1,875 films on the site were released in 1991, and 108 have enough critic or audience ratings to be ranked. Beauty and the Beast tops the list, ahead of The Double Life of Veronique and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The biggest hit was Terminator 2: Judgment Day with $517.8M worldwide, and The Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture at the 1992 Oscars.
Beauty and the Beast is the best-rated film of 1991, with a rank value of 91/100 from critics and audiences, ahead of The Double Life of Veronique (84/100). Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
#1 of 108 Best-rated film of 1991
1991 Fantasy Romance Animation 1h 24m English
95 Metascore $451.3M worldwide
Directed by Gary Trousdale
Beauty and the Beast earned $451.3M worldwide; the year's biggest hit, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, earned $517.8M.
About Beauty and the BeastThe Double Life of Veronique and Terminator 2: Judgment Day follow Beauty and the Beast. Drama is the most common genre in the top 25 (19 films). Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
1991 · Drama, Mystery · 1h 38m
Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski No Echo Score: ranked 84/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Action, Sci-Fi · 2h 17m
Dir. James Cameron No Echo Score: ranked 83/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Thriller, Crime · 1h 58m
Dir. Jonathan Demme No Echo Score: ranked 82/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 43m
Dir. Mike Leigh No Echo Score: ranked 82/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Thriller · 2h 10m
Dir. Ridley Scott No Echo Score: ranked 81/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Documentary · 1h 11m
Dir. Jennie Livingston No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Crime · 1h 52m
Dir. John Singleton No Echo Score: ranked 78/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Biography, Drama · 3h 9m
Dir. Oliver Stone No Echo Score: ranked 77/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Romance · 1h 44m
Dir. Gus Van Sant No Echo Score: ranked 76/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Biography, Drama · 2h 16m
Dir. Barry Levinson No Echo Score: ranked 75/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, History · 1h 52m
Dir. Agnieszka Holland No Echo Score: ranked 75/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Romance · 1h 52m
Dir. Julie Dash No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Thriller · 1h 56m
Dir. Ethan Coen No Echo Score: ranked 74/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Thriller, Horror · 2h 8m
Dir. Martin Scorsese No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 47m
Dir. Hal Hartley No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 2h 9m
Dir. Jim Jarmusch No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 40m
No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Romance · 1h 39m
Dir. Robert Mulligan No Echo Score: ranked 73/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 1h 58m
Dir. Alan Parker No Echo Score: ranked 72/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Fantasy · 1h 46m
Dir. Anthony Minghella No Echo Score: ranked 72/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Comedy · 2h 17m
No Echo Score: ranked 72/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Action, Adventure · 1h 53m
Dir. Nicholas Meyer No Echo Score: ranked 72/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Action, Drama · 1h 35m
No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
1991 · Drama, Romance · 2h 12m
Dir. Spike Lee No Echo Score: ranked 70/100 on critics & audiences
Terminator 2: Judgment Day earned $517.8M worldwide, ahead of Beauty and the Beast ($451.3M). The top 10 took $2.9B together; 262 films released in 1991 have a box office record here. Grosses that look like data errors are left out.
#1 $517.8M worldwide Terminator 2: Judgment Day $205.9M domestic · Action #2 $451.3M worldwide Beauty and the Beast $219M domestic · Fantasy 
#3 $390.5M worldwide Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves $165.5M domestic · Action 
#4 $300.9M worldwide Hook $119.7M domestic · Adventure #5 $272.7M worldwide The Silence of the Lambs $130.7M domestic · Thriller #6 $205.4M worldwide JFK $70.4M domestic · Biography 
#7 $191.5M worldwide The Addams Family $113.5M domestic · Fantasy #8 $182.3M worldwide Cape Fear $79.1M domestic · Thriller 
#9 $181.1M worldwide Hot Shots! $69.5M domestic · Action 
#10 $179M worldwide City Slickers $124M domestic · Comedy Terminator 2: Judgment Day leads with 11 wins from 16 nominations, then The Silence of the Lambs with 9 wins. The Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture at the 1992 Oscars. In all, 38 films released in 1991 have award nominations on the site, with 57 wins between them.
The highest-ranked 1991 film of 12 genres, from Fantasy (Beauty and the Beast) to Music (The Commitments). Each film appears once, under its first genre that is still free.
Beauty and the Beast 95 Metascore The Double Life of Veronique 86 Metascore Terminator 2: Judgment Day 75 Metascore The Silence of the Lambs 86 Metascore Life Is Sweet 88 Metascore Thelma & Louise 89 Metascore Paris Is Burning 82 Metascore JFK 72 Metascore My Own Private Idaho 77 Metascore Europa Europa 75 Metascore Cape Fear 73 Metascore The Commitments 73 Metascore September was the busiest month of 1991 with 172 releases; its best-rated film is The Commitments. January shows 378 because films whose exact release day is unknown are stored on January 1.
55% of 1991's films with a known language are in English (1,031). Japanese comes next with 116 films, out of 52 languages in all.
A best-of page for each of 55 years, from 1900 to 2026 (so far). Before 1980 there is one page per decade, for its first year (1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970); from 1980 every year has its own.
Quick answers about 1991's best-rated films, biggest hits and awards, from the lists above.
Beauty and the Beast is the best-rated film of 1991 on What's After the Movie, with a rank value of 91/100 from critics and audiences. The Double Life of Veronique is second and Terminator 2: Judgment Day third. Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases).
About Beauty and the BeastTerminator 2: Judgment Day earned $517.8M worldwide, the most of any 1991 release on the site. Beauty and the Beast follows with $451.3M.
1991 box officeThe Silence of the Lambs (1991) won Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards.
The Silence of the LambsTerminator 2: Judgment Day has the best award record of the 1991 releases on the site: 11 wins from 16 nominations.
1992 awards seasonThe site lists 1,875 films released in 1991. 108 of them are ranked, and September had the most releases with a known day (172).
Ranked by a blend of Metascore and IMDb/Letterboxd user ratings (Echo Scores start with 2017 releases). Only feature films count (60 minutes or longer, no concert recordings), and a film needs enough ratings, box office or award attention to be ranked.
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