See also: 1985 in film, other events of 1986, 1987 in film, list of 'years in film'.

Events

• April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle
• Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.
• Turner Broadcasting begins to colorize black and white movie classics.
• Dar Robinson, considered the greatest stuntman ever, is killed on the set of the film Million Dollar Mystery .

Top grossing films

1. Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise
2. Crocodile Dundee
3. Platoon
4. The Karate Kid, Part II
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
6. Back to School
7. Aliens, starring Sigourney Weaver
8. The Golden Child , starring Eddie Murphy
9. Ruthless People
10. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, starring Matthew Broderick
11. Hoosiers

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Platoon - Hemdale, Orion
• Best Director: Oliver Stone - Platoon
• Best Actor: Paul Newman - The Color of Money
• Best Actress: Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God

Births

• January 24 - Mischa Barton

Deaths

• March 10 - Ray Milland, British actor
• June 13 - Benny Goodman, musician, actor
• October 5 - Hal B. Wallis, major American film producer
• November 21 – Dar Robinson, film stuntman
• November 29 - Cary Grant, actor
• December 13 - Heather Angel, actress
• December 28 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director

Other movies released

• Blue Velvet, directed by David Lynch
• Children of a Lesser God
• The Color of Money, starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise
• Hannah and Her Sisters
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Le Déclin de l'empire américain, (The Decline of the American Empire), written and directed by Denys Arcand
• Short Circuit, starring Steve Guttenberg
• Sid and Nancy, starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb
• Jean de Florette, starring Gerard Depardieu and Yves Montand
• Manon des sources starring Emmanuelle Beart and Yves Montand
• Stand by Me