Though it may seem hard to grasp for many moviegoers, 1995 is officially turning 30 years old in 2025. The year of TLC and The Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t just famous for delivering tunes and musicians we’re still talking about today. It was also a year containing countless major big-budget motion pictures that took the world by storm. Franchise fever had officially taken over Hollywood by this time, and that was reflected in the deluge of tentpoles dominating the box office.
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Still, it wasn’t just sequels dominating 1995’s blockbuster landscape. There were also original films and even historical dramas that got people excited to see what costly budgets could deliver. Not every one of these seven “classic” blockbusters from 1995 is a “masterpiece” or even something truly astonishing as pieces of cinema. However, they’re all “classics” in the sense that they encapsulated the 1995 zeitgeist and endure today through their own fan bases. You don’t stick around in pop culture for 30 years for no good reason.
Batman Forever
Joel Schumacher’s candy-colored and super campy Batman movies won’t be for everyone, especially when they involve Jim Carrey at his most Jim Carrey like 1995’s Batman Forever. 1995’s biggest live-action movie at the domestic box office by a considerable margin, Batman Forever has garnered a more positive modern reputation, possibly because of nostalgia from those who grew up with it as kids. Still, the feature’s bold production design and collection of talented actors hamming it up (including Tommy Lee Jones and Nicole Kidman) have also garnered it retrospective praise.
Apollo 13
One of 1995’s biggest award season titles was also a $52 million-budgeted summertime release with lots and lots of visual effects at its disposal. Apollo 13, a Tom Hanks star vehicle chronicling the real-life doomed NASA mission of the same name, debuted over 1995’s Fourth of July frame as an instant box office juggernaut. Decades later, it’s endured as a moving display of crowd-pleasing cinema, in large part due to some of the best performances in director Ron Howard’s filmography.
GoldenEye
With James Bond’s new domestic backers Amazon allegedly causing the franchise to go on hiatus, it’s a perfect time to remember the last time the 007 saga was on thin ice. After a six-year absence, audiences and critics everywhere wondered if this franchise was done for. Suddenly, GoldenEye brought the character roaring back to life with Pierce Brosnan in the lead role. GoldenEye was so effective at reviving Bond that its casting of Judi Dench as M was kept for nearly 20 years through Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure. That’s how you know a blockbuster has penetrated the pop culture landscape.
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Die Hard with a Vengeance
Die Hard sequels often get a bad rap, and usually for good reason. If any follow-up to the action hit came closest to capturing the magic of the original, not to mention becoming an enjoyable movie on its own terms, it was Die Hard with a Vengeance. Thirty years later, the combination of Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and tense situations scattered throughout New York City have all ensured Die Hard with a Vengeance is still regarded with tremendous fondness. It doesn’t hurt that 2013’s A Good to Die Hard was so bad that it couldn’t help but make one appreciate Vengeance‘s gifts all the more.
Congo
Does any other blockbuster scream “1995” quite like Congo? An adaptation of a Michael Crichton sci-fi novel launched two years after Jurassic Park turned another Crichton text into a license to print money, Congo featured a young Laura Linney and a story dominated by people in gorilla suits thanks to CG still being in its infancy. The result was a ridiculous title that’s inspired lots of drubbing over the years, but also garnered a cult following, namely for the antics of Amy the gorilla. It doesn’t hurt that the whole thing radiates 1995 pop culture to such a comedic degree.
Crimson Tide
Leading man Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott often made cinematic magic together. A great example of this was the 1995 movie Crimson Tide, which packed a lot of talented actors and conspiratorial distrust into one submarine. A nail-biting thriller with gusto performances from the likes of Washington and Gene Hackman, Crimson Tide’s reputation has only risen (much like the average tide) in recent years thanks to more widespread appreciation of Scott’s work. The movie’s array of terrific suspenseful set pieces also certainly hasn’t hurt its distinction either.
Waterworld
Waterworld has been a punchline and go-to reference point for boondoggle productions for 30 years straight now. This Kevin Costner star vehicle, though, has started to see its reputation improve somewhat in the public eye. Comparing Waterworld to what modern blockbusters look like, it’s easier to appreciate all the tactility of practical sets and costumes Waterworld delivers in an age of incessant green-screen backdrops. Others have praised its brazen creativity and commitment to such an original idea not based on any pre-existing material. Inspiring a popular Universal theme park stunt show that’s still going on around the world also hasn’t hurt the salvaging of Waterworld’s once-maligned reputation.
Waterworld is now streaming on Netflix.
