![\"Ron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ron-Howard-Director-2025-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Sat 8 November 2025 19:45, UK <\/p>\n
Is Ron Howard<\/a> one of the greatest directors in cinema history? To be frank, no, he is not. Is Ron Howard one of the most successful directors in cinema history? Yes, he is, and he\u2019s also enjoyed a longer career behind the camera than many of his peers, which means he\u2019s allowed to separate the wheat from the chaff and settle on the septet he believes are the best of the best.<\/p>\n Only 12 filmmakers have a filmography that\u2019s earned more at the box office than the former Happy Days star, and when you remove franchises from the equation, the list grows even slimmer. Howard has only helmed two sequels in his career, Angels & Demons and Inferno<\/a>, and a Star Wars spinoff, which is fewer than almost everybody else in front of him.<\/p>\n Steven Spielberg, the Russo brothers, Peter Jackson, and JJ Abrams? Four sequels. James Cameron? Three sequels, soon to be four. David Yates? Six sequels and a spinoff. Ridley Scott? A sequel and two prequels. Michael Bay? Five sequels. That means Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, and Jon Favreau are the only names among the 13 top-earning directors of all time who\u2019ve made fewer franchise films than Howard, which makes his back catalogue all the more impressive.<\/p>\n His films don\u2019t immediately jump out as box office bonanzas, but consistency is key. Admittedly, he\u2019s not on a great run at the moment and hasn\u2019t been for a long time<\/a> after his last several features all either bombed or underperformed, but with 70 years of experience in the business and half a century behind the camera, he knows a good director when he sees one.<\/p>\n In a conversation with Brian Williams at the Tribeca Film Festival, the most wholesomely inoffensive megaphone wielder in the business recruited his own magnificent seven, naming Frank Capra, John Ford, Mike Nichols, Milo\u0161 Forman, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Greengrass, and Steven Spielberg as his favourite directors, with particular praise being lavished on two names above all others.<\/p>\n \u201cI developed a theory that in many ways, the early Andy Griffith episodes, especially, were an awful lot like a Capra movie,\u201d he explained<\/a>. \u201cThey were a lot like Mr Deeds, or a lot like It\u2019s a Wonderful Life in tone and presentation. But the first movie that I really studied was Mike Nichols\u2019 The Graduate. That was when I learned for the first time what the director\u2019s role was in not just guiding the actors, but guiding the look.\u201d<\/p>\n