Movies which made the names of famous directors, producers, and animators.
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Animation
- Batman: Under the Red Hood for Brandon Vietti.
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
- Despicable Me 1 for Illumination Entertainment.
- Fritz the Cat for Ralph Bakshi.
- The Garden of Sinners film series for ufotable.
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time for Mamoru Hosoda.
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights for Jay Oliva.
- Ice Age (2002) for Blue Sky Studios.
- Kirikou and the Sorceress for Michel Ocelot.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind for Hayao Miyazaki.
- Perfect Blue for Satoshi Kon.
- The Prince of Egypt or Shrek 1 for DreamWorks Animation.
- The Secret of Kells for Cartoon Saloon.
- After breaking away from Disney, Don Bluth had his breakthrough with The Secret of NIMH.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for Walt Disney in the feature-length animated film industry.
- Toy Story 1 for Pixar.
- Voices of a Distant Star for Makoto Shinkai, though Your Name elevated him to an even greater level of international mainstream notice. The latter also greatly increased RADWIMPS' visibility worldwide.
- Wonder Woman for Lauren Montgomery.
Live-Action
- 300 for Zack Snyder and his trademark style, after Dawn of the Dead gave him notice.
- The 400 Blows for François Truffaut.
- Adventures in Babysitting for Chris Columbus. Gremlins made his name as a writer.
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God for Werner Herzog.
- Alien (1979) for Ridley Scott. While his debut film The Duellists is critically well regarded, it's been largely forgotten by mainstream audiences.
- American Beauty for Sam Mendes.
- American Graffiti for George Lucas. However, Star Wars made him such a household name that it's often forgotten that it was once advertised as being "from the director of American Graffiti".
- And God Created Woman for Roger Vadim.
- Animal House for John Landis.
- Ant-Man for Peyton Reed.
- Bad Boys (1995) for Michael Bay.
- Bad Boys for Life for Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.
- Badlands (1973) for Terrence Malick.
- Beetlejuice (1988) for Tim Burton.
- A Better Tomorrow for John Woo.
- Billy Liar for John Schlesinger.
- Black Christmas for Bob Clark.
- Blood Simple for The Coen Brothers.
- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice for Paul Mazursky.
- Boogie Nights for Paul Thomas Anderson. Hard Eight, his first feature film, never made it past a limited release.
- Das Boot for Wolfgang Petersen.
- Bound for The Wachowskis.
- Breathless for Jean-Luc Godard.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier for The Russo Brothers.
- Carrie (1976) for Brian De Palma. After a series of independent studio films, Carrie became his first hit.
- The Cincinnati Kid for Norman Jewison.
- Citizen Kane for Orson Welles. Also for Bernard Herrmann.
- Clerks for Kevin Smith. It was an indie film, but it made his name and led to big-budget projects.
- Cloverfield for Matt Reeves.
- Cronos for Guillermo del Toro.
- Delicatessen for Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
- Diner for Barry Levinson.
- District 9 for Neill Blomkamp
- Do the Right Thing for Spike Lee.
- The Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) for Sergio Leone.
- Double Indemnity for Billy Wilder.
- Drive (2011) made Nicolas Winding Refn's name in Hollywood, though he was already very popular in Denmark for Pusher.
- Drugstore Cowboy for Gus Van Sant.
- Dumb and Dumber for The Farrelly Brothers.
- Elevator to the Gallows for Louis Malle.
- Eraserhead for David Lynch.
- The Evil Dead (1981) for Sam Raimi.
- Facing the Giants for the Kendrick brothers and Sherwood Pictures.
- Fanboys for Kyle Newman.
- Flashdance for Adrian Lyne.
- Fruitvale Station for Ryan Coogler.
- Get Out (2017) for Jordan Peele.
- The Godfather for Francis Ford Coppola. He won an Oscar for his screenwriting in 1970's Patton, but he was still considered an unknown quantity when he helmed The Godfather.
- Godzilla (2014) for Gareth Edwards.
- Halloween (1978) for John Carpenter. His first two films, Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), are now seen as cult classics, but Carpenter's first genuine hit was with the 1978 slasher.
- A Hard Day's Night for Richard Lester.
- Harper for William Goldman.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for David Yates.
- Iron Man (2008) for Marvel Studios.
- Jaws 1 for Steven Spielberg. It was actually his fifth film; his firsts, The Sugarland Express, and Duel and a host of other TV movies he directed are long forgotten today.
- The Killing for Stanley Kubrick.
- Klute for Alan J. Pakula.
- The Lady Vanishes for Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder.
- The Last House on the Left for Wes Craven.
- The Last Picture Show for Peter Bogdanovich.
- Laura was the film that made Otto Preminger's career as a producer-director, though he had not only directed several previous films but produced one as well (In the Meantime, Darling).
- Lethal Weapon for Shane Black.
- Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels for Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn. The latter would have his own with Layer Cake.
- The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy put Peter Jackson on the world stage, though Heavenly Creatures is the film that brought him to Hollywood.
- Mad Max 1 for George Miller.
- The Maltese Falcon for John Huston.
- The Man Who Knew Too Much for Alfred Hitchcock.
- El Mariachi and later Desperado for Robert Rodriguez.
- The Married Couple of the Year Two for Jean-Paul Rappeneau.
- M*A*S*H for Robert Altman.
- Meatballs for Ivan Reitman.
- Memento for Christopher Nolan, although he didn't really become a household name until The Dark Knight Trilogy.
- Monster's Ball for Marc Forster.
- An Officer and a Gentleman for Taylor Hackford.
- The Omen (1976) for Richard Donner.
- π for Darren Aronofsky. This indie film was lauded by critics and made his name in the industry.
- Platoon for Oliver Stone. He was an established screenwriter at the time, known for his work in Scarface (1983) and Conan the Barbarian (1982). Platoon was his first hit as a director.
- Point Blank for John Boorman.
- Predator for John McTiernan.
- Pretty Woman for Garry Marshall.
- The Producers for Mel Brooks. Blazing Saddles was a further breakthrough for him.
- Pulp Fiction for Quentin Tarantino. Reservoir Dogs became a retroactive cult classic off of the success of Pulp Fiction.
- Reach for the Sky for Lewis Gilbert.
- Ride the High Country for Sam Peckinpah.
- The Ring for Gore Verbinski.
- RoboCop for Paul Verhoeven internationally. He was well-known in the Netherlands for years.
- Romancing the Stone for Robert Zemeckis. At the time, Zemeckis was known for directing two commercial flops and writing the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979). Back to the Future (1985) was a further breakthrough for him afterward.
- Rosemary's Baby for Roman Polański.
- Rush Hour for Brett Ratner.
- Rushmore for Wes Anderson.
- Saturday Night Fever for John Badham. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars, his first film, went largely unnoticed.
- Scanners for David Cronenberg.
- Scarface for Howard Hawks.
- Scooby-Doo (2002) for James Gunn (writing).
- Sense and Sensibility (1995) for Ang Lee in Hollywood.
- Se7en for David Fincher.
- sex, lies, and videotape for Steven Soderbergh.
- Shallow Grave for Danny Boyle.
- Sixteen Candles for John Hughes, though Mr. Mom made his name as a writer.
- The Sixth Sense for M. Night Shyamalan.
- Splash for Ron Howard as a director. Night Shift was a moderate hit for him, but is today remembered for That's What Friends Are For, which became a future hit collaboration for Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight.
- Strictly Ballroom for Baz Luhrmann
- Swingers for Doug Liman and Jon Favreau.
- Taxi Driver for Martin Scorsese. He had two major releases prior to the film: Mean Streets and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The former, while highly praised and a modern-day classic, was a flop upon release, whereas the latter, although more successful and Oscar-winning, didn't exactly have Scorsese's directorial work at the center of the acclaim. Taxi Driver is viewed as the film that made him a household name.
- The Terminator for James Cameron.
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for Tobe Hooper.
- They Shoot Horses, Don't They? for Sydney Pollack.
- This Is Spın̈al Tap for Rob Reiner.
- Three Kings for David O. Russell. He enjoyed an even more successful period starting with The Fighter in 2010.
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot for Michael Cimino.
- Time Bandits for Terry Gilliam.
- Top Gun for Tony Scott.
- The Toxic Avenger for Lloyd Kaufman.
- 12 Angry Men for Sidney Lumet.
- The Usual Suspects for Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie.
- Les Valseuses for Bertrand Blier.
- The Warriors for Walter Hill.
- What's New Pussycat? for Woody Allen. As a writer/director, it was Take the Money and Run.
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for Mike Nichols.
- Women in Love for Ken Russell.