By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Science fiction fans are used to disappointment. Some years it can feel like every highly anticipated sci-fi movie falls flat on its face, but it doesn’t matter what you think of the next one Avatar: Fire and Ash or the ambitious Mickey 172025 doesn’t compare to the worst year for sci-fi blockbusters: 1998.
It may have been a game-changing year for pop culture with the rise of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson fitting right in with MTV and a new wave of pop stars, but 1998 was the year that gave us both. Armageddon And Deep impactand this is its climax.
The 1998 Asteroid Duel Movies Became Punchlines
The two dueling meteor impact films were hits. Armageddon grossed over half a billion dollars at the box office, but even the staunchest defenders of each film will admit that they’re not great.
By adopting his absurd premise that oil workers could become astronauts, Armageddon has become a staple of bad movie podcasts. Deep impact is technically a better film, but it’s not as fun and generated only a fraction of the box office and cultural impact of its Hollywood twin.
These two films, which have become punchlines, are among the best of 1998.
1998 Sci-Fi Remakes Worst Lists of All Time
Aside from these two successes, 1998 was a year that also saw two disastrous remakes: The mighty Joe Young And Godzilla. The Roland Emmerich of 1998 Godzilla was a financial giant success, earning over $370 million, but the catch was that it launched first, with audiences rapidly declining each week as mediocre word of mouth spread. There is debate today over whether this is really Godzilla in the film, given the creature’s size, appearance and clutch of raptor-inspired eggs very unlike the creature left at Madison Square Garden.
Godzilla made headlines and remains at the top of every website’s “worst remakes” lists, which isn’t what studios want to hear, but at least it’s remembered. Disney The mighty Joe Young modernized the 1949 film about a gentle 15-foot-tall gorilla starring Charlize Theron and Bill Paxton, but in a year filled with VFX blockbusters, the throwback film was forgotten. Except Disney’s accountants, who noted that the film lost $50 million at the box office before marketing costs were added in, making it a huge dud during the studio’s hottest period.
Even Star Trek and The X-Files Couldn’t Save 1998
Between dueling asteroid films and two monster mash remakes, 1998’s headlining sci-fi films remained among the worst of all time, but even the low-budget films failed to make an impression. Kurt Russell’s Soldier was such a generic sci-fi super-soldier movie that even Jason Isaacs’ maniacal villain couldn’t make it a cult classic. Sphere was a highly publicized disaster, and Lost in space abandoned everything that made the original series successful.
Blockbusters and B-movies brought down the sci-fi genre in 1998, but don’t forget that year also saw the arrival of The X Files in theaters and Star Trek: The Next Generation crew tracking First contact. The X Files was fantastic and tied into the next season of the show, giving the show a new audience that helped it get through even the lackluster final season. On the other hand, Star Trek: Insurrection was an extra-long episode of the series, which is good or bad depending on your point of view, but it’s the equivalent of a filler episode.
The Best Sci-Fi Movie of 1998 Was Ignored
As you can see, 1998 was full of sci-fi releases, especially when compared to the small spate of genre films we’ve come to expect in recent years. From blockbusters to TV to the big screen, there were plenty to choose from, but the best of the year came from the most unexpected places. Dark city, a twisty sci-fi mystery caught in the shadows of The matrixa year later, but it’s definitely worth the detour today, and The Facultyan alien invasion of a high school that makes the A-list of ’90s teen stars proves that there’s still an audience for well-crafted, original sci-fi.
1998 is better than recent years with the amount of sci-fi films released, but nothing stands up to 2024 Dune: part two or 2023 Godzilla minus one. In fact, most of the films are considered among the worst (or best, if you like bad movies) of all time, and they all came out during the same eight-month period. More science fiction isn’t always better.
