1994

Academy winner Forrest Gump poster

Forrest Gump

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Should have won The Shawshank Redemption poster

The Shawshank Redemption

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The Academy's ballot

🏆Forrest Gump#386.81 🎬The Shawshank Redemption#191.1 🎬Pulp Fiction#286.86 🎬Quiz Show#1671.96 🎬Four Weddings and a Funeral#2069.22

Your #1 was The Shawshank Redemption (#1).

The full slate

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Frank Darabont · Tim Robbins · Morgan Freeman · Bob Gunton · William Sadler

IMDb 9.3 (3,197,822 votes) · TMDB 8.723

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

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Pulp Fiction (1994)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Quentin Tarantino · John Travolta · Samuel L. Jackson · Uma Thurman · Bruce Willis

IMDb 8.8 (2,441,058 votes) · TMDB 8.483

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

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Forrest Gump (1994)

🏆 Winner⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great💰 Box office #2

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Dir. Robert Zemeckis · Tom Hanks · Robin Wright · Gary Sinise · Sally Field

IMDb 8.8 (2,503,343 votes) · TMDB 8.465

A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.

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Léon: The Professional (1994)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Luc Besson · Jean Reno · Natalie Portman · Gary Oldman · Danny Aiello

IMDb 8.5 (1,353,915 votes) · TMDB 8.294

Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.

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The Lion King (1994)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great💰 Box office #1

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Dir. Roger Allers · Matthew Broderick · Moira Kelly · Jeremy Irons · Nathan Lane

IMDb 8.5 (1,262,673 votes) · TMDB 8.254

Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.

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Three Colors: Red (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski · Irène Jacob · Jean-Louis Trintignant · Frédérique Feder · Jean-Pierre Lorit

IMDb 8.1 (115,998 votes) · TMDB 7.9

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

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Chungking Express (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Wong Kar-Wai · Brigitte Lin · Takeshi Kaneshiro · Tony Leung Chiu-wai · Faye Wong

IMDb 7.9 (111,829 votes) · TMDB 7.972

Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.

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Ed Wood (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Tim Burton · Johnny Depp · Martin Landau · Sarah Jessica Parker · Patricia Arquette

IMDb 7.8 (190,312 votes) · TMDB 7.482

The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.

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Clerks (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Kevin Smith · Brian O'Halloran · Jeff Anderson · Marilyn Ghigliotti · Lisa Spoonauer

IMDb 7.7 (240,793 votes) · TMDB 7.371

Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.

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#10

The Crow (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Alex Proyas · Brandon Lee · Rochelle Davis · Ernie Hudson · Michael Wincott

IMDb 7.5 (231,705 votes) · TMDB 7.525

Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven, watched over by a hypnotic crow, returns from the grave to exact revenge.

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#11

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #9

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Dir. Neil Jordan · Tom Cruise · Brad Pitt · Antonio Banderas · Christian Slater

IMDb 7.5 (377,716 votes) · TMDB 7.391

A vampire relates his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness, and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter.

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#12

Legends of the Fall (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Edward Zwick · Brad Pitt · Anthony Hopkins · Aidan Quinn · Julia Ormond

IMDb 7.5 (200,323 votes) · TMDB 7.391

In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.

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#13

Three Colors: White (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski · Zbigniew Zamachowski · Julie Delpy · Janusz Gajos · Jerzy Stuhr

IMDb 7.6 (84,668 votes) · TMDB 7.4

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

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#14

Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Rajkumar Santoshi · Aamir Khan · Salman Khan · Raveena Tandon · Karisma Kapoor

IMDb 8.0 (57,992 votes) · TMDB 6.789

Two slackers competing for the affections of an heiress inadvertently become her protectors from an evil criminal.

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#15

Speed (1994)

💰 Box office #5

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Dir. Jan de Bont · Keanu Reeves · Dennis Hopper · Sandra Bullock · Joe Morton

IMDb 7.3 (423,391 votes) · TMDB 7.156

Tensions run high when a crazed bomber rigs a Los Angeles bus with a device that will kill everyone on board if the vehicle's speed dips below fifty miles per hour.

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#16

Quiz Show (1994)

🎬 Nominee

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Dir. Robert Redford · John Turturro · Rob Morrow · Ralph Fiennes · Paul Scofield

IMDb 7.5 (77,917 votes) · TMDB 7.254

Herbert Stempel's transformation into an unexpected television personality unfolds as he secures victory on the cherished American game show, 'Twenty-One.' However, when the show introduces the highly skilled contestant Charles Van Doren to replace Stempel, it compels Stempel to let out his frustrations and call out the show as rigged. Lawyer Richard Goodwin steps in and attempts to uncover the orchestrated deception behind the scenes.

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#17

True Lies (1994)

💰 Box office #3

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Dir. James Cameron · Arnold Schwarzenegger · Jamie Lee Curtis · Tom Arnold · Bill Paxton

IMDb 7.3 (301,203 votes) · TMDB 7.096

A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.

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#18

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #7

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Dir. Peter Farrelly · Jim Carrey · Jeff Daniels · Lauren Holly · Teri Garr

IMDb 7.3 (443,979 votes) · TMDB 6.658

Lloyd and Harry are two men whose stupidity is really indescribable. When Mary, a beautiful woman, loses an important suitcase with money before she leaves for Aspen, the two friends (who have found the suitcase) decide to return it to her. After some "adventures" they finally get to Aspen where, using the lost money they live it up and fight for Mary's heart.

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#19

The Mask (1994)

💰 Box office #4

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Dir. Chuck Russell · Jim Carrey · Peter Riegert · Peter Greene · Amy Yasbeck

IMDb 7.0 (472,083 votes) · TMDB 6.991

Timid bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss discovers a magical mask infused with the spirit of the Norse god Loki. Donning it transforms him into an unrestrained, green-faced, cartoon-like wild man. While the mask grants him the confidence to woo a local singer, it also makes him the target of a ruthless mobster.

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#20

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

🎬 Nominee💰 Box office #8

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Dir. Mike Newell · Hugh Grant · Andie MacDowell · Kristin Scott Thomas · Simon Callow

IMDb 7.1 (182,588 votes) · TMDB 6.776

Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.

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#21

Clear and Present Danger (1994)

💰 Box office #10

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Dir. Phillip Noyce · Harrison Ford · Willem Dafoe · Joaquim de Almeida · Henry Czerny

IMDb 6.9 (116,810 votes) · TMDB 6.642

Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.

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#22

The Flintstones (1994)

💰 Box office #6

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Dir. Brian Levant · John Goodman · Elizabeth Perkins · Rick Moranis · Rosie O'Donnell

IMDb 5.1 (92,354 votes) · TMDB 5.375

Modern Stone Age family the Flintstones hit the big screen in this live-action version of the classic cartoon. Fred helps Barney adopt a child. Barney sees an opportunity to repay him when Slate Mining tests its employees to find a new executive. But no good deed goes unpunished.

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How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.