J.J. Abrams
We have not seen J.J. Abrams in the director’s chair since 2009 when he rebooted the Star Trek franchise - in what was a great movie.
This summer sees him return with his latest project… Super 8 - and as all Abrams projects before it it has been shrouded in mystery.
Like many of his movies before this he has not gone for big high profile names on his cast with Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka and Kyle Chandler all starring. Despite the lack of a big named cast Super 8 is already being called the movie of the summer.
With his father being a television producer and his mother an executive it comes as no surprise that Abrams found himself working in the movie industry.
By the age of sixteen he wrote the music for film Nightbeast, directed by cult filmmaker Don Dohler.
But it wasn't long before he had moved into writing and an early draft, which eventually became Taking Care of Business, was snapped up by Touchstone Pictures and went on to star Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin.
And by 1998 he was juggling movies with television as he co-creator, writer, executive producer and director on Felicity, which revolved around the college experiences of the title character.
However it is within the last decade that he has really seen his star rise and he is currently one of the most exciting filmmaker working in Hollywood.
In 2001 he was back with television as he brought another new show, in the form of Alias, to the small screen taking on writer, executive producer, and director roles.
But 2006 was a huge year for the filmmaker as he directed his first movie Mission Impossible III, which saw Tom Cruise reprise the role of Ethan Hunt. The film was a massive hit grossing over $397 million at the global box office.
While Alias was a big hit he went on to create an ever bigger show in the form of Lost, which first hit out screens back in 2004.
But in his movie work he has never stuck to one genre as he left the big budget blockbuster behind in 2008 for Cloverfield.
Made on a budget of just $25 million excitement surrounding the movie gathered momentum through a huge, and very successful, viral campaign.
Despite it’s small budget and, once again, a fairly unknown cast the movie was both a critical an commercial hit as the film went on to take $170 million at the global box office.
He returned to the block buster two years ago as he rebooted the Star Trek franchise - taking the story all the way back to the beginning.
He assembled a young cast that included Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana as the Starship Enterprise set out on its maiden voyage.
And while the movie received plenty of praise from a critical perspective the movie took just $485 million worldwide - deserving to do much better. However a sequel is in the pipeline.
This week sees him team up with Steven Spielberg, who is on producing duties, for new movie Super 8.
After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.
While the Star trek sequel is the only movie he is scheduled to direct he has produced Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - which is released at the end of the year.
Super 8 is released 5th August.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw