Back in Action: June 1991
A look at the major new action movie releases (and trends) of June 1991 and June 2026
This year, I’m taking a month-by-month look at the action movies released globally in 1991, talking about the trends and individual titles that made the year in the genre and comparing them to the releases in 2026. You can read the previous monthly entries here.
Let’s take a look at the state of action in June 1991 and June 2026, with expanded thoughts on specific movies at the bottom for paid subscribers.
The numbers
I found 41 action movies in June 1991 from 11 filmmaking nations. (Here’s a Letterboxd list.)
In June 2026, I found 32 action movies from 11 filmmaking nations. (Here’s another Letterboxd list.)
The total number of action movies stayed pretty much level from May to June in both 1991 and 2026, as did the number of filmmaking nations. For the second straight month, I found more action movies made in the 1991 month than in the 2026 month, buoyed by an astounding 12 action movies each from Hong Kong and the USA in June 1991. I’m surprised not to see a bigger increase in general as we move deeper into summer, but May is really the start of blockbuster season anyway.
Crime remained the most popular action sub-genre in both June 1991 and June 2026, but significantly more so in June 1991. Other popular June 1991 sub-genres included police, sports, action-horror, action-fantasy, and action-comedies. Other popular June 2026 sub-genres included military movies, action-comedies, action-fantasy movies, and action-thrillers.
Who were we fighting?
In June 1991, just under 30% of action protagonists were cops, a bit lower than last month. Kickboxer fever has taken over, as the next most popular protagonist type was “martial artist” (the majority of whom were kickboxers), followed by criminals. The most unique action hero job this time was either truck driver (Lola the Truck Driver 3), executioner (The Beheaded 1000), or stunt pilot (The Rocketeer) – take your pick. Action movie antagonists in June 1991 were overwhelmingly criminals (over 60%), with the most common being criminal-dealing-with-drugs. There were also five different action movies with supernatural antagonists in June 1991.
In June 2026, 12.5% of action protagonists were cops – higher than May 2026, but significantly lower than 1991 numbers. The most popular action protagonist type was soldier, at 25%. Other recurring protagonist types included laborer, journalist, young people, and father, but there was a lot of variety on display, including a train stewardess, a veterinarian, and a nightclub owner. Criminals were once again the most common antagonist type, but there were also quite a few action movies about natural disasters or supernatural forces this month.
In June 1991, around 75% of action heroes had jobs containing violence, while around 30% didn’t. In June 2026, 61% of action heroes had violent jobs, while 39% didn’t. This continues the trend we’ve seen all year: more action movies in 2026 starring regular people with regular jobs.
In terms of gender, the numbers shook out about the same this month – about 12% of action protagonists in both June 1991 and June 2026 were women and the rest were men.
America
June 1991
The Kevin Costner-starring Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves dominated the box office with a $75 million haul this month, on its way to becoming the second-highest grossing movie of 1991. (Number one is next month, and I’m very excited to get to it.) Regular readers may remember it’s the second straight month with a Robin Hood movie, as the British Robin Hood was rushed out in May to get out ahead of this one (and somehow still managed to be the better movie). The other notable release at the box office was the comic book adaptation The Rocketeer, directed by future Jumanji and Captain America: The First Avenger filmmaker Joe Johnston. It ultimately didn’t do all that well at the box office (#8 at the month with just over $19 million) but has since become a favorite for kids of a certain age.
Notable outside of theaters: a more action-focused sequel to the creature feature Alligator, the sixth entry in the sexploitation action series Triple B (Do or Die), another action movie with an FX professional as the action lead (TV movie The Hit Man, where they take on a predatory lender), and a movie starring American Gladiator Malibu (The Killing Zone, which appears to have quite a few similarities to May 1991’s Stone Cold).
June 2026
Kids movies and horror dominated the box office in June 2026, with relative disappointments Supergirl and Masters of the Universe standing out as the highest-grossing new action movies. Next best at the US box office was the Hong Kong martial arts extravaganza The Furious – not an American movie, but its relative success in the US is noteworthy.
Notable releases outside of theatrical headlines are the action disaster movie Stop! That! Train!, with a cast of drag superstars, the Scott Eastwood war movie Lucky Strike (from director Rod Lurie, who made a stellar war thriller with Eastwood in The Outpost), and a bizarre team-up of controversy-laden filmmaker Uwe Boll with controversy-laden former movie star Armie Hammer (Citizen Vigilante).
East Asia
June 1991
A dozen (!) new Hong Kong action movies came out, including franchise movies from big directors. Ringo Lam and Chow Yun-fat returned for Prison on Fire II, sequel to an all-time classic – it did well at the box office but not as well as the original. Meanwhile, the early Johnnie To movie Casino Raiders II came out. This is one of those Hong Kong franchises where none of the movies are actually related aside from sharing a star, in this case Andy Lau. It also did fairly well at the box office, but not enough to make the year-end top 10.
Other notable Hong Kong releases include a Donnie Yen movie (The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead), a Moon Lee movie (Mission of Condor), and a Maggie Cheung movie that looks like a glorified anti-drug PSA (Will of Iron). Also of note: The Beheaded 1000, a horror-action movie starring the great Jimmy Wang Yu and with a fantastic premise – after an executioner beheads his 1,000th criminal, the souls of the people he’s killed all come back for revenge.
I found three releases in Japan this month, all direct-to-video crime movies from their V-Cinema industry. Most notable: The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses, a dark and stylish crime thriller.
June 2026
Now let’s actually talk about The Furious, the all-star, Pan-Asian martial arts extravaganza produced in Hong Kong with a cast of stars from around the world. It has pulled in over $31 million globally, putting it in the top 50 of all releases so far this year and one of the top-earning martial arts films of the decade.
I also found seven Chinese action movies released this month, including a handful of DTV actioners, a few military movies, and a remake of the 2019 Korean disaster comedy Extreme Escape.
Speaking of Korea, the Netflix original action comedy Husbands in Action came out, starring Jin Seon-kyu. It’s about a detective and his ex-wife’s new husband teaming up to save her from kidnappers.
South and Southeast Asia
June 1991
I found five Indian action movies that came out this month, with one notable hit: Izzat, a cop movie starring Jackie Shroff that finished #13 at the 1991 box office. Also notable was Ramgargh Ke Sholay, a spoof of the 1975 Hindi action classic Sholay, which was still the highest-grossing Indian film ever made at the time.
In Malaysia, the hit action thriller Bintang Malam released, which cleaned up at the 10th Malaysian Film Festival, winning nearly every major award. Over in the Philippines, Robin Padilla starred in a dual role as twin brothers in the revenge story Hinukay Ko Na ang Libingan Mo.
June 2026
I found seven Indian action movies that came out this month, most notably Peddi. Starring RRR’s Ram Charan, the action/sports drama quickly became the highest-grossing Telugu movie of the year. Also of note: the action thriller Maa Inti Bangaram, featuring Eega star Samantha, and Welcome to the Jungle, the third in the “Welcome” action-adventure franchise.
Everywhere else
June 1991
Action movies from elsewhere in the world include the third movie in Italian martial arts series Karate Warrior, the third movie in Mexican crime/action series Lola the Truck Driver, Pakistan’s political action drama Watan Kay Rakhwalay, and multiple action crime movies coming out of the USSR.
June 2026
A few small productions here and there – a World War I movie out of the UK (Landship), a DTV crime movie out of Australia (Badland Rising). But most interesting is what appears to be a Russian remake of Karate Kid.
Best poster:
I really like the painted approach of the poster for Malaysian hit Bintang Malam:
For paid subscribers, I’ve written some thoughts about all the action movies I watched from June 1991 (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Prison on Fire II, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, and The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses). I’m also keeping lists ranking the 1991 action movies and 2026 action movies I’ve watched while doing this project. And here’s a preview of the movies I’ll be looking at for July 1991.
