JANUARY 90s film festival 2026
Join us every weekend in January as we rewind the tape and return to the 90s at The Arc Cinema for our third annual celebration of the greatest decade in movie history. A time of blockbuster soundtracks, over-the-top heroes, megastar romances, suspiciously baggy jeans and a Hollywood budget spent entirely on explosions. Relive the films that defined a generation, broke box office records, and made us all genuinely believe we?d be wearing cargo trousers forever.
TITANIC 3D
There are blockbusters — and then there’s Titanic. A true cinematic phenomenon that redefined what a movie could be: visually, emotionally, and culturally. This wasn’t just a film — it was a global obsession; a record-smashing box office juggernaut, a fashion trendsetter, and the unofficial national anthem for teenage heartbreak.
With breathtaking 3D depth, the film’s spectacle becomes even more staggering — but it’s the romance, tragedy, and sweeping emotional scale that still land with devastating power. Titanic didn’t just dominate the late ’90s — it became a permanent fixture of pop culture, still quoted, parodied, and referenced everywhere from TV shows to TikTok.
It’s cinema history, and it demands to be seen on the big screen.
Only available at participating locations
HOOK
There have been countless takes on Peter Pan, but only one where Neverland feels like the coolest place you could imagine — and only one with a villain who can rock a moustache with that level of menace. Hook hit audiences right in the childhood: a film about rediscovering imagination, growing up without losing wonder, and sword-fighting pirates while dressed like a ’90s lost rave kid.
With Spielberg directing, John Williams on the score, and a cast of megastars, Hook won its place in pop culture through pure charm, huge emotion, and quotable magic (“Bangarang!” still gets the crowd hyped — don’t pretend it doesn’t). It’s nostalgic, absurd, heartfelt, and absolutely iconic.
THE BODYGUARD
Before The Bodyguard, soundtracks were just albums. After The Bodyguard, they became EVENTS. A superstar romance with a world-class voice at the centre, this film didn’t just give us Whitney Houston’s legendary performance — it gifted the world the ballad of the decade, a song so powerful it's practically a public emotional hazard. But the film itself has its own lasting legacy: glamour, danger, heartbreak, and two megastars at the height of their powers. It's the ’90s bottled into a single movie — stylish, dramatic, and unforgettable — the kind of cinema we simply don’t make anymore.
★★★★ “An innocent popcorn pleasure, all the way up to that over-the-top scene on Oscar night.” — The Guardian
ARMAGEDDON
A ’90s disaster movie so large, so loud, and so patriotic it could only have existed in the era of monster blockbusters and non-stop power ballads. Armageddon is chaos in the best possible way: world-ending stakes, insane action sequences, and characters who save humanity using zero science and maximum attitude. From Aerosmith’s chart-dominating anthem to Michael Bay’s signature explosions, this was the blockbuster blueprint for a generation. Ridiculous, emotional, and completely exhilarating — the movie didn't just enter pop culture, it crashed into it like… well, a giant asteroid.
SPEED
Proof that you can build a movie around a single premise and still deliver one of the most relentlessly entertaining action films ever made. Speed is pure adrenaline — ’90s cool incarnate — with Keanu and Sandra becoming instant icons as they drive a bus that absolutely cannot chill. The film redefined action pacing, elevated stunt work into an art form, and created one of cinema’s most thrilling “high concept” templates — copied endlessly, but never topped. Smart, stylish, and unbelievably fun — it’s a blockbuster that still hits top gear. (Just don’t mention the sequel. Warning.)
★★★★★ “There are very few action movies that cut to the chase quite as quickly as Speed, and then have the stamina to keep it up for nearly two hours.” — Empire Magazine
★★★★★ “Just when you think Speed is over, it takes you on a new high...” — Gene Siskel