J. J. Abrams

J.J. Abrams is also a well-known writer, also responsible for television and motion-picture dramas such as LOST and Cloverfield. He specializes in stories with an unexpected angle or perspective.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- Super 8
- Star Trek
- Mission Impossible III
Woody Allen

Woody Allen rivals Steven Speilberg in the number of films he has directed. His films tend to be New York based dramas which he writes himself. Probably would win more Oscars if he seemed to care about them.
- Blue Jasmine
- To Rome with Love
- Midnight in Paris
- You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
- Whatever Works
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Match Point
- Small Time Crooks
- Sweet and Lowdown
- Deconstructing Harry
- Everyone Says I Love You
- Mighty Aphrodite
- Bullets Over Broadway
- Manhattan Murder Mystery
- Stardust Memories
- Interiors
- Crimes and Misdemeanors
- Radio Days
- Hannah and Her Sisters
- Zelig
- A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
- Manhattan
- Annie Hall
Love and Death - Sleeper
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask
- Bananas
- Take the Money and Run
- What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Wes Andersen

Wes Andersen creates independent movies and fascinating characters like no one else. Casts the Wilson brothers and Bill Murray.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Darjeeling Limited
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- Rushmore
- Bottle Rocket
Judd Apatow

The suddenly white-hot comedy writer/producer. Discovered Seth Rogan and Jay Baruchel
- This is 40
- Funny People
- Knocked Up
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an unstoppable director of epic comedies. The only comedy director on this list, he is not afraid of putting a stupid gag into a script.
Tim Burton

Known for directing dark animated features, Batman and Johnny Depp.
- Big Eyes
- Frankenweenie
- Dark Shadows Alice in Wonderland
- Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Big Fish
- Planet of the Apes
- Sleepy Hollow
- Mars Attacks!
- Ed Wood
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Batman Returns
- Edward Scissorhands
- Batman
- Beetlejuice
- Pee-wee's Big Adventure
- Vincent
John Carpenter

Well known for horror films and groundbreaking special-effects.
James Cameron

James Cameron directed Terminator 2, which is a pretty damn good film. Famous for outlandish special effects and unbelievable budgets.
- Avatar 2
- Battle Angel
- Avatar
- Titanic
- True Lies
- Terminator 2 - Judgment Day
- The Abyss
- Aliens
- The Terminator
Joel and Ethan Coen

Brilliant crime-based dramas with fascinating characters, themes of greed and an ace comic thread.
Francis Ford Coppola

Best known for the Godfather movies.
- Twixt
- Tetro
- Youth Without Youth
- The Rainmaker
- Jack
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
- The Godfather, Part III
- New York Stories
- Tucker - The Man and His Dream
- Peggy Sue Got Married
- Captain EO
- The Cotton Club
- Rumble Fish
- The Outsiders
- One From The Heart
- Apocalypse Now
- The Godfather, Part II
- The Conversation
- The Godfather
David Cronenberg

An ace at bringing ugly and difficult-to-visualize scenes to the big screen.
- Maps to the Stars
- Cosmopolis
- A Dangerous Method
- Eastern Promises
- A History of Violence
- Eastern Promises
- eXistenZ
- Crash
- M. Butterfly
- Naked Lunch
- Dead Ringers
- The Fly
- The Dead Zone
- Videodrome
- Scanners
- Fast Company
Cameron Crowe

Champion of fun romantic comedies and drama.
- We Bought a Zoo
- Elizabethtown
- Vanilla Sky
- Almost Famous
- Jerry Maguire
- Singles
- Say Anything
Brian De Palma

Master of stylized action movies.
Clint Eastwood

Having Clint Eastwood direct your film is the shortest path to an Oscar nomination.
Bobby and Peter Farrelly

Some directors refuse to put fart jokes in their movies. The Farrelly brothers are not those directors.
- Dumb and Dumber To
- Movie 43
- Three Stooges
- Hall Pass
- The Heartbreak Kid
- Fever Pitch
- Stuck On You
- Shallow Hal
- Me, Myself & Irene
- There's Something About Mary
- Kingpin
- Dumb and Dumber
Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson, like all successful directors has proven that his own vision and ideas are good enough to believe in.
He is not afraid of taking large financial risks. May have made $200 million dollars on a single movie.
Alfred Hitchcock

Master of Suspense. His movies seem to hold their entertainment and monetary value for many decades.
Ron Howard

Ron Howard is responsible for a string of commercial and culturally successful movies.
I've seen most of his movies. I think most Americans have seen most of his movies.
I've seen most of his movies. I think most Americans have seen most of his movies.
John Hughes

John Hughes made eight really good movies. He defined and changed American life in the eighties.
He is like George Lucas without ILM.
He is like George Lucas without ILM.
Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson is the guy who did the Lord of the Rings movies. As if you could forget. He probably lives in fear that he will never again get to do something as epic.
- The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun
- The Hobbit There and Back Again
- The Hobbit
- The Desolation of Smaug
- The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey
- The Lovely Bones
- King Kong
- LOTR: The Return of the King
- LOTR: The Two Towers
- LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Frighteners
- Heavenly Creatures
- Dead Alive
- Bad Taste
Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick would be the master of suspense if we hadn't already given that title to Hitchcock. He made very good, epic movies.
Ang Lee

Born in Taiwan. He is a good bet for a Best Picture Oscar in the next five years.
Spike Lee

Spike Lee's movies feature epic and well-wrtten characters and (always?) deal with race relations.
George Lucas

George Lucas is probably the most well-rounded movie-maker on this list. He founded at least five entertainment companies and loves to be on the cutting edge of technology.
Sidney Lumet

Sindey Lumet is known for political and judical thrillers.
Leo McCarey

Leo McCarey directed about 110 films.
Michael Moore

Michael Moore is probably the most famous living documentary filmmaker. He has more experience getting behind the scenes than Borat.
Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols directed a bunch of different movies which you have heard of.
Christopher Nolan

Comic Con's favorite movie director, he specializes in mind and time-bending special effects and terse movie titles.
Makes action movies.
- Interstellar
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Inception
- The Dark Knight
- The Prestige
- Batman Begins
- Insomnia
- Memento
- Following
Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski has had an infamous and terrible life story featuring Nazis, the Mansons and statutory rape.
Sam Raimi

I know Sam Raimi because of Evil Dead and Spider-Man.
He strikes me as a guy who would be happy making $100,000 films as long as he kept getting to make them.
Guy Ritchie

An English director who excels at Crime Caper action and an interwoven storyline.
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
- Sherlock Holmes
- RocknRolla
- Revolver
- Swept Away
- Snatch
- Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
George Romero

George Romero is the king of Zombie movies.
Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese can celebrate his very solid and steady body of successful films.
- Silence
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Sinatra
- Hugo Cabaret
- Shutter Island [Blu-ray]
- The Departed
- The Aviator
- Gangs of New York
- Casino
- Cape Fear
- GoodFellas
- New York Stories
- The Last Temptation of Christ
- The Color of Money
- After Hours
- Raging Bull
- Taxi Driver
M. Night Shyamalan
May someday escape his reputation for a twist ending.
Like Woody Allen, M. Night Shyamalan obviously doesn't want to make the same kind of movies that other people are capeable of making.

Zack Snyder

Executive producers love Zack Snyder. He has been very successful at translating stylized works onto the big screen.
- Justice League
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Superman: Man of Steel
- Sucker Punch
- Watchmen
- 300
- Dawn of the Dead
Steven Soderbergh

The Colorist.
Broke onto the big time with Sex, Lies and Videotape. Now known for Traffic and the Ocean's Eleven franchise.
- Side-Effects
- Magic Mike
- Haywire
- Contagion
- The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregs
- The Informant!
- The Girlfriend Experience
- Che Part Two
- Che Part One
- Ocean's Thirteen
- The Good German
- Ocean's Twelve
- Ocean's Eleven
- Traffic
- Erin Brockovich
- The Limey
- Kafka
- sex, lies, and videotape
Steven Speilberg

Regarded as the best director.
Invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws.
Has never done a mob movie.
- Indiana Jones 5
- Lincoln
- The Adventures of Tin Tin
- War Horse
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Munich
- War of the Worlds
- The Terminal
- Catch Me If You Can
- Minority Report
- A.I.
- Saving Private Ryan
- Amistad
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Schindler's List
- Jurassic Park
- Hook
- Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
- Empire of the Sun
- Always
- The Color Purple
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Twilight Zone - The Movie
- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
- 1941
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Jaws
- Duel
Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone is the King of Historical Dramas. He has pretty much made a movie about everything that happened in the 60s.
Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino emerged as the director who had the nerve to put calculated violence and disturbing events on film.
- Kill Bill v.3
- The Hateful Eight
- Django Unchained
- Inglourious Basterds
- Death Proof
- Kill Bill - Volume Two
- Kill Bill - Volume One
- Jackie Brown
- Four Rooms
- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott is an absolutely dependable action-heavy hit-maker. Even the worst of his movies is worth your money.
I'd love to see him do a Terminator movie.
- Blade Runner 2
- The Martian
- Exodus: Gods and Kings
- The Counselor
- Prometheus
- Robin Hood
- Body of Lies
- American Gangster
- A Good Year
- Kingdom of Heaven
- Matchstick Men
- Black Hawk Down
- Hannibal
- Gladiator
- G.I. Jane
- 1492: Conquest of Paradise
- Thelma & Louise
- Black Rain
- Legend
- Blade Runner
- Alien
- The Duellists
Gus Van Sant

Creates experience movies often involving one main title character.
Andy and Lana Wachowski

The Matrix directors.
Masters of the fight sequence.
- Jupiter Ascending
- Cloud Atlas
- Cobalt Neural 9
- Speed Racer
- The Matrix Revolutions
- The Matrix Reloaded
- The Matrix
- Bound
Peter Weir

Australian Director with a history of characters in a foreign setting.
Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder probably won more Oscars than anyone else on this list (6).
Made comedies and dramas.
John Woo

John Woo is the face of Hong Kong action movies and was the first to survive a move to Hollywood production.
When in doubt: shootout.
Robert Zemeckis

Among the best at fully integrating cutting edge effects in a movie, is becoming the superstar of modern 3-D films.