100 English films of 1988 ranked by box office. #1: Rain Man ($354.8 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | $25 million | $354.8 million | 14.19x | |
| 2 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Robert Zemeckis | $70 million | $351.5 million | 5.02x | |
| 3 | Coming to America | John Landis | $36 million | $288.8 million | 8.02x | |
| 4 | Crocodile Dundee II | John Cornell | $9 million | $239.6 million | 26.62x | |
| 5 | Twins | Ivan Reitman | $15 million | $216.6 million | 14.44x | |
| 6 | Rambo III | Peter MacDonald | $63 million | $189 million | 3.00x | |
| 7 | A Fish Called Wanda | John Cleese | $7.5 million | $188.6 million | 25.15x | |
| 8 | Cocktail | Roger Donaldson | $20 million | $171.5 million | 8.58x | |
| 9 | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | David Zucker | $12 million | $152.4 million | 12.70x | |
| 10 | Big | Penny Marshall | $18 million | $151.7 million | 8.43x | |
| 11 | Die Hard | John McTiernan | $28 million | $139.8 million | 4.99x | |
| 12 | Willow | Ron Howard | $35 million | $137.6 million | 3.93x | |
| 13 | Tequila Sunrise | Robert Towne | $23 million | $105.9 million | 4.60x | |
| 14 | Working Girl | Mike Nichols | $28 million | $103 million | 3.68x | |
| 15 | Scrooged | Richard Donner | $32 million | $100.3 million | 3.13x | |
| 16 | Beetlejuice | Tim Burton | $15 million | $84.6 million | 5.64x | |
| 17 | Midnight Run | Martin Brest | $30 million | $81.6 million | 2.72x | |
| 18 | Moonwalker | Jerry Kramer | $22 million | $67 million | 3.05x | |
| 19 | Gorillas in the Mist | Michael Apted | $22 million | $61.1 million | 2.78x | |
| 20 | Beaches | Garry Marshall | $20 million | $57 million | 2.85x | |
| 21 | Young Guns | Christopher Cain | $11 million | $56 million | 5.09x | |
| 22 | Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach | Alan Myerson | $14 million | $54.5 million | 3.89x | |
| 23 | Biloxi Blues | Mike Nichols | $17 million | $51.7 million | 3.04x | |
| 24 | The Presidio | Peter Hyams | $51 million | |||
| 25 | Bull Durham | Ron Shelton | $9 million | $50.9 million | 5.66x | |
| 26 | Bloodsport | Newt Arnold | $2.3 million | $50 million | 21.74x | |
| 27 | A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master | Renny Harlin | $6.5 million | $49.4 million | 7.60x | |
| 28 | Colors | Dennis Hopper | $10 million | $46.6 million | 4.66x | |
| 29 | Child's Play | Tom Holland | $9 million | $44.2 million | 4.91x | |
| 30 | Killer Klowns from Outer Space | Stephen Chiodo | $1.8 million | $43.6 million | 24.22x | |
| 31 | The Great Outdoors | Howard Deutch | $24 million | $43.5 million | 1.81x | |
| 32 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Frank Oz | $6.5 million | $42 million | 6.46x | |
| 33 | Big Business | Jim Abrahams | $20 million | $40.2 million | 2.01x | |
| 34 | The Dead Pool | Buddy Van Horn | $31 million | $39 million | 1.26x | |
| 35 | Red Heat | Walter Hill | $29 million | $34.9 million | 1.20x | |
| 36 | Dangerous Liaisons | Stephen Frears | $14 million | $34.7 million | 2.48x | |
| 37 | Mississippi Burning | Alan Parker | $15 million | $34.6 million | 2.31x | |
| 38 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Martin Scorsese | $7 million | $33.8 million | 4.83x | |
| 39 | The Accidental Tourist | Lawrence Kasdan | $15 million | $32.6 million | 2.17x | |
| 40 | Alien Nation | Graham Baker | $16 million | $32.2 million | 2.01x | |
| 41 | The Accused | Jonathan Kaplan | $13 million | $32.1 million | 2.47x | |
| 42 | The Bear | Jean-Jacques Annaud | FRF 120 million | $31.8 million | ||
| 43 | Shoot to Kill | Roger Spottiswoode | $15 million | $29.3 million | 1.95x | |
| 44 | Ernest Saves Christmas | John R. Cherry III | $6.5 million | $28.2 million | 4.34x | |
| 45 | Betrayed | Costa-Gavras | $19 million | $25.8 million | 1.36x | |
| 46 | Cocoon: The Return | Daniel Petrie | $17.5 million | $25 million | 1.43x | |
| 47 | Funny Farm | George Roy Hill | $19 million | $25 million | 1.32x | |
| 48 | Young Einstein | Yahoo Serious | $5 million | $24.9 million | 4.98x | |
| 49 | License to Drive | Greg Beeman | $8.5 million | $22.4 million | 2.64x | |
| 50 | Short Circuit 2 | Kenneth Johnson | $15 million | $21.6 million | 1.44x | |
| 51 | Married to the Mob | Jonathan Demme | $10 million | $21.4 million | 2.14x | |
| 52 | Punchline | David Seltzer | $15 million | $21 million | 1.40x | |
| 53 | Action Jackson | Craig R. Baxley | $8 million | $20.3 million | 2.54x | |
| 54 | Tucker: The Man and His Dream | Francis Ford Coppola | $24 million | $19.7 million | 0.82x | |
| 55 | The Serpent and the Rainbow | Wes Craven | $10 million | $19.6 million | 1.96x | |
| 56 | Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood | John Carl Buechler | $2.8 million | $19.2 million | 6.86x | |
| 57 | Above the Law | Andrew Davis | $7.5 million | $18.8 million | 2.51x | |
| 57 | The Seventh Sign | Carl Schultz | $18.8 million | |||
| 59 | Frantic | Roman Polanski | $20 million | $17.6 million | 0.88x | |
| 59 | Johnny Be Good | Bud S. Smith | $22 million | $17.6 million | 0.80x | |
| 61 | For Keeps | John G. Avildsen | $17.5 million | |||
| 62 | Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | Dwight H. Little | $5 million | $17 million | 3.40x | |
| 63 | She's Having a Baby | John Hughes | $20 million | $16 million | 0.80x | |
| 63 | Bright Lights, Big City | James Bridges | $25 million | $16 million | 0.64x | |
| 63 | Crossing Delancey | Joan Micklin Silver | $4 million | $16 million | 4.00x | |
| 66 | Masquerade | Bob Swaim | $12 million | $15.8 million | 1.32x | |
| 67 | Big Top Pee-wee | Randal Kleiser | $20 million | $15.1 million | 0.76x | |
| 68 | Arthur 2: On the Rocks | Bud Yorkin | $14.7 million | |||
| 69 | School Daze | Spike Lee | $6.1 million | $14.5 million | 2.38x | |
| 70 | Poltergeist III | Gary Sherman | $9.5 million | $14.1 million | 1.48x | |
| 71 | Dead Ringers | David Cronenberg | $13 million | $14 million | 1.08x | |
| 71 | Stand and Deliver | Ramón Menéndez | $1.6 million | $14 million | 8.75x | |
| 71 | Mystic Pizza | Donald Petrie | $6 million | $14 million | 2.33x | |
| 74 | The Milagro Beanfield War | Robert Redford | $22 million | $13.8 million | 0.63x | |
| 75 | My Stepmother Is an Alien | Richard Benjamin | $20 million | $13.8 million | 0.69x | |
| 76 | Vice Versa | Brian Gilbert | $10 million | $13.7 million | 1.37x | |
| 77 | The Man from Snowy River II | Geoff Burrowes | A$8.7 million | $13.7 million | ||
| 78 | They Live | John Carpenter | $3 million | $13.4 million | 4.47x | |
| 79 | I'm Gonna Git You Sucka | Keenen Ivory Wayans | $3 million | $13 million | 4.33x | |
| 80 | D.O.A. | Annabel Jankel | $3.5 million | $12.7 million | 3.63x | |
| 81 | Everybody's All-American | Taylor Hackford | $22 million | $12.6 million | 0.57x | |
| 82 | Casual Sex? | Geneviève Robert | $12.2 million | |||
| 83 | Hellbound: Hellraiser II | Tony Randel | $2.5 million | $12.1 million | 4.84x | |
| 84 | Caddyshack II | Allan Arkush | $20 million | $11.8 million | 0.59x | |
| 85 | Moon over Parador | Paul Mazursky | $19 million | $11.4 million | 0.60x | |
| 86 | The Couch Trip | Michael Ritchie | $19 million | $11 million | 0.58x | |
| 87 | Moving | Alan Metter | $10.8 million | |||
| 88 | Iron Eagle II | Sidney J. Furie | $15 million | $10.5 million | 0.70x | |
| 89 | Shakedown | James Glickenhaus | $6 million | $10.1 million | 1.68x | |
| 90 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Philip Kaufman | $17 million | $10 million | 0.59x | |
| 91 | Criminal Law | Martin Campbell | $5 million | $10 million | 1.99x | |
| 92 | Bad Dreams | Andrew Fleming | $4.5 million | $9.8 million | 2.18x | |
| 93 | You Can't Hurry Love | Richard Martini | $9.3 million | |||
| 94 | Shag | Zelda Barron | $5 million | $9 million | 1.80x | |
| 95 | Salsa | Boaz Davidson | $6 million | $8.8 million | 1.47x | |
| 96 | Clean and Sober | Glenn Gordon Caron | $12 million | $8.7 million | 0.72x | |
| 97 | U2: Rattle and Hum | Phil Joanou | $8.6 million | |||
| 98 | High Spirits | Neil Jordan | $15 million | $8.5 million | 0.57x | |
| 98 | Without a Clue | Thom Eberhardt | $8.5 million | $8.5 million | 1.00x | |
| 100 | Hairspray | John Waters | $2.7 million | $8.3 million | 3.07x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.