Events

• CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall (1990).
• The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in .
• The use of real-time computer graphics or "digital puppetry" to create a character in a motion picture is performed, in RoboCop 2.
• Future movie stars Chris Rock and Adam Sandler join SNL.
• February 4 - Actor Tom Cruise and actress Mimi Rogers divorce.
• December 24 - Tom Cruise and actress Nicole Kidman marry.
• The film Dances with Wolves becomes an instant American classic, reviving the Western genre with an epic saga from the Civil War.

Top grossing films

1. Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Catherine O'Hara,
2. Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Rick Aviles
3. Dances with Wolves, starring and directed by Kevin Costner
4. Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
6. The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery
7. Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
8. Die Hard 2, starring Bruce Willis
9. Dick Tracy starring Warren Beatty, Madonna
10. Kindergarten Cop, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller

Awards

Best Picture: Dances with Wolves - Tig Productions, Majestic Films International

Best Director: Kevin Costner - Dances With Wolves

Best Actor: Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune

Best Actress: Kathy Bates - Misery

Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci - Goodfellas

Best Supporting Actress: Whoopi Goldberg - Ghost

Best Foreign Language Film: Journey of Hope (Reise der Hoffnung), directed by Xavier Koller, Switzerland

Drama:

Best Picture: Dances With Wolves

Best Actor: Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune

Best Actress: Kathy Bates - Misery

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: Green Card

Best Actor: Gérard Depardieu - Green Card

Best Actress: Julia Roberts - Pretty Woman

Other

Best Director: Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves

Best Foreign Language Film: Cyrano de Bergerac, France

Wild at Heart, directed by David Lynch, United States

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Tom Stoppard, U.K. / U.S.A.

Music Box, directed by Costa Gavras, United States

Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti), directed by Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia

Films released in 1990

• Air America
• Alice, directed by Woody Allen
• Another 48 Hrs., starring Eddie Murphy
• Arachnophobia
• Avalon, directed by Barry Levinson
• Awakenings, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro
• Back to the Future Part III, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd
• Bad Influence
• Betsy's Wedding
• Bird on a Wire (film)
• Blind Fury
• Blue Steel, starring Jamie Lee Curtis
• Boiling Point
• The Bonfire of the Vanities
• Bride of Re-Animator
• ''Cadence, starring Charlie Sheen
• Cadillac Man
• Child's Play 2
• Come See The Paradise
• Crash and Burn
• Cry-Baby
• Cyrano de Bergerac - Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Dances with Wolves - Academy and Golden Globe (drama) Awards for Best Picture
• Darkman
• Days of Thunder
• Death Warrant
• Desperate Hours, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mickey Rourke
• Dick Tracy
• Die Hard 2
• Dreams, directed by Akira Kurosawa
• Edward Scissorhands, starring Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder
• The End of Innocence
• Europa Europa - Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (for 1991)
• The Exorcist III
• Fire Birds
• The First Power
• Flashback
• Flatliners
• Frankenstein Unbound
• The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando
• Ghost
• The Godfather Part III
• Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese
• Green Card - Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy)
• The Grifters
• The Guardian (1990 film)
• Hamlet (1990 film) (with Mel Gibson)
• Hard to Kill, starring Steven Seagal
• Havana (film)
• Heaven and Earth
• Henry & June
• Home Alone
• The Hot Spot
• House Party
• The Hunt for Red October
• I Come in Peace
• Internal Affairs, starring Richard Gere and Andy Garcia
• Jacob's Ladder
• Joe Versus the Volcano
• Journey of Hope (Reise der Hoffnung) - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Kindergarten Cop
• King of New York
• The Krays
• La Femme Nikita, directed by Luc Besson
• Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti) - Golden Bear award
• Lionheart
• Longtime Companion
• Look Who's Talking Too
• Loose Cannons
• Lord of the Flies
• Mack the Knife (film)
• Marked for Death
• The Match Factory Girl
• Memphis Belle (film)
• Mermaids (film)
• Metropolitan
• Miami Blues (Alec Baldwin)
• Miller's Crossing
• Misery
• Mo' Better Blues
• Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
• My Blue Heaven, starring Steve Martin
• My Mother's Castle (Le Château de ma mère), directed by Yves Robert, Golden Space Needle award (for 1991) - see novel Le Château de ma mère
• Narrow Margin
• Navy SEALS, starring Charlie Sheen
• The Nasty Girl (Das schreckliche Mädchen)
• Nuns on the Run
• Pacific Heights (1990 film)
• Postcards from the Edge (Meryl Streep)
• Predator 2, starring Danny Glover
• Presumed Innocent, starring Harrison Ford
• Pretty Woman
• Problem Child
• Pump Up the Volume, directed by Allan Moyle, Golden Space Needle award
• Q&A, starring Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton
• Quick Change
• Quigley Down Under
• ''The Reflecting Skin
• Repossessed, a parody of The Exorcist
• The Rescuers Down Under
• Reversal of Fortune
• RoboCop 2
• Robot Jox
• Rocky V
• Romeo-Juliet
• The Rookie, starring Clint Eastwood
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - Golden Lion award
• The Russia House
• The Sheltering Sky, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci''
• Shipwrecked
• Shreck
• Side Out, starring Courtney Thorne-Smith
• Stanley and Iris, starring Robert De Niro and Jane Fonda
• State Of Grace
• Taking Care of Business, starring James Belushi
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Tekken (1990 film)
• Tatie Danielle, starring Tsilla Chelton
• Texasville
• Three Men and a Little Lady
• Tilaï
• Treasure Island (1990 film)
• Total Recall
• The Two Jakes
• Vincent & Theo
• White Hunter, Black Heart
• White Palace
• Wild at Heart, directed by David Lynch
• Wild Orchid
• Wild at Heart - Palm d'Or award
• The Witches, directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Young Guns II

Births

• March 24 - Keisha Castle-Hughes, actress
• April 15 - Emma Watson, actress
• May 14 - Sasha Spielberg, actress, daughter of producer/director Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw
• July 24 - Daveigh Chase, actress
• October 22 - Jonathan Lipnicki, actor

Deaths

• January 6 - Ian Charleson, actor
• January 8 - Terry-Thomas, actor, comedian
• January 15 - Gordon Jackson, actor
• January 20 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress
• January 24 - Madge Bellamy, actress
• January 25 - Ava Gardner, actress
• March 5 - Gary Merrill, actor
• March 17 - Capucine, actress
• April 15 - Greta Garbo, actress
• April 23 - Paulette Goddard, actress
• May 6 - Charles Farrell, actor
• May 10 - Susan Oliver, actress, pilot
• May 16 - Sammy Davis Jr, actor, singer
• May 16 - Jim Henson, creator of Muppets
• May 18 - Jill Ireland, actress
• June 2 - Rex Harrison, actor
• July 15 - Margaret Lockwood, actress
• July 19 - Eddie Quillan, actor
• August 27 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, 36, guitarist/songwriter
• September 4 - Irene Dunne, actress
• September 19 - Hermes Pan, choreographer
• October 15 - Delphine Seyrig, French actress
• October 20 - Joel McCrea, actor
• November 3 - Mary Martin, actress
• November 12 - Eve Arden, actress
• December 2 - Robert Cummings, actor
• December 7 - Joan Bennett, actress
• December 8 - Martin Ritt, director