On This Day

Rain Man premiere

December 12th 1988

10:43 12 December 2023

The premiere of 'Rain Man' took place at Loew's Astor Plaza Theater in New York City on this day in 1988. Barry Levinson's film stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, a brash and selfish young wheeler-dealer who discovers his estranged father has died and left virtually all of his multimillion dollar estate to an autistic savant brother he never knew he had called Raymond (Dustin Hoffman).

Motivated by the money, Charlie visits Raymond at the residential institute where he resides and the two abscond and embark on a road trip that becomes a journey of understanding. The movie was a big critical and commercial success, grossing more than $354 at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing film of 1988.

'Rain Man' was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hoffman) and Best Original Screenplay.