Chris Columbus (filmmaker)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Columbus (born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1958) is an American filmmaker.

Contents 1 Start in the industry 2 Return to prominence 3 Film credits 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] Start in the industry

Chris graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio before attending New York University's film school at the Tisch School of the Arts, then started in the industry as a screenwriter with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions, working on Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He created and wrote the first episode of the animated series Galaxy High (1986-87). He made his directorial debut with the teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting (1987). He had huge success with the first Home Alone film (1990) starring Macaulay Culkin.

[edit] Return to prominence

His later directorial work includes the first two Harry Potter films, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Bicentennial Man (1999), and Rent (2005), an adaptation of the popular Broadway musical.

Commercially, he has been hugely successful, despite the occasional flop, but like his one-time mentor, Steven Spielberg, he has met with critical accusations of excessive sentimentality and catering to children.

Recently, Chris Columbus had been rumored to direct the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; this has not been confirmed by either Warner Bros. or Columbus himself.

[edit] Film credits

• Night at the Museum (2006) (producer)
• Rent (2005) (Director)
• Fantastic Four (2005) (Executive Producer)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (producer)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (exec. producer, director)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcesor's Stone (2001) (exec. producer, director)
• Bicentennial Man (1999) (producer, director)
• Stepmom (1998) (producer, director)
• Jingle All the Way (1996) (producer)
• Nine Months (1995) (producer, director, writer)
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (director)
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) (director)
• Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) (writer)
• Only the Lonely (1991) (director, writer)
• Home Alone (1990) (director)
• Heartbreak Hotel (1988) (director, writer)
• Adventures in Babysitting (1987) (director)
• Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (writer)
• The Goonies (1985) (writer)
• Gremlins (1984) (writer)

[edit] Trivia

• Chris Columbus's production company is named 1492 Pictures, which is intended as a play on Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus.
• His daughter Eleanor Columbus appeared as the character Susan Bones in the two Potter films he directed, making her the only American cast as a student. His other children, Violet and Brendan, also appeared in even more minor, unnamed cameo roles in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Eleanor also had a small cameo along with her father in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
• As of August 2006, Columbus optioned the film rights to Christopher Moore's best-selling novel A Dirty Job.[1]
• Chris was the writer and developer of the 1986 cartoon series Galaxy High

He is often credited with Mark Radcliffe (filmmaker).

[edit] External links

• Chris Columbus at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC Movies article about Chris Columbus
• The New York Times biography of Chris Columbus
• Elementary, My Dear Potter - Young Sherlock Holmes / Harry Potter article