PRESS PLAY
Official Singles Chart Top 40 (24 July 1988)
MOVIES
While a complete week-by-week “Top 10” ranking for July 1988 is less documented than the singles music charts, we do know exactly what dominated the UK box office at the time.
The undisputed king of the UK box office throughout the entire month of July 1988 was Crocodile Dundee II, which held the number one spot for every single weekend of the month.
Based on UK release timelines and box office data from that exact period, here are the major films that made up the top tier of the UK cinema landscape in July 1988:
The Dominant Blockbusters
- Crocodile Dundee II – Held the #1 box office spot for the entire month after shattering opening weekend records in late June.
- Three Men and a Baby – A massive leftover hit from the spring that was still drawing crowds and ended up as one of the highest-grossing films of the year in the UK.
- The Jungle Book (Reissue) – Disney’s classic animated film was re-released for the summer holidays and surged so high it finally knocked Crocodile Dundee II off the top spot on July 31.
Other Major Releases & Holdovers in UK Theaters
- Fatal Attraction – Though it peaked earlier in the year, it was such a massive cultural phenomenon in the UK that it remained in theatrical rotation deep into the summer.
- The Last Emperor – Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-sweeping epic was still a fixture in UK cinemas during the summer frame.
- Moonstruck – The Cher and Nicolas Cage romantic comedy was another high-performing spring holdover still in circulation.
- Empire of the Sun – Steven Spielberg’s wartime drama was a steady earner throughout the first half of the year.
(Note: Iconic 1988 blockbusters like Coming to America, Beetlejuice, Die Hard, and A Fish Called Wanda didn’t hit UK cinema screens until August and autumn of 1988 due to staggered international release windows at the time.)
