Top 10 Highest Grossing Movie Directors
Posted by ari on Dec 31, 2008 in Entertainment, Featured • No comments
1. Steven Speilberg with Total Gross of $3,765.0 Mil
Spielberg’s most important contribution to modern movies is his insight that there was an enormous audience to be created if old-style B-movie stories were made with A-level craftsmanship and enhanced with the latest developments in special effects. Consider such titles as Raiders of the Lost Ark and the other Indiana Jones movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and Jurassic Park. Look also at the films he produced but didn’t direct, like the Back to the Future series, Gremlins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Twister. The story lines were the stuff of Saturday serials, but the filmmaking was cutting edge and delivered what films have always promised: they showed us something amazing that we hadn’t seen before. more details at Time 100
2. Robert Zemeckis with Total Gross of $1,804mil
Robert Zemeckis was born and raised in Chicago, and began making 8mm films while he was in high school. Eventually Steven Spielberg became his mentor, serving as executive producer for Zemeckis’s 1978 Beatlemania comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and his salesman comedy Used Cars. Zemeckis also had a hand in writing Spielberg’s WWII slapstick paranoia film 1941.
One of Zemeckis’ biggest hits, Forrest Gump is often referred to as his masterpiece. Many hearts were warmed by that movie’s loving ode to American honesty, generosity, loyalty, and integrity. Some audiences, however, were bored silly by its meandering story of a retard (Tom Hanks) rendered as heroic, with innocence and stupidity presented as America’s greatest virtues. more at nndb.com
3. George Lucas with Total Gross of $1700.5mil
George Lucas’s devotion to timeless storytelling and cutting-edge innovation has resulted in some of the most successful and beloved films of all time.
His films celebrate the boundless potential of the individual to overcome any limitations — something he firmly believes. This theme is strong in the early movies that marked the start of his professional career. In 1971, using San Francisco production studio American Zoetrope and long-time friend Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer, Lucas transformed an award-winning student film into his first feature, THX-1138.
Lucas’ second feature film, the low-budget American Graffiti (1973), became the most successful film of its time, and garnered the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics’ and National Society of Film Critics’ awards. Pushing the boundaries of storytelling into new directions, American Graffiti was the first film of its kind to tell multiple stories through interweaving narratives backed by a soundtrack of contemporary music.
It was Lucas’ third film, 1977’s Star Wars, that changed everything. A deceptively simple morality tale of good versus evil told across a fantastic landscape of exotic planets and bizarre creatures, Star Wars became an international phenomenon, despite the fact that few saw its potential during production. Refusing to accept the limitations of filmmaking at the time, Lucas created his own visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, to deliver the hundreds of shots that were required to make his vision a reality. Star Wars broke all box-office records, set new standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound, garnered eight Academy Awards, and inspired a generation of young people to follow their imagination and dreams. The success of Star Wars allowed Lucas to remain independent and continue operating in Marin County, Calif.
more on Lucas at Lucas film
4. Ron Howard with Total Gross of $1610.1mil
“As a young adult trying to make the transition from sitcom actor to motion picture director, I was getting a lot of patronizing pats on the head. ‘Hey, hang in there. In another ten or 15 years, I’m sure somebody will give you a chance to direct.’ That’s not what I wanted to hear at all.”
At age 23, Ron Howard had one of the most recognizable faces in America. His years on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days had made him familiar to millions of Americans. He had even directed episodes of Happy Days, but when he looked for feature film directing work, no one believed the young actor had what it took.
Finally he made a deal with low-budget film legend Roger Corman: Howard would act in a film for Corman in exchange for the opportunity to direct. The result, Grand Theft Auto, succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations, and started Howard on his career as a feature film director.
Today, Howard is one of the most sought-after and highly regarded directors in the business. His films, including Splash, Cocoon and Apollo 13, have been some of the most memorable entertainment experiences of our era. He won the 2002 Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, which also won the 2002 Oscar as Best Picture. click for more on Ron Howard
5. Chris Columbus with Total Gross of $1,567.9
Screenwriter/Director Chris Columbus sold his first movie script for Jocks while still a film student at New York University; although heavily rewritten by others for the screen, this piece got Columbus’ foot in the big-time door. His breakthrough script for producer Steven Spielberg was for Gremlins, and was allegedly inspired by its writer’s dreams of mice at his fingers. The film, which blended warmth and whimsy with violent slapstick and some truly mean-spirited moments, was even more vicious than what was seen onscreen before it was cleaned up by Spielberg, himself. The success of Gremlins secured Columbus future writing assignments on such Spielberg projects as Young Sherlock Holmes and The Goonies (both 1985). He also developed the concept for a 1986 television cartoon series, Galaxy High School, about an extraterrestrial school populated by weird-looking space aliens. Columbus was eventually given a chance to direct the medium-budget teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting in 1988. He followed this with Home Alone (1990), directed from a script by John Hughes, which made incredible amounts of money and planted Columbus firmly on the Hollywood “A” list. Columbus continued to alternate between writing and directing as a Hollywood fixture in the ’90s, churning out such box-office bonanzas as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), among other titles, before directing two even bigger blockbusters: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and its sequel the following year, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. See all Chris Columbus film
6. Gore Verbinski with Total Gross of $1,308.5mil
Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema’s most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of all time ($135,600,000) and grossed over $1 billion dollars worldwide.
He was born Gregor Verbinski on March 16, 1964, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. His father was of Polish descent, he worked as a nuclear physicist at the Oak Ridge Lab. In 1967 the Verbinski family moved to California, and young Gregor grew up near San Diego. His biggest influences as a kid were Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality. He started his professional career as a guitarist for punk-rock bands, such as The Daredevils and The Little Kings, and also made his first films together with friends. After having developed a passion for filmmaking, he sold his guitar to buy a Super-8mm camera. Then Verbinski attended the prestigious UCLA Film School, from which he graduated in 1987 with his BFA in Film. His first professional directing jobs were music videos for alternative bands, such as L7, Bad Religion, and Monster Magnet. Then he moved to advertising and directed commercials for Nike, Canon, Skittles, United airlines and Coca-Cola. In 1993 he created the renowned Budweiser advertising campaign featuring croaking frogs, for which he was awarded the advertising Silver Lion at Cannes and also received four Clio Awards.
Verbinski made his feature directorial debut with Mousehunt (1997), a remarkably visual cartoonish family comedy. His next effort, The Mexican (2001), came to a modest result. However, Verbinski bounced back with a hit thriller The Ring (2002), grossing over $230 million dollars worldwide. His biggest directorial success came with the Disney theme park ride based Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with a brilliant acting ensemble, grossing over $650 million dollars, and bringing five Oscar nominations and many other awards and nominations. Disney ordered two more films which Verbinski shot one after another on location in the Carribean islands, for which he had to endure both tetanus and typhoid immunization shots. After having survived several hurricanes, dealing with sick and injured actors, and troubleshooting after numerous technical difficulties of the epic-scale project, Verbinski delivered. He employed the same stellar cast in the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and the third installment of the ‘Pirates’ franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007).
Gore Verbinski does not like publicity. He has been enjoying a happy family life with his wife and his two sons. He is currently residing with his family in Los Angeles, California.
source: imdb.com
7. Tim Burton with Total Gross of $1289.3 mil
Director, producer, screenwriter. Born August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California. As a child, Burton was engrossed with the classic horror films of Roger Corman—many of which featured quintessential screen villain Vincent Price. Burton also developed a penchant for drawing and enrolled at the California Institute of Arts, where he majored in animation. In 1980, upon his graduation, he began working as an apprentice animator for Walt Disney Studios. Within a year, Burton grew tired with his work at Disney and decided to strike out on his own. In 1982, he released the award-winning short Vincent, which paid homage to the enduring work of his childhood idol.
In 1984, Burton created a unique version of the Frankenstein story with the live-action short Frankenweenie. Impressed with Frankenweenie, Paul Reubens commissioned Burton to direct the wildly inventive comedy Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985). The success of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure brought about other opportunities, including the 1988 ghost story Beetlejuice starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, and Geena Davis. Often considered the prototypical Burton film, Beetlejuice was recognized for its visual flair and interwoven themes of fantasy and horror.
After forming his own production company, Burton directed the lavish production Batman (1989). With a cast that included Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Basinger, the stylized feature became the first film to sell $100 million in the first 10 days of release. The following year, Burton helmed the bizarre but touching film Edward Scissorhands. Featuring notable performances by up-and-coming stars Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder (as well as Price’s final feature role as the eccentric inventor), Edward Scissorhands was acclaimed for being both a social satire and a simple tale of love and intolerance. continue at Biography.com
8. Peter Jackson with Total Gross of 1,271.7 mil
Originally a master of gross-out splatter films, New Zealand director Peter Jackson is the man behind some of the goriest footage ever captured on celluloid. He is also one of the few horror directors to have earned widespread mainstream critical respect, thanks to his direction of the ambitious Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the acclaimed Heavenly Creatures (1995), a terrifying, exuberant account of a real-life murder that scandalized 1950s New Zealand society.
Born in Wellington on October 31, 1961, Jackson was raised in Pukerua Bay, a small town just west of Wellington. An only child, he grew up nurturing a vivid imagination, something that was aided immeasurably when his parents received an 8 mm camera on Christmas Day, 1969. Jackson duly got his hands on the camera, and, with the complicity of a few school friends, he soon began making his own movies. He continued making movies after getting a job with a local newspaper, the salary of which allowed him to buy his own 16 mm camera.
In 1983, the fledgling director filmed a ten-minute short called Roast of the Day, which was eventually expanded into his feature-length debut, Bad Taste (1987). Made over the course of four years with a minimal budget and the collaboration of a group of willing friends, the film — which eventually secured some degree of funding from a sympathetic member of the New Zealand Film Commission — was a delightfully repulsive romp that truly lived up to its title. An alien horror comedy that offered up almost unprecedented servings of blood, gore, dismembered anatomy, and a degree of cannibalism not seen since the Donner Party’s last family outing, Bad Taste became, surprisingly enough, an instant cult classic. continue at moviefone.com
9. Sam Raimi with Total Gross of $1,249.70 million
Though he got his start making two over-the-top cult horror film favorites—”The Evil Dead” (filmed in 1979, but released in 1983) and “Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn” (1987)—director Sam Raimi subsequently diversified into TV where he quietly became a major auteur of fantastic entertainment, executive producing the syndicated phenomena “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Warrior Princess” (both debuted in 1995). But it was as the director of three hugely popular and satisfying films starring the famously neurotic comic book superhero “Spider-Man” that Raimi made his biggest mark on Hollywood.
Born on October 23, 1959 in Royal Oak, MI, Raimi began making film shorts as a child after his father gave him an 8mm camera. Around this time, Raimi became friends with future “Evil Dead” star Bruce Campbell, with whom the director made his shorts while in junior high school. He later attended Michigan State University, where Raimi founded the Society of Creative Filmmaking with brother Ivan, who later co-scripted “Darkman” (1990) and “Army of Darkness” (1993), and actor Robert Tapert, who has produced all Raimi’s features to date. He left school to form Renaissance Pictures with Tapert and Campbell. The three went on to make, “Within the Woods” (1978), a 32-minute featurette that helped raise the initial investment of $50,000 for their first feature-length film, “The Evil Dead,” a campy horror flick that focused on five twenty-something friends holed up in an isolated cabin in the woods where they discover a Book of the Dead and an audio tape of ancient incantations that when unwittingly played unleashes once-dormant demons. more at Sam Raimi Biography
10. James Cameron with total Gross of $1,146.9 million
James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University but, after graduating, drove a truck to support his screen-writing ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and debuted as a director with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) the following year.
In 1984, he wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. It was a huge success. After this came a string of successful science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. He married Kathryn Bigelow in 1989.
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