After weeks of voting and friendly debates, a winner in the Best 90s Movie bracket is finally crowned! The winner is Jurassic Park! In what I expected to be a much closer vote in the final Jurassic Park outdistanced Shawshank by a score of 47-29. In fact, Jurassic Park breezed through much of the tournament, beating four Best Picture nominees and one winner with an average margin of victory of 32 votes. This just goes to show that even almost 30 years later, dinosaurs are still popular. Congrats to the cast and crew of Jurassic Park who spared no expense making a timeless movie that is still a favorite of many to this day. As a personal connection, my wife and I had our first dance as a married couple to the theme song of Jurassic Park. You can check that out below.
I also want to thank everyone who voted along the way. I appreciate the support as well as all the movie discussions. It was fun for me even if I disagreed with other's opinions. I had no idea that Mrs. Doubtfire or Good Will Hunting were so popular. And I was surprised that movies like Goodfellas, L.A. Confidential, and Terminator 2 didn't do as well. But that's why they play the games, so to speak. Here are some other fun facts from the bracket.
The actor with the most movies in the field was Tom Hanks with 5, followed by Robin Williams and Kevin Spacey with 4. Hanks and Williams each had a film make it to the final four, while none of Spacey's films made it out of the second round.
The director with the most films in the field was Steven Spielberg with 4. Nobody else had more than 2. Three of his films made the elite eight, but only one advanced to the final four, and eventually won.
Best Picture winners didn't fare very well in the tournament as only two advanced as far as the elite eight with none making the final four. The two films in the championship each knocked off one Best Picture winner on the way to the title match, while Good Will Hunting is the only film to defeat two Best Picture winners.
The biggest upset in the tournament was 14 seed Mrs. Doubtfire beating 3 seed Goodfellas. Two double digit seeds made it as far as the sweet sixteen, Office Space and Home Alone, with Home Alone advancing to the elite eight and narrowly missing the final four.
Of the top ten highest grossing films of the decade, only four made it past the second round. Both Jurassic Park and The Shawshank Redemption knocked off two films on the highest grossing list on their way to the championship. If Shawshank would have won, they would have defeated three.
Animated films did very well in the first two rounds, as four of the six animated films in the bracket made it to the sweet sixteen. But only one made it past that point, although that film, Toy Story, went all the way to the final four.
Below is the entire bracket if you want to take a look. Thanks again, and I look forward to next year's bracket, which based on your votes, is going to be the best of my favorite movies of the past 40 years.
