisson, Canadian actor, and director
• November 4 - Jimmy Corrado, American actor
• December 12 - Harry Eden, British actor

Deaths

• January 20 - Beatrice Lillie, actress
• February 3 - Lionel Newman, composer
• February 3 - John Cassavetes, actor, director
• February 11 - George O'Hanlon, actor/director
• February 17 - Marguerite Roberts, writer
• March 27 - May Allison, actress
• April 26 - Lucille Ball, film and television actress
• April 30 - Sergio Leone, Italian Western director
• May 20 - Gilda Radner, actress
• June 27 - Jack Buetel, actor
• June 28 - Joris Ivens, filmmaker
• July 3 - Jim Backus, actor
• July 10 - Mel Blanc, voice actor
• July 11 - Lord Laurence Olivier, Legendary English stage and screen actor
• August 16 - Amanda Blake, actress
• October 4 - Graham Chapman, comedian
• October 6 - Bette Davis, actress
• October 16 - Cornel Wilde, actor
• October 20 - Anthony Quayle, actor
• November 20 - Lynn Bari, actress
• December 16 - Aileen Pringle, actress
• December 16 - Silvana Mangano, actress
• December 16 - Lee Van Cleef, actor
• December 26 - Clare Johannah murphy, actress/musician