When you sit down to watch a movie, you aren’t typically interested in who produced it. Instead your mind attaches to the big names – the director, the lead actors, etc. However, producers play an invaluable role within Hollywood, and without them you likely wouldn’t be seeing the movie at all. Some producers are more active than others, and they are responsible for the biggest movies of the past few decades. Here are just seven of the biggest Hollywood producers active today and some of the movies they are responsible for.
Ryan Kavanaugh
For the rest of the list, you’ll probably have heard of most of these producers. That’s because many famous directors also produce their movies. However, some people are strictly producers, and even though they have less household-name recognition, they are no less successful. One example of this is Ryan Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh has financed more than 200 films in his career, bringing in around $17 billion in revenue, through his company Relativity Media. This even earned him the nickname “Billion Dollar Producer”. Kavanaugh is known for his “money-ball” style approach to financing movies – although ironically, he did not finance the movie “Moneyball”. Credited as the producer on more than 60 films, Kavanaugh is one of the highest grossing producers, ranking 25th of all time.
Steven Spielberg
In addition to directing many movies, Steven Spielberg has also produced. He is behind 31 films to date, grossing over $4.4 billion dollars since the start of his career. But this success isn’t just the result of one or two large films. In fact, the average gross for his movies sits at $143 million. The largest to date goes back to the 80s with the classic film “E.T: The Extra Terrestrial”, which grossed over $435 million. Not one to rest on his past work, Spielberg has a new movie coming out soon – an adaption of West Side Story.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson is perhaps best known as the director (and producer) of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, along with their “Hobbit” prequels. These six movies were both domestic and foreign smash hits, and are a large reason why Peter Jackson is one of the most successful producers in Hollywood. However, he also has some other hits to his name, such as “The Lovely Bones” and “King Kong”. To date he’s grossed over $2.1 billion, with the largest coming from “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” at over $377 million.
Robert Zemeckis
Not far behind Peter Jackson in terms of lifetime gross is Robert Zemeckis. To date he has grossed just over $2 billion, with the biggest success coming from “Forrest Gump”, which totaled over $423 million. Some of his other notable movies include the “Back to the Future” trilogy, “Castaway” and “The Polar Express.”
James Cameron
James Cameron made a name for himself with the smash hit “Titanic”. However, this wasn’t even his highest grossing film. That came years later with “Avatar”, which at the time was the highest grossing movie of all time. He currently only has nine producing credits, but with a slew of other Avatar movies on the way, James Cameron will likely retain his position as one of Hollywood’s highest grossing producers.
Ron Howard
After getting his start on “The Andy Griffith” show, Ron Howard went on to become a household name staring in “Happy Days”. After this he largely gave up acting, and instead focused more on behind the scenes work. He’s produced 24 movies to date, averaging $79 million in revenues. While known for many films, his highest grossing movie is “The Grinch” starring Jim Carrey.
Chris Columbus
Last, but certainly not least, we have Chris Columbus. Columbus has made a name for himself as a writer, director, and a producer. Some of his most well-known producing credits include “Night at the Museum”, “The Help” and the first few “Harry Potter” movies. To date he’s grossed over $1.75 billion on all of his movies, with the highest coming from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, which grossed over $317 million. He’s also producing the next “Gremlins” movie – “Gremlins 3”, which is slated to come out in a few years.
Look Out for the Producers
So, the next time you go to see a movie, make sure you pay attention to who is producing it. There are a lot of producers out there, but some are more likely to be attached to the highest grossing movies of the year. Producers have a large say in the movies the make, and it’s no coincidence that the biggest movies seem to come from the same few producers. By seeing which movies these producers are attached to, you can get a better idea as to which movies you want to go see.
