40 Movies Turning 40 in 2024: The Class of 1984

In a year where one film dominated the Academy Awards, 1984 still found a way to produce a multitude of movies that are still ingrained in pop culture today.

The film adaptation of the 1979 stage play Amadeus nabbed eight Oscars, but it was titles like Ghostbusters, The Terminator and Beverly Hills Cop that made 1984 a standout year on the big screen.

While new franchises launched, others tried to capitalize on earlier success by launching big budget sequels. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned as the title character in Conan the Destroyer. The Indiana Jones franchise continued with Temple of Doom giving fans a prequel to the original instead of a sequel.

And then there were the sequels that flopped. Did anybody really need a Meatballs sequel without Bill Murray?

The Talking Heads were featured in what is considered one of the all-time great concert films while This Is Spinal Tap the music movie genre the mockumentary treatment.

Then, there was the dancing. Footloose saw Kevin Bacon trying to convince a town to overturn its ban on dancing. Not one, but two Breakin’ movies attempted to cash in on the popularity of breakdancing.

1984 was the year we met Freddy Kruger and found out what a Gremlin was. Here is a look at 40 movies that will be turning 40 years old in 2024.