Best Movies of 1998

The highest-rated films from 1998 according to MovieMagicScore. Rankings based purely on what viewers actually think.

← 1997 All Time 1999 →

By genre:action comedy drama horror sci-fi thriller romance animation

American History X

1998 · 12,696 ratings

Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African-American men. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.

8.3

Saving Private Ryan

1998 · 17,464 ratings

As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.

8.2

Perfect Blue

1998 · 3,265 ratings

Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.

8.3

The Truman Show

1998 · 20,478 ratings

In a picture-perfect seaside town, an insurance salesman begins to realize that his entire existence may be staged and observed by a vast unseen audience as part of a long-running real-time reality TV show.

8.2

The Legend of 1900

1998 · 2,466 ratings

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

8.2

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1998 · 7,268 ratings

A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.

8.1

Mulan

1998 · 10,151 ratings

To save her father from certain death in the army, a young woman secretly enlists in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.

7.9

The Big Lebowski

1998 · 11,740 ratings

Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.

7.8

Central Station

1998 · 1,057 ratings

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

8.1

#10

The Dinner Game

1998 · 1,994 ratings

For Pierre Brochant and his friends, Wednesday is “Idiots' Day”. The idea is simple: each person has to bring along an idiot. The one who brings the most spectacular idiot wins the prize. Tonight, Brochant is ecstatic. He has found a gem. The ultimate idiot, “A world champion idiot!”. What Brochant doesn’t know is that Pignon is a real jinx, a past master in the art of bringing on catastrophes...

7.8

#11

The Celebration

1998 · 1,187 ratings

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a shocking secret.

7.7

#12

The Thin Red Line

1998 · 3,157 ratings

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

7.4

#13

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

1998 · 804 ratings

After going their separate ways, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred reunite to investigate the ghost of Moonscar the pirate on a haunted bayou island, but it turns out the swashbuckler's spirit isn't the only creepy character on the island. The sleuths also meet up with cat creatures and zombies... and it looks like for the first time in their lives, these ghouls might actually be real.

7.7

#14

Black Cat, White Cat

1998 · 777 ratings

Matko is a small time hustler, living by the Danube with his 17-year-old son Zare. After a failed business deal he owes money to the much more successful gangster Dadan. Dadan has a sister, Afrodita, that he desperately wants to see get married so they strike a deal: Zare is to marry her.

7.7

#15

Meet Joe Black

1998 · 5,542 ratings

Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his 65th birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan?

7.4

#16

That's Life

1998 · 1,352 ratings

Con man Aldo breaks out of jail and seizes a car at gunpoint, taking its passengers—bumbling police officer Giacomo and nitpicking civilian Giovanni—hostages. An unlikely friendship blossoms.

7.5

#17

Rushmore

1998 · 2,615 ratings

When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.

7.4

#18

EverAfter

1998 · 1,527 ratings

Danielle, a vibrant young woman is forced into servitude after the death of her father when she was a young girl. Danielle's stepmother Rodmilla is a heartless woman who forces Danielle to do the cooking and cleaning, while she tries to marry off the eldest of her two daughters to the prince. But Danielle's life takes a wonderful turn when, under the guise of a visiting royal, she meets the charming Prince Henry.

7.4

#19

Lucky and Zorba

1998 · 625 ratings

A seagull is caught by the black tide of a sinking petrol ship. She manages to fly inland and falls down in a garden by a cat. Moribund, she asks the cat to fulfill three promises: that when she lays her egg he must not eat it; that he must take care of it until it hatches; that he would teach the newborn how to fly.

7.7

#20

Dark City

1998 · 3,026 ratings

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

7.3

Page 1 of 14

About 1998 Movies

These are the best-rated movies released in 1998 according to MovieMagicScore. Our ranking system aggregates genuine viewer ratings to give you an honest picture of what audiences actually think about these films.

From blockbusters to indie gems, discover what made 1998 memorable in cinema based on the collective opinion of movie lovers worldwide.

Explore Other Years

2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017