Actress
Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase
Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million. Basinger would lose the town to her partner in the deal, the pension fund of
Chicago-based Ameritech Corp., in
1993 after being forced to file for bankruptcy when a California judge ordered her to pay $7.4 million for refusing to honor a verbal contract to star in the film Boxing Helena.
June 13 – The
James Bond film Licence to Kill is released. It would be followed by years of legal wrangling over the future of the popular series. The next Bond film, GoldenEye, is not released until 1995.
July 7 – Lethal Weapon 2 is released and becomes the highest-grossing film in the franchise. As well as the highest grossing R-rated film of the year at the domestic box office.
July 11 – Screen, stage, and Shakespearian legend
Laurence Olivier died peacefully in his home in England, after appearing in his last filmed role as an old soldier in War Requiem.
September 28 –
Sony announce its intention to buy
Columbia Pictures and
Tri-Star Pictures. The deal is completed in November for a total cost of nearly $5 billion. They appoint
Peter Guber and
Jon Peters as co-chairman, in a further deal that cost up to $1 billion, after settling a lawsuit with
Warner Bros.
November 17 – The Little Mermaid becomes a critical and commercial success and brings new life to
Walt Disney Feature Animation. The Little Mermaid also reinvigorated public and critical interest in
The Walt Disney Company, which would become one of the most prestigious corporations of the 1990s.