Do you remember the most popular 90s movies? Or have you filed them away to be shelved forever in the decade of Game Boy, The Spice Girls, and scrunchies? Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that the ’90s had some pretty cool and very iconic movies—and they’re all reaching milestone ages.
The action/disaster movie Twister is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but it’s still used as a cautionary tale to this day. The team at FrontierBundles.com looked at the past year’s web search volume (5/18/20 – 5/18/21) for the 20 highest-grossing films from the 1990s and from that data, they determined which ’90s movies each state searched for the most.
To be honest, some of these results surprised us! No Titanic? No Jurassic Park? What do you think? Which of these movies should—and should not—have made the list?
5 Fascinating Facts about the Most Popular ’90s Movie in Every State
1. The Lion’s Share — THE LION KING
Hakuna Matata! The Lion King took the top prize as the most-searched 90s movie over the last year. During its original release, The Lion King earned $422.78M. If we adjusted that number for inflation, the original movie would’ve earned an estimated $727M. That’s the real “lion’s share!”
2. Scored Low — AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
Only a not-so-groovy 1-point score for the International Man of Mystery who scored more often than all 007s combined? No, baby, no! The big Badlands state North Dakota, and Alaska, were the only states to have the highest search results for their chosen movies: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Toy Story 2, respectively. Maybe it has something to do with population numbers? North Dakota is the 47th least populated state in the US (762,000) and Alaska is the 48th (732,000).
3.Spirit of New York — GHOST
This phantom-tastic romance/murder mystery starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore was filmed in Manhattan. That might be why it was New York’s most searched 1990s flick (that, or because of the infamous pottery love scene set to Unchained Melody—which has been parodied everywhere in pop culture from Glee to Family Guy).
4. Twisted Entertainment — TWISTER
Twister was the most-searched 90s movie in Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma… residents might have a special interest in the film’s subject matter since all three states are inside (or border) the Tornado Alley region. We’re not sure how many might have actually seen flying cows, but it was one of the coolest special effects going back then!
5. Banished to the Basement — OFFICE SPACE
How did 1999’s Office Space not make the list of the most popular 90s movies in every state? Maybe it wasn’t a top-grosser, but it was funny and it holds up better than a few of the films on this list. Any cubicle dweller, past or present, can sadly relate to Milton’s quest for a real office that’s not deep in the basement; the ‘PC load letter’ beatdown; and of course, the boss who blithely says, “If you could just go ahead and work on Saturday, that’d be great.”