Release date in 1999 can't be possible

This point blows my mind. I know I seen this movie in the theater in 97' or at the absolute latest very early 1998. I am 100% certain of this as I clearly remember seeing it with a specific set of friends and discussing it them and others the following days. Those most of those people split up and moved before the start of 1999, making it impossible I could have seen it with them that late. I know memories play pretty amazing tricks on you as times passes but this memory is clear and I have reflected on it countless times over the years because believe it or not, I am an Air Traffic Controller. I thought IMBD was just in error listing 1999 but other sources like Wikipedia all say the same thing. This is very odd, I know when I saw this and it was significantly prior to April 99' the listed release. As someone said in a different thread maybe it was some kind of screening or limited local release to test the waters, but I saw it in a suburb of Buffalo, NY so that is not a area they typically do that stuff.