On July 24, 1998, the director Steven Spielberg’s World War II
epic, Saving Private Ryan, was released in theaters across the 
U.S. The film, which starred Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, was
praised for its authentic portrayal of war and was nominated
for 11 Academy Awards. It took home five Oscars, for Best
Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
and Best Sound Effects Editing.

Director Steven Spielberg behind the camera.

On July 6, 1994, the movie Forrest Gump, a comedy-drama film,
opened in theaters. A huge box-office success, the film stars
Tom Hanks in the title role of Forrest, a good-hearted man with
a low I.Q. who winds up at the center of key cultural and historical
events of the second half of the 20th century.

Forrest Gump was based on a 1986 novel of the same name by
Winston Groom who himself grew up in Alabama and served in
the Army during Vietnam.

On July 2, 1997, the science fiction-comedy movie Men in Black,
starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, opened in theaters
around the United States. The film grossed more than $250
million in America alone and helped establish the former sitcom
star Will Smith as one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men.

On June 23, 1989, Tim Burton’s noir spin on the well-known story
of the DC Comics hero Batman was released in theaters.

Michael Keaton starred in the film as the multimillionaire Bruce
Wayne, who has transformed himself into the crime-fighting
Batman after witnessing his parents’ brutal murder as a child.

On June 20, 1975, Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg that
made countless viewers afraid to go into the water, opened in
theaters. The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New
England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the
highest-grossing film in movie history until it was bested by
1977’s Star Wars.

Steven Spielberg (77)