From Nolan to Gerwig, a small group of filmmakers still drive box office success through name recognition and early audience buy-in. Getty Images

From Marvel to DC and Middle Earth to the Wizarding World, Hollywood has spent much of this past quarter-century serving up franchise universes as the signature theatrical offering. This stood in stark contrast to the 1970s, when singular filmmakers pushed cinema to industry-altering new critical and commercial heights. Though star power today, both in front of and behind the camera, has lost the luster of yesteryear, there still exists a small handful of filmmakers who boast drawing power all their own. 

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These storytellers have proven the rare ability to open original and/or atypical films to box office success and launch or sustain new franchises. They also consistently generate early audience excitement based on their name power while attracting highly valuable audiences to theaters. 

Intellectual property can augment the final outcome, but it is these directors who secure green lights from studios and buy-in from audiences early. As a result, they very much earn the blank checks Hollywood is eager to offer them.

Christopher Nolan

If you predicted that Oppenheimer would outgross Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk, you either boast Jean Grey-level fortune-telling ability or a remarkable penchant for lying. 

Eleven months before the Oscar-winner’s release, “Interest” among audiences aware of the upcoming film stood at a whopping 67 percent, according to Greenlight Analytics, where I work as Director of Insights & Content Strategy. “Theatrical Intent,” or those who said they planned to see the film........

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