A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same fictional universe as a previous work, usually chronologically following the events of that work.

In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear in a number of stories. Although the difference between more than one sequel and a series is somewhat arbitrary, it is clear that some media franchises have enough sequels to become a series, whether originally planned as such or not.

Sequels are attractive to creators and to publishers because there is less risk involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new and untested characters and settings. Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing.

In movies, sequels are common. There are many name formats for sequels. Usually, they either have unrelated titles, such as ''The Jewel of the Nile'', the sequel to ''Romancing the Stone'', or the same title as the original, but with a number added, as in ''Lethal Weapon 2'', sequel to ''Lethal Weapon''. Sometimes such titles have subtitles as well (e.g. ''Home Alone 2: Lost in New York''). It is also common for a sequel to have a variation of the original title (such as ''Men of Boys Town'', sequel to ''Boys Town''). In the 1930s, many musical sequels had the year included in the title (''Gold Diggers of 1933''), in the style of Broadway revues such as the ''Ziegfeld Follies''.

Chronologies

There are a number of ways that subsequent works can be related to the chronology of the original. Various neologisms have been coined to describe them.

Sequel

The most common approach is for the events of the second work to directly follow the events of the first, either picking up dangling plot threads or introducing a new conflict to drive the events of a second story.

Prequel

A sequel that portrays events which ''precede'' those of the original work is called a "prequel." These can often avoid the plot problems associated with having to deal with the consequences of the original (e.g. the death of an important character). However, they pose the challenge of maintaining dramatic interest when the outcome is already known from the original work, so the focus is usually on the character interactions or revealing how the characters and situations of the original work developed. Examples are

the ''Yoshi's Island'' video games, that follow the ''Super Mario World'' games (as ''Yoshi's Island'' began with ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'') but take place ''before'' the events of the ''Mario'' franchise, when the Mario Bros. were babies

''Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins'', a story of how the "Mystery Inc." met

''Star Wars'' episodes I, II and III, the "prequel trilogy". The original trilogy comprised episodes IV-VI, in a sequence that was partially planned before the release of the first film. (See also ''Episode IV'' opening crawl.)

''Psycho IV: The Beginning'', taking place before ''Psycho'' and its sequels

''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'', taking place before ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''.

Interquel

When there are already two or more completed works, an interquel can portray events which happen between them, bridging one story to the other. The interquel is therefore a sequel to one work and a prequel to another.

For example, the video game ''Metroid Prime'' and its sequels were released after ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid II'', but take place between them. Another example is Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge which took place in the middle of Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, but was released after them.

In film, the short film ''Rings'' bridges the events of ''The Ring'' and ''The Ring Two''. This is more common in ancillary works in other media rather than works in a popular series. For example, the novel ''The Godfather Returns'' takes place between the events of the films ''The Godfather'' and ''The Godfather Part II'', and the story of the 2008 animated film ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (as well as the series) takes place between ''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones'' and ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''.

===Midquel=== A midquel is a sequel which can take place during a chronology gap ''within'' a single previously completed work. For example, the Narnia book ''The Horse and His Boy'' takes place during the reign of the Pevensie children, which happens towards the end of ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''. Other midquels would be the films ''Bambi II'', which starts out shortly after the death of the young deer's mother in ''Bambi'' but before the later scenes in which he is an adult; and ''Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas'', which takes place during Belle's initial captivity. The video game ''Resident Evil 2'' takes place during a brief interlude in its sequel ''Resident Evil 3: Nemesis''; the video game ''Daxter'' takes place during a two-year gap in ''Jak II'', between the moments when the character of Jak is taken prisoner and when he is rescued. The film ''Saw IV'' takes place during the events of ''Saw III''. The game ''Halo 3: ODST'' takes place during the events of ''Halo 2'' from an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper's perspective on Earth. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, ''The Han Solo Adventures'' take place entirely within the events of the novel ''Rebel Dawn'', which itself ends after the start of ''A New Hope''. The game ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'' takes place during ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'', and, briefly, there is a scene which ends it at the start of ''Kingdom Hearts II''.

Parallel

A Parallel can portray the events of a previously completed work from another perspective. As with a prequel, the focus is not on the outcome, but on the characters and previously unrevealed information. For example, the novel ''Ender's Shadow'' covers the events of the previous novel ''Ender's Game'' from the point of view of a supporting character in the original. The film ''The Lion King 1½'' is a "parallel" of ''The Lion King''; the same story is told, only from the point of view of Timon and Pumbaa, secondary characters in the original film. Similarly, the animated short ''BURN-E'' found as a special feature on the ''WALL-E'' DVD, tells the story of a maintenance robot set during, and interacting with, the events of the feature presentation. The first three novels in author ''E. E. Knight'''s Age of Fire series all take place at the same time, yet each book is told from a different character's point of view, the first, Dragon Champion, from grey scaleless dragon Auron's; the second, Dragon Avenger, from his sister Wistala; and the third, Dragon Outcast, from his unnamed copper brother. The video game Grand Theft Auto IV's expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony feature events that occur concurrently with the main storyline, from the perspectives of two new protagonists, with their three respective stories intersecting at various points.

''Back to the Future Part II'' played around with the parallel concept by having the protagonist, Marty McFly, go back in time and watch the events of the first movie from a different angle, while never actually changing the effects of what happened.

Distant

Sometimes there is a large chronological interval between the events in a completed work and its sequel. This can allow the creators additional freedom, since the characters and settings will not be expected to have as much in common. A distant sequel allows time for new conflicts to develop, and a distant prequel need not directly establish the setting for the original. ''Speaker for the Dead'' is an extreme example of this, set 3,000 years after the novel ''Ender's Game''. Some of the sequels and prequels in the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' series are separated by centuries in the chronology of the fantasy land or decades in the chronology of the real world. The series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' follows the events of the original ''Star Trek'' by nearly a century. The Legend of Zelda video game series takes place over several hundred years, with many installments featuring various reincarnations of the characters Link and Zelda, who fight the antagonist Ganon, though some games are direct continuations of others. Some issues of the Tales of video game franchise, namely Tales of Symphonia immediately followed by its sequel, Dawn of the New World, and Tales of Phantasia, take place in the same location but very spaced in time. The video game Mother 3 takes place in an era very distant from Mother 2, though it is never stated exactly how long. In this example, only 2 characters return via time travel, with others only mentioned vaguely. More moderate chronological distances can result from works being set in "the present" but released years apart, such as ''The Terminator'' and its sequels, released in 1984, 1991, 2003 and 2009.

Spin-off

A variety of sequel that allows substantial creative freedom is one that is set in the same fictional universe as the original work, but with unrelated plots, and sometimes unrelated characters. One example of this is the Grand Theft Auto series, which contains a multitude of games, each of which follows a different character and storyline, but are set in the same fictional universe. Many of Kevin Smith's films take place in the same continuity, commonly referred to as the View Askewniverse, after his production company, although most feature characters only loosely connected to each other, like most characters common association with characters Jay and Silent Bob and having grown up in the same town, characters also frequently reference prominent events from other movies in passing. Screenwriter David Peoples described his film ''Soldier'' as a "sidequel" to ''Blade Runner'' (which he co-wrote) . When done with the intention of launching a new series of stories, these are often called "spin-offs."

Companion piece

A companion piece is a creative work that is produced as a complementary work to another stand-alone project, but storywise has nothing to do with its predecessor. While a companion piece does not necessarily need to take place within the same "universe" as the predecessor, it must follow-up on specific themes and ideas introduced in the original work. It must also be intentionally meant by its creator to be viewed alongside or within the same context as the earlier work. Examples would include ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' (Clint Eastwood's companion piece to his earlier picture, ''Flags of Our Fathers'') which saw the same events taking place from a different perspective, the ''Road to...'' pictures starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope, and films featuring the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, or the Tramp. Another example is Stephanie Meyer's ''Midnight Sun'' which is a project that has been on hold. Another would be ''Fantasia 2000'', which uses the basic ideas of and some elements from ''Fantasia''.

Reboot

A reboot is a term often used for a sequel that is not in continuity with the episode or episodes that were released before it. It is often used in media franchises; for example, the ''James Bond'' series has been rebooted with the film ''Casino Royale'', the ''Batman'' film series with ''Batman Begins'', the ''Spider-Man'' film series's upcoming 2012 film, and the ''Star Trek'' film series with the 2009 film, ''Star Trek''. In television, the 2004 TV series ''Battlestar Galactica'' was termed a "reimagining" of the original 1978 series. It has also been used for the ''Spyro'' video game series with a reboot known as ''The Legend of Spyro''.

Stand-alone sequels

When sequels are set in the same universe but have little or no reference to their predecessors, the work is called a stand-alone sequel. This is often the case of direct-to-video films that follow up on semi-successful works, though there are some mainstream films that are stand-alone. Examples include ''White Noise: The Light'', ''Boogeyman 2'', ''Home Alone 3'', ''The X-Files: I Want to Believe'', George A. Romero's subsequent ''Dead'' sequels after ''Night of the Living Dead'', and ''City of Men''. Another example would be the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Each of the original stories exist in the same universe, but are all treated as stand alone adventures and can be read in almost any order. A notable example in video games is the ''Quake'' series as well as many of the games in the Final Fantasy series, Legend of Zelda series and the Super Mario series. These works often do not require viewers to encounter the previous installments in order to understand them. ''Batman Forever'' is a stand alone sequel as the film is campy compared to its dark predecessors, its only reference to its predecessor ''Batman Returns'' is Dr. Meridian Chase's line "Or do I need skin tight vinyl and a whip?"

History

It is impossible to say for sure when the history of the sequel begins, as the concept of the sequel in its loosest definition has presumably existed since the advent of storytelling itself. In The Afterlife of a Character, David Brewer coined the term “imaginative expansion” to describe a reader’s desire to “see more,” or to know what happens next in a narrative after it has ended. This capacity for expansive curiosity is certainly not restricted to a particular era in human history. Indeed, we can point to Homer’s ‘’Odyssey’’ as a sequel to the ‘’Iliad’’ in the sense that it expands upon plot and character elements established in the first text. That both the Odyssey and the Iliad were written in the 8th century B.C.E. and are traditionally held to represent the first extant works of western literature lends credence to the ubiquity of sequels in literary history. The Judeo-Christian Bible is also a common referent in that sense; many of the works included in the Hebrew Scriptures can be classified as sequels in that they continue and expand on a very general narrative that is pre-established by previous books in the same collection. In addition, the development of an official canon allows for the distinction between official and unofficial sequels; in this context, apocrypha might be considered an early form of informal sequel literature. Sequels, then, become an important facet of Western literature throughout history. It’s worth noting the medieval genre of Romance in particular, which contains massive networks of prequel and sequel literature.

Sequels of the Novel

The origin of the sequel as we think of it today developed from the novella and romance traditions in a slow process that culminated towards the end of the 17th century (see: novel).

The substantial shift towards a rapidly growing print culture and the rise of the market system by the early 18th-century meant that an author’s merit and livelihood became increasingly linked to the number of copies of a work he or she could sell. This shift to a text-based to an author-centered reading culture led to the “professionalization” of the author— that is, the development of a “sense of identity based on a marketable skill and on supplying to a defined public a specialized service it was demanding.” In one sense, then, sequels became a means to profit further from previous work that had already obtained some measure of commercial success. As the establishment of a readership became increasingly important to the economic viability of authorship, sequels offered a means to establish a recurring economic outlet.

In addition to economic profit, the sequel was also used as a method to strengthen an author’s claim to his literary property. With weak copyright laws and unscrupulous booksellers willing to sell whatever they could, in some cases the only way to prove ownership of a text was to produce another like it. Sequels in this sense are rather limited in scope, as the authors are focused on producing “more of the same” to defend their “literary paternity.” As is true throughout history, sequels to novels provided an opportunity for authors to interact with a readership. This becomes especially important in the economy of the 18th century novel, in which an author needed to draw readers back with the promise of more of what they liked from the original in order to maintain readership. With sequels, therefore, came the implicit division of readers by authors into the categories of “desirable” and “undesirable”—that is, those that interpret the text in a way unsanctioned by the author. Only after having achieved a significant reader base would an author was free to alienate or ignore the “undesirable” readers.

This concept of “undesirable” readers extends to unofficial sequels with the 18th century novel. While in certain historical contexts unofficial sequels were actually the norm (for an example, see Arthurian literature), with the emphasis on the author function that arises in conjunction with the novel many authors began to see these kinds of unauthorized extensions as being in direct conflict with authorial authority. With Don Quixote (an early novel, perhaps better classified as a satirical romance), for example, Cervantes disapproved of Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda’s use of his characters in “Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,” an unauthorized sequel. In response, he very firmly kills the protagonist at the end of the Second Part to discourage any more such creative liberties. Another example is Samuel Richardson, an 18th-century author that responded particularly strongly against the appropriation of his material by unauthorized third parties. Richardson was extremely vocal in his disapproval of the way the protagonist of his novel ‘’Pamela’’ was repeatedly incorporated into unauthorized sequels featuring particularly lewd plots. The most famous of these is Henry Fielding’s parody, entitled “Shamela.”

Gender and The 18th Century Sequel

In “To Renew Their Former Acquaintance: Print, Gender, and Some Eighteenth Century Sequels” Betty Schellenburg theorizes that whereas for male writers in the 18th century sequels often served as “models of paternity and property,” for women writers these models were more likely to be seen as transgressive. Instead, the unique recurring readership created by sequels allowed female writers to function within the model of “familiar acquaintances reunited to enjoy the mutual pleasures of conversation,” which allowed writing to be perceived as an “activity within a private, non-economic sphere.” Ironically, of course, it was through this created perception that women writers were able to break into the economic sphere and “enhance their professional status” through authorship.

Dissociated from the motives of profit and therefore unrestrained by the need for continuity felt by male writers, Schellenburg argues that female-authored sequel fiction tended to have a much broader scope. Women writers showed an “innovative freedom” that male writers rejected in order to “protect their patrimony.” For example, Sarah Fielding Sarah Fielding’s Adventures of David Simple and its sequels Familiar Letters between the Principle Characters in David Simple and David Simple, Volume the Last are extremely innovative and cover almost the entire range of popular narrative styles of the 18th century.

Sequels in videogames

Sequels in videogames started in the early 1980s (for example, games such as ''Super Pac-Man'' in 1982). As software development costs have increased, sequels have become increasingly important for the video game industry, as they provide a way to resell a product, reusing code and graphics.

Media franchises

In some cases, the characters or setting of an original film or video game become so valuable that they develop into a media franchise. Generally a whole series of sequels is made, along with merchandising. Multiple sequels are often planned well in advance and actors and directors may sign extended contracts to ensure their participation.

Box office impact vs. original movie

Although movie sequels do not always do as well at the box office as the original, they tend to do much better than non-sequels, according to a study in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Business Research. The shorter the period between releases, the better the sequel will do at the box office. Sequels also show a faster drop in weekly revenues relative to non-sequels.

Media shifting

Sequels are most often produced in the same medium as the previous work (e.g. a film sequel is usually a sequel to another film). Producing sequels to a work in another medium has recently become common, especially when the new medium is less costly or time-consuming to produce.

A sequel to a popular but discontinued television series may be produced in another medium, thereby bypassing whatever factors led to the series cancellation. Noteworthy examples include the Star Trek films, ''Serenity'' (based on the ''Firefly'' series), and ''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''. The ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' television series was continued after ending its run in 2003 for another "season" as a comic book. The ''Buffy'' series was itself a continuation of the unsuccessful film ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The ''Gargoyles'' television series' comic book series, written by series creator, Greg Weisman, was written with a specific agenda to supplant the events of the television property's derided ''Goliath Chronicles'' phase.

Some highly popular movies and television series have inspired the production of multiple novel sequels, sometimes rivaling or even dwarfing the volume of works in the original medium. An ongoing series of novels (largely interquels) begun in the 1970s were based on the original ''Star Trek'' series, with more following with the sequel films and TV series. The novels and graphic novels in the ''Star Wars'' Expanded Universe are sequels, prequels, and interquels to the films.

Computer games are an increasingly common medium for sequels to films. ''The Matrix Online'', ''Stranglehold'', and ''Scarface: The World Is Yours'' are sequels to the films ''The Matrix'', ''Hard Boiled'', and ''Scarface'', respectively.

Whether these alternate-medium sequels are considered canonical, varies. Bungie Studios, the developer of the ''Halo'' video games, considers the novel sequels to be canonical. The novels, comics, video games, and other media that comprise the Star Wars Expanded Universe are divided into tiers of canonicity by Lucasfilm, the films' production company, though the subject is often debated amongst fans. Likewise, novel sequels to the film ''Blade Runner'' are authorized and officially considered canonical, but the issue is also a topic of debate amongst fans.

Unofficial sequels

Sometimes sequels are produced without the consent of the creator of the original work. These may be dubbed unofficial, informal, unauthorized, or illegitimate sequels. In some cases, the work is in the public domain, and there is no legal obstacle to producing sequels, for example Jean Rhys wrote ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' as a parallel to ''Jane Eyre''. In other cases, the original creator or their heirs may assert copyrights and challenge the creators of the sequels. For example, the estate of Margaret Mitchell sued over Alice Randall's novel ''The Wind Done Gone'', a parallel of ''Gone with the Wind'' told from the perspective of the slaves; it was successfully defended as parody. Unofficial sequels to works that are still under copyright may change the names of the characters and alter the settings in an attempt to avoid legal action.

Sequel titles

The producers of sequels have taken a variety of approaches to titling their works.

In the early years of film, sequels were generally given titles similar to the original and usually made use of the main character's name. When the William Powell-Myrna Loy mystery film ''The Thin Man'' (1934) turned out to be a hit, the studio produced several more films featuring the characters, such as ''After the Thin Man'' and ''The Thin Man Goes Home'', even though the original "thin man" was the subject of the mystery and not the detective. After the success of ''A Family Affair'' (1937), there came a whole series of films starring Mickey Rooney reprising the Andy Hardy character in titles such as ''Love Finds Andy Hardy'' and ''Andy Hardy Meets Debutante''.

On the other hand, early sequels in world cinema often lacked any particular naming schemes. For example, the three films in Satyajit Ray's ''The Apu Trilogy'' (1955–1959) had unrelated titles: ''Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)'', ''Aparajito (The Unvanquished)'', and ''Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)''. Similarly, Akira Kurosawa's ''Sanjuro'' (1962) also had an unrelated name from its predecessor ''Yojimbo (The Bodyguard)'' (1961). Sergio Leone's ''Dollars Trilogy'' also lacked a naming scheme for its titles: ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), ''For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), and ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (1966).

The James Bond franchise stuck to the titles of Ian Fleming's novels until they ran out, then fashioned new titles with similar forms, none of which use the name "James Bond 007" or a number. ''The Pink Panther'' series started out with a different title for each (''The Pink Panther'', ''A Shot in the Dark'', ''Inspector Clouseau'') in the 1960s. When the series was later resumed, the new approach was to append phrases to ''The Pink Panther'', many of which came from classic horror films, i.e. ''Son of Frankenstein'', ''The Mummy's Curse''. Even if the actual Pink Panther diamond that the series takes its name from is not involved in a given sequel, they were named ''The Return of the Pink Panther'', ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', ''Revenge of the Pink Panther'', ''Trail of the Pink Panther'', ''Curse of the Pink Panther'', and ''Son of the Pink Panther'' to clearly associate them with each other.

Numbered sequels (particularly using Roman numerals) became very popular in films and video games in the 1970s and 1980s. ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974) was the first major motion picture to use ''Part II'' in the title. The success of ''The Godfather, Part II'' began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels; the first sequel to designate itself as such simply by using a number in the title was 1975's ''French Connection II'', and the trend continued with films such as ''Rocky II'', ''Jaws 2'' and ''Halloween II''. Occasionally, a homophonous word is substituted for the number, such as in the case of ''Look Who's Talking Too'', the sequel to ''Look Who's Talking'', or the upcoming film ''Fletch Won'', which is a prequel to the film ''Fletch''. As sequels developed a reputation of being inferior to the original works, the numbering of sequels became less common, or sometimes used for humorous effect. ''Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult'' is simply the third in the ''Naked Gun'' series. ''Leonard Part 6'' had no predecessors, while ''History of the World, Part I'' was made with no intention for a sequel. Many sequels use subtitles instead of numbers or in addition to them, such as ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', ''Underworld: Evolution'', ''X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''. In other cases, sequels use titles similar to their predecessors, such as ''Analyze This'' sequel ''Analyze That'', ''Meet the Parents'' sequel ''Meet the Fockers'', and ''Night of the Living Dead'' sequel ''Dawn of the Dead''. Some such titles give a playful nod to the numbering practice, as with ''The Whole Nine Yards'' sequel ''The Whole Ten Yards'', ''101 Dalmatians'' sequel ''102 Dalmatians'', or ''Ocean's Eleven'' sequels ''Ocean's Twelve'' and ''Ocean's Thirteen''.

Throughout this period of numbered sequels, like-named sequels remained somewhat popular, and sometimes the original film was renamed when it was released on home video to match the naming of the sequels. What was once known as ''Star Wars'' is now known as ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope''. Similarly, ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is known in its current video release as ''Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark'' to better align it with its prequel and sequel, and the DVD of ''Pitch Black'' was renamed ''The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black'' to help promote it as a predecessor to its sequel ''The Chronicles of Riddick''.

With the rise of pre-planned series such as ''The Lord of the Rings'', filmmakers turned more to long titles that include the franchise name and the title of the film separated by a colon. Examples of these include ''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' and ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''.

Sequel-naming in translation varies. Following the success of ''Home Alone'' in Germany (German title: ''Allein zu Haus'', or ''Alone at Home''), some of Macaulay Culkin's other films were retitled to capitalize on the success (''Uncle Buck'' became ''Allein mit Onkel Buck'', or ''Alone with Uncle Buck''), even though the two films were not linked in the same continuity. When ''Dawn of the Dead'' was released in Italy under the title ''Zombi'', a similar but unrelated Italian film was in production, which was released as ''Zombi 2''.

Numbers in the titles of sequels sometimes indicate the order in which the sequel was produced, regardless of the chronological events in the story. For example, the video game ''Devil May Cry 3'' was the third title in the ''Devil May Cry'' series to be produced, though it is a prequel that takes place before the events of ''Devil May Cry'' and ''Devil May Cry 2''. ''Devil May Cry 4'' is set between the original game and ''Devil May Cry 2''. However, while the sequel to the Japanese movie ''Ring'' was called ''Ring 2'', the subsequent prequel was ''Ring 0''.

Occasionally a work is designated as a sequel to an unrelated but similar work strictly for marketing purposes. After releasing the computer game ''Quake'', developer id Software decided to name its next game ''Quake II'', despite the fact that the two games are completely unrelated. ''Quake III'' is also unrelated to either of the previous ''Quake'' games, although ''Quake 4'' continues the story of ''Quake II''. A further example is Capcom's ''Street Fighter 2010'', which had nothing to do with any of the other ''Street Fighter'' games.

In recent years, many sequels have been given the name of the title character, to imply a new beginning for a series. This is commonly known as a "Stallone," for the actor who has given such outstanding examples of this nomenclature. The sixth Rocky film was titled ''Rocky Balboa''; the fourth Rambo movie, following on from ''First Blood'', ''Rambo: First Blood Part II'', and ''Rambo III'' was called ''Rambo''. Another example of a film to utilize a "Stallone" is the sixth St Trinian's film, titled ''St Trinian's''. In a similar trend, the third sequel to ''The Fast and the Furious'' was simply named ''Fast & Furious'', while the fourth sequel to ''Final Destination'' was named ''The Final Destination''.

Yet another form of titling is the use of the plural version of the original work's title, as in ''Aliens'', the sequel to ''Alien'', and ''Predators'', a sequel to ''Predator''.

Though very seldom, a proper sequel, and not a reboot, may have exactly the same title as the original work, with none of the variations mentioned above. The 2009 film ''Star Trek'', is one such case; by means of a time travel plot it is at once a prequel, sequel and reboot to the 1960's television series of exactly the same name. An even clearer example is the 2011 film ''The Thing'', which is a prequel to the 1982 film with the exact same title. Likewise the 2006 video game ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' is set later in the same continuity as the first game in the series, 1991's ''Sonic the Hedgehog''.

See also

Cliffhanger

Film series

List of video game franchises

List of film sequels by box-office improvement

Prequel

Spiritual successor

Tetralogy

Trilogy

References

External links

''Slate'': "The Midas Formula (How to create a billion-dollar movie franchise)"

''Box Office Mojo'': Film franchise earning comparison

Category:Narrative forms Category:Film and video terminology * Category:Continuity (fiction)

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Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Name	David Blaine
Birth name	David Blaine White
Birth date	April 04, 1973
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Illusionist & Endurance arntist
Years active	1997–present
Website	David Blaine }}

David Blaine (born David Blaine White; April 4, 1973) is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records. Theatre owner James Nederlander as well as ''The New York Times'' have referred to Blaine as a modern day Houdini.

Early life

Blaine was born David Blaine White in Brooklyn, New York and is of Puerto Rican descent on his father's side, and Russian Jewish on his mother's. His mother, Patrice Maureen White (1946–1995), was a school teacher living in New York, and his father William Perez was a Vietnam veteran. When he was four years old, he saw a magician performing magic on the subway. This sparked an interest in Blaine. He was raised by his single mother and attended many schools in Brooklyn. When he was ten years old, his mother married John Bukalo and they moved to Little Falls, New Jersey, where he attended Passaic Valley Regional High School. He has a half-brother named Michael James Bukalo. When he was 17 years old, Blaine moved to Manhattan, New York.

Personal life

Blaine and his fiancee Alizee Guinochet have one daughter born on January 27, 2011. At the time that Guinochet went into labor, there was a massive blizzard where they lived in New York. Due to the intense weather, no cars or taxis were on the road, so Blaine had to hail a snowplow, which transported the couple to the hospital.

Stunts and specials

''Street Magic'' and ''Magic Man''

On May 19, 1997, Blaine's first television special, ''David Blaine: Street Magic'' aired on the ABC network. According to the New York ''Daily News'', “Blaine can lay claim to his own brand of wizardry. The magic he offers in tonight’s show operates on an uncommonly personal level.” When asked about his performance style, David explained, “I'd like to bring magic back to the place it used to be 100 years ago.”' ''Time'' magazine commented, "his deceptively low-key, ultracool manner leaves spectators more amazed than if he'd razzle-dazzled." The concept of focusing on spectator reactions (for example, in his rendition of the Balducci levitation) changed the way that magic has been shown on TV. ''The New York Times'' wrote, “He's taken a craft that's been around for hundreds of years and done something unique and fresh with it." Penn Jillette, of ''Penn & Teller'', stated, "the biggest break through done in our lifetime was David Blaine's 'Street Magic,' where his idea was to do really simple tricks but to concentrate... to turn the camera around on the people watching instead of the people doing. So to make the audience watch the audience, which that first special 'Street Magic,' is the best TV magic special ever done and really, really does break new ground."

In ''Magic Man'', Blaine is shown traveling across the country, entertaining unsuspecting pedestrians in New York City, Atlantic City, Dallas, San Francisco, Compton, and the Mojave Desert recorded by a small crew with handheld cameras. Jon Racherbaumer commented, "Make no mistake about it, the focus of this show, boys and girls, is not Blaine. It is really about theatrical proxemics; about the show-within-a-show and the spontaneous, visceral reactions of people being astonished." ''USA Today'' calls David “The hottest name in magic right now”.

''Buried Alive''

On April 5, 1999, Blaine was entombed in an underground plastic box underneath a 3-ton water-filled tank for seven days across from Trump Place on 68th St. and Riverside Drive. According to CNN, "Blaine's only communication to the outside world was by a hand buzzer, which could have alerted an around-the-clock emergency crew standing by." BBC News reported that the cramped plastic coffin offered six inches (152 mm) of headroom and two inches on each side. During the endurance stunt Blaine ate nothing and drank only two to three tablespoons of water a day. An estimated 75,000 people visited the site, including Marie Blood, Harry Houdini's niece, who said, "My uncle did some amazing things, but he could not have done this." On the final day of the stunt, April 12, hundreds of news teams were stationed at the site for the coffin-opening. A team of construction workers removed a portion of the of gravel surrounding the six-foot-deep coffin before a crane lifted the water tank. Blaine emerged and told the crowd "I saw something very prophetic ... a vision of every race, every religion, every age group banding together, and that made all this worthwhile." BBC News stated, "The 26-year-old magician has outdone his hero, Harry Houdini, who had planned a similar feat but died in 1926 before he could perform it." During the preparation of the stunt, Jonathan Demme told ''Time Out New York,'' “He’s the most exciting thing in America ... And I’m not just talking entertainment.”

''Frozen in Time''

On November 27, 2000, Blaine began a stunt called "Frozen in Time", which was covered on a TV special. Blaine stood encased in a massive block of ice located in Times Square, New York City. He was lightly dressed and seen to be shivering even before the blocks of ice were sealed around him. A tube supplied him with air and water while his urine was removed with another tube. He was encased in the box of ice for 63 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds before being removed with chain saws. The ice was transparent and resting on an elevated platform to show that he was actually inside the ice the entire time. CNN confirmed that "thousands of people braved the pouring rain Wednesday night to catch a glimpse of Blaine as workers cut away at the ice." He was removed from the ice in an obviously dazed and disoriented state, wrapped in blankets and taken to the hospital immediately because doctors feared he might be going into shock. ''The New York Times'' reported, "The magician who emerged from the increasingly unstable ice box seemed a shadow of the confident, robust, shirtless fellow who entered two days before." Blaine said in the documentary follow-up to this feat that it took a month before he was able to walk again and that he had no plans to ever again attempt a stunt of this difficulty.

''Vertigo''

On May 22, 2002, a crane lifted Blaine onto a 100-foot (30 m) high and 22-inch (0.56 m) wide pillar in Bryant Park, New York City. Although he was not harnessed to the pillar, there were two retractable handles on either side of him to grasp in the event of harsh weather. The ''Evening Standard'''s James Langton wrote, "He was battered by high winds and unusually cold May weather during his first night and would have been killed or seriously injured if he had fallen." He remained on the pillar for exactly 35 hours. ''The New Yorker''’s Adam Gopnik wrote, “David Blaine, standing up there, is actually as good a magical metaphor for the moment as Houdini, fighting his way out of the straitjacket of immigrant identity toward prosperity, was for his." With his legs weak from standing atop the pillar for so long, he ended the feat by jumping down onto a landing platform made out of a 12-foot (3.7 m) high pile of cardboard boxes and suffered a mild concussion.

''Mysterious Stranger''

On October 29, 2002, Random House published David Blaine's ''Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic''. Part autobiography, part history of magic, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also includes instructions on how to perform card tricks and illusions. Editing director, Bruce Tracy, explains “David Blaine is the most exciting and creative magician since Houdini, and now, readers have the opportunity to enjoy Blaine's unique book about magic, and they can participate by testing their own ability to discover and interpret clues.”

The treasure hunt, Blaine's $100,000 Challenge, was devised by game designer Cliff Johnson, creator of ''The Fool's Errand'', and solved by Sherri Skanes on March 20, 2004, 16 months after the book's publication.

''Above the Below''

On September 5, 2003, Blaine began his 44-day endurance stunt sealed inside a transparent Plexiglas case suspended 9 metres (30 ft) in the air next to Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames, the area between City Hall and Tower Bridge in London. The case, measuring by by , had a webcam installed so that viewers could observe his progress. During the 44-day period, Blaine went without any food or nutrients and survived on just 4.5 litres of water per day.

The endurance stunt became the subject of much media attention. ''The Guardian'' wrote, "Blaine has created one of the most eloquent and telling visual images of our time." ''The Times'' reported that "1,614 articles in the British press have made reference to the exploit." Then U.S. President George W. Bush referred to Blaine’s stunt in a speech at the Whitehall Palace in London, saying “The last noted American to visit London stayed in a glass box dangling over the Thames. A few might have been happy to provide similar arrangements for me.”

A number of spectators were mischievous or hostile towards the endurance artist. ''The Times'' reported that eggs, lemons, sausages, bacon, water bottles, beer cans, paint-filled balloons and golf balls had all been thrown at the box. The ''Evening Standard'' reported that one man was arrested for attempting to spike the water supply to Blaine's box with monkey urine. According to BBC News, a hamburger was flown up to the box by a remote-controlled helicopter as a taunt.

On September 25, BBC News reported that Blaine announced via webcam that he was feeling the taste of pear drops on his tongue. Dr. Adam Carey, who performed a medical examination of Blaine before he entered the box, said that the taste was produced by ketones produced by the body burning fatty acids, which are themselves produced from fat reserves.

Blaine emerged on schedule on October 19, murmuring "I love you all!" and was quickly hospitalized. The New England Journal of Medicine published a paper that documented his 44 day fast and stated that his re-feeding was perhaps the most dangerous part of the stunt. The study reported, “He lost 24.5 kg (25 percent of his original body weight), and his body mass index dropped from 29.0 to 21.6. His appearance and body-mass index after his fast would not by themselves have alerted us to the risks of refeeding. Despite cautious management, he had hypophosphatemia and fluid retention, important elements of the refeeding syndrome.” The event was filmed by director, and close friend of Blaine, Harmony Korine.

''Drowned Alive''

On May 17, 2006, Blaine was submerged in an diameter, water-filled sphere (isotonic saline, 0.9% salt) in front of the Lincoln Center in New York City for a planned seven days and seven nights, using tubes for air and nutrition. During the stunt, doctors witnessed skin breakdown at the hands and feet, and liver failure. The New York Times' Kenneth Silverman wrote "his feat of endurance brought a diverse crowd of thousands of New Yorkers together, renewing for a while the city's waning spirit of democratic community."

He concluded this event by attempting to hold his breath underwater to break the then-current world record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds held by Tom Sietas for static apnea—holding one's breath without the aid of breathing 100% oxygen beforehand, although Blaine's attempt would not have qualified as static apnea under AIDA International rules. Due to his producers' request to make the show more exciting, Blaine attempted to free himself from handcuffs and chains put on him upon coming out after the week in the sphere. He seemed to have trouble escaping from the last of the handcuffs. Around the 7 minute mark, he showed some signs of distress. He was pulled up and out of the water by his support divers after 7 minutes and 12 seconds underwater—one minute and fifty seconds short of his goal. Although he did not take home the record for breath holding, he was called “an everyday hero for an everyday age,” by ''The Boston Globe'', and ''The Washington Post'' stated, “Blaine represented an opportunity to see something unbelievable.”

Blaine did claim to succeed in setting a record for being fully submerged in water for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, and has since broken the record for holding one's breath using oxygen beforehand (as permitted by the Guinness book of records).

Blaine underwent multiple short hospital visits after the stunt ended and has entered an agreement with doctors from Yale University to monitor him in order to study the human physiological reaction to prolonged submersion. In an interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'' on Sirius satellite radio, Blaine spoke of the week-long fasting he did before the "drowning alive" stunt, to avoid having to be concerned with defecation.

''Revolution''

On November 19, 2006, Blaine announced his next stunt: he would be shackled to a rotating gyroscope. His goal was to escape from his shackles after the gyroscope had been spinning for 16 hours. The gyroscope was constantly spinning at a rate of eight revolutions per minute while hanging above an empty lot in Manhattan near Times Square.

The stunt began on November 21, 2006, with Blaine declaring, "This one's exciting for me. This one's a fun one." 52 hours later, without food or water, a dehydrated and weakened Blaine landed on a wooden platform below after jumping from the hanging gyroscope.

As a result of his success, Blaine led 100 children selected by The Salvation Army on a shopping spree at Target, after each child received a $500 gift certificate from the retailer. Blaine said the stunt was particularly important since The Salvation Army had provided him with clothing while he was growing up. "This challenge is close to my heart," Blaine said.

''Guinness World Records''

After failing to surpass the then-current record of ''unassisted'' static apnea in his previous attempt ''Drowned Alive'', Blaine appeared on the April 30, 2008 episode of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', announcing that he would attempt to break the Guinness World Record for ''oxygen assisted'' static apnea set by Peter Colat of Switzerland on February 10, 2008.

Before entering his eighteen-hundred gallon water tank, Blaine spent 23 minutes inhaling pure oxygen; up to 30 minutes of "oxygen hyperventilation" is allowed under guidelines. His heart rate remained above one hundred beats per minute during much of the attempt, rising to one hundred and twenty-four bpm in the fifteenth minute. This faster heart rate increases oxygen consumption leading to painful carbon dioxide buildup. In the final minute, his heart rate became erratic and Blaine became worried he might blackout. In order to assist the medics in case he would lose consciousness, he unhooked his feet from the sphere's bottom and floated closer to the surface ; however, he kept his head submerged for a half minute longer than the previous record. Ultimately, Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes 4½ seconds, surpassing Colat's previous mark of 16 minutes 32 seconds. This was Blaine's first Guinness record and it stood for almost four and a half months, until surpassed by Tom Sietas on September 19, 2008.

During the following interview, Blaine stated: "I really thought I was not going to make it," claiming that he did so by staying in a meditative state which was helped by the studio lights reflecting off the sphere. According to Blaine, besides the pressure of performing on television, the heart-rate monitor happened to be close enough to his ear so that he heard its beeping, and he had to keep his feet locked in holds at the bottom of the sphere — instead of just floating freely, as he did in the pool on Grand Cayman months earlier. Back then he said he was so relaxed he "wasn’t even there" during most of the breath-hold. But when he emerged from the sphere today, he told Oprah, "I was pretty much here the whole time."

''Dive of Death''

thumb|150px|Donald Trump with David Blaine announcing Blaine's next event in the atrium of the Trump Tower. On September 18, 2008, Donald Trump and Blaine held a press conference at the Trump Tower in New York City to announce his latest feat, “The Upside Down Man.” Blaine was to hang upside down without a safety net for 60 hours above Central Park’s Wollman Rink, with a predicted end for 10:45 p.m. on September 24. Reportedly, Blaine risked blindness and other maladies in the stunt including having to repeatedly defecate in his own pants. Trump has helped finance this and other Blaine events. Blaine hung over the Wollman Rink and interacted with fans by lowering himself upside down. At the press conference, Blaine stated he had already gone without food for over a week and would continue to do so throughout the act. In order to drink fluid and restore circulation, he would pull himself up, all the while contending with muscle spasms and lack of sleep. Blaine began the stunt on Monday September 22, but was widely criticized when, only hours into the endurance challenge, he was seen by fans to be standing on a waiting crane platform, and not upside down, as expected. He reportedly would come down once an hour to receive a medical check, stretch and relieve himself.

When the "Dive of Death" took place, Blaine came down from the platform on a cable, and lightly touched the stage. He was then pulled back up into the air, and, in the words of the ''Daily News'' (New York), "hung in the air like a sack of potatoes with a goofy grin on his face, occasionally kicking his legs as though he were running." The plan had been for Blaine to be pulled up into the air by helium balloons and disappear into the atmosphere. Blaine attributed the problem to changes in weather conditions that occurred after the stunt was delayed due to an address by President Bush.

May 2012 show

On the 17th June 2011, David announced on a live video chat that he would be doing a show in May 2012. During this video chat he also demonstrated a few of his new tricks, showed a video of him swimming with sharks and announced his new card deck called the white lions. He stated that the show will be 100% street magic and full of completely new material.

Charity and private appearances

''Charity''

Every year, David Blaine has traveled all across the country and the world to perform magic for children’s hospital wards, burn units and juvenile wards, including Spofford, Bridges, Horizon, and Crossroads. Blaine has spent time performing magic for Paul Newman and the children diagnosed with serious illnesses at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

''Magic for Haiti''

On Friday January 15, 2010 at 9 A.M. David Blaine started performing "Magic For Haiti" in Times Square until Monday January 18, 2010 at 9 A.M, performing for the course of 72 hours and raising nearly one hundred thousand dollars.

''Private Appearances''

David Blaine has traveled internationally performing magic privately for President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Henry Kissinger, Bill Gates and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has also performed magic for the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych, and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. Additionally, David Blaine has performed for Lakshmi Mittal.

Blaine has performed for many other public and private entities, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Muhammad Ali. Blaine has also performed magic alongside Michael Jackson and has performed during the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

See also

List of famous Puerto Ricans

Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico

Notes

References

''Mysterious Stranger'', Blaine's autobiography published by Vilard Books and Channel 4 books. ISBN 0-7522-1989-8.

BBC News on the Above the Below stunt:

Korbonits M., Blaine D., Elia M., Powell-Tuck J., "Refeeding David Blaine: studies after a 44-day fast", ''New England Journal of Medicine'' 2005 Nov 24; 353(21):2306–7. .

External links

David Blaine's official website

David Blaine Gyroscope Image Gallery

Below The Above official website

David Blaine: How I held my breath for 17 min talk given at TED

Category:1973 births Category:American autobiographers Category:American buskers Category:American Jews Category:American magicians Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American performance artists Category:Living people Category:Magician of the year Award winner Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Passaic County, New Jersey Category:Professional magicians Category:Television magic shows

ar:ديفيد بلين de:David Blaine es:David Blaine fa:دیوید بلین fr:David Blaine it:David Blaine he:דייוויד בליין lt:David Blaine nl:David Blaine ja:デビッド・ブレイン pl:David Blaine pt:David Blaine ro:David Blaine ru:Блэйн, Дэвид fi:David Blaine sv:David Blaine uk:Девід Блейн

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
birth date	December 18, 1946
birth place	Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
nationality	American
spouse
children	6, including Sasha
occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter
education	Saratoga High School
alma mater	California State University, Long Beach
religion	Jewish
networth	$3.0 billion (2011)
years active	1963–present }}

Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer, video game designer and studio executive. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the co-founders of the DreamWorks movie studio.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Schindler's List'' (1993) and ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998). Three of Spielberg's films—''Jaws'' (1975), ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), and ''Jurassic Park'' (1993)—achieved box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes puts Spielberg's wealth at $3.0 billion.

Early life

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a Jewish family. His mother, Leah Adler, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. He spent his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey, where he saw one of his first films in a theater, as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona. Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" films with his friends, the first of which he shot at the Pinnacle Peak Patio restaurant in Scottsdale. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home films (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn.

In 1958, he became a Boy Scout, and fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled ''The Last Gunfight''. Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father's movie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all started." At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled ''Escape to Nowhere'' which was based on a battle in east Africa. In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called ''Firelight'' (which would later inspire ''Close Encounters''). The film, which had a budget of US$500, was shown in his local cinema and generated a profit of $1. He also made several WWII films inspired by his father's war stories.

After his parents divorced, he moved to Saratoga, California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona. Although he attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona for three years, Spielberg ended up graduating from Saratoga High School in 1965. It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

Spielberg attended synagogue as a young boy in Haddon Heights, NJ, an area which did not allow Jews before World War II. He attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis, who would later be memorialized as the main character in Mitch Albom's, ''Have a Little Faith''.

As a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. “It isn’t something I enjoy admitting,” he once said, “but when I was 7, 8, 9 years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents’ Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times. My grandfather always wore a long black coat, black hat and long white beard. I was embarrassed to invite my friends over to the house, because he might be in a corner davening [praying], and I wouldn’t know how to explain this to my WASP friends.” Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice in his early life: he later said, "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."

After moving to California, he applied to attend the film school at University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television two separate times, but was unsuccessful. He was a student subsequently of California State University, Long Beach. While attending Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg became a member of Theta Chi Fraternity. His actual career began when he returned to Universal Studios as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department (uncredited). After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university. In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.

As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 26 minute film ''Amblin''' (1968), the title of which Spielberg later took as the name of his production company, Amblin Entertainment. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take up the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director. In 1969, ''Variety'' announced that Spielberg would direct his first full length film, ''Malcolm Winkler'', written by Claudia Salter, produced by John Orland, with Frank Price being the executive producer. However, because of the difficulty in casting the key male role, the film was not made. Steven Spielberg also attended Brookdale Community College for undergrad.

Career

Early career (1969–75)

His first professional TV job came when he was hired to do one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of ''Night Gallery''. The segment, "Eyes," starred Joan Crawford, and she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death. The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this, and an episode of ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'', Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of ''The Name of the Game'' called "L.A. 2017". This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and they signed him to a short contract. He did another segment on ''Night Gallery'' and did some work for shows such as ''Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law'' and ''The Psychiatrist'' before landing the first series episode of ''Columbo'' (previous episodes were actually TV films).

Based on the strength of his work, Universal signed Spielberg to do four TV films. The first was a Richard Matheson adaptation called ''Duel''. The film is about a psychotic Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driver who chases a terrified driver (Dennis Weaver) of a small Plymouth Valiant and tries to run him off the road. Special praise of this film by the influential British critic Dilys Powell was highly significant to Spielberg's career. Another TV film (''Something Evil'') was made and released to capitalize on the popularity of ''The Exorcist'', then a major best-selling book which had not yet been released as a film. He fulfilled his contract by directing the TV film length pilot of a show called ''Savage'', starring Martin Landau. Spielberg's debut feature film was ''The Sugarland Express'', about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to regain custody of their baby. Spielberg's cinematography for the police chase was praised by reviewers, and ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stated that "a major new director is on the horizon." However, the film fared poorly at the box office and received a limited release.

Studio producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown offered Spielberg the director's chair for ''Jaws'', a thriller-horror film based on the Peter Benchley novel about an enormous killer shark. Spielberg has often referred to the gruelling shoot as his professional crucible. Despite the film's ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs.

But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous hit, winning three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound) and grossing more than $470 million worldwide at the box office. It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what the press described as "Jawsmania." ''Jaws'' made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for his future projects. It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Mainstream breakthrough (1975–93)

Rejecting offers to direct ''Jaws 2'', ''King Kong'' and ''Superman'', Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, ''Close Encounters'' was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His next film, ''1941'', a big-budgeted World War II farce, was not nearly as successful and though it grossed over $92.4 million dollars worldwide (and did make a small profit for co-producing studios Columbia and Universal) it was seen as a disappointment, mainly with the critics.

Spielberg then revisited his ''Close Encounters'' project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released ''Close Encounters: The Special Edition'' in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, and as a condition of Spielberg revising the film, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery). Nevertheless, the re-release was a moderate success, while the 2001 DVD release of the film restored the original ending.

Next, Spielberg teamed with ''Star Wars'' creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', the first of the Indiana Jones films. The archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones was played by Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his ''Star Wars'' films as Han Solo). The film was considered an homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). ''Raiders'' is still considered a landmark example of the action-adventure genre.

A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. It was the story of a young boy and the alien he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his companions and is attempting to return home. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. ''E.T.'' was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing films: ''Poltergeist'' (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of ''The Twilight Zone'' (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"), and ''The Goonies'' (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based).

His next directorial feature was the ''Raiders'' sequel ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. This film and the Spielberg-produced ''Gremlins'' led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in films targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, ''Temple of Doom'' is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly, most violent Indy film. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.

In 1985, Spielberg released ''The Color Purple,'' an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination. ''The Color Purple'' is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being ''Duel''.

In 1987, as China began opening to Western capital investment, Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel ''Empire of the Sun'', starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.

After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film ''Batman'', which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama ''Always'', about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, ''Always'' was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.

In 1991, Spielberg directed ''Hook'', about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film proved popular with audiences, making over $300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).

In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel ''Jurassic Park'', about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever.

Spielberg's next film, ''Schindler's List'', was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust. ''Schindler's List'' earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of Holocaust survivors. In 1997, the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.

Since 1994

In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks, with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's ''Jurassic Park'' with ''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', which generated over $618 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's ''Titanic'' (which topped the original ''Jurassic Park'' to become the new recordholder for box office receipts).

His next film, ''Amistad'', was based on a true story (like ''Schindler's List''), specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released ''Amistad'' under DreamWorks Pictures, which issued all of his films from ''Amistad'' until ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' in May 2008 (see below).

In 1998, Spielberg re-visited ''Close Encounters'' yet again, this time for a more definitive 137-minute "Collector's Edition" that puts more emphasis on the original 1977 release, while adding some elements of the previous 1980 "Special Edition," but deleting the latter version's "Mothership Finale," which Spielberg regretted shooting in the first place, feeling it should have remained ambiguous in the minds of viewers.

His next theatrical release in that same year was the World War II film ''Saving Private Ryan'', about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) sent to bring home a paratrooper whose three older brothers were killed in the last twenty four hours of action in France. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the North American box office (worldwide it made second place after Michael Bay's ''Armageddon''). Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war films such as ''Black Hawk Down'' and ''Enemy at the Gates''. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the ''Indiana Jones'' series). Later, Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book ''Band of Brothers''. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. A futuristic film about a humanoid android longing for love, ''A.I.'' featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline, adapted by Spielberg himself. Though the film's reception in the US was relatively muted, it performed better overseas for a worldwide total box office gross of $236 million.

Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir ''Minority Report'', based upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about a Washington D.C. police captain in the year 2054 who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film received strong reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 92% approval rating, reporting that 206 out of the 225 reviews they tallied were positive. The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action.

Spielberg's 2002 film ''Catch Me If You Can'' is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically.

Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's ''The Terminal'', a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed relatively well at the box office. In 2005, ''Empire'' magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.

Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of ''War of the Worlds'' (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike ''E.T.'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', which depicted friendly alien visitors, ''War of the Worlds'' featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide.

Spielberg's film ''Munich'', about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being ''Schindler's List''). The film is based on ''Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team'', a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas. It was previously adapted into the 1986 made-for-TV film ''Sword of Gideon''. The film received strong critical praise, but underperformed at the U.S. and world box-office; it remains one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date. Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination and fifth Best Picture nomination.

Spielberg directed ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008. This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has performed very well in theaters. As of May 10, 2010, ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' has grossed $317 million domestically, and over $786 million worldwide.

Production credits

Since the mid-1980s Spielberg has increased his role as a film producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons, including the Warner Brothers hits ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Animaniacs'', ''Pinky and the Brain'', ''Toonsylvania'', and ''Freakazoid!'', for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger. Due to his work on these series, in the official titles, most of them say, "Steven Spielberg presents" as well as making numerous cameos on the shows. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, ''An American Tail'' and ''The Land Before Time'', which were released by Universal Studios. He also served as one of the executive producers of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' and its three related shorts (''Tummy Trouble'', ''Roller Coaster Rabbit'', ''Trail Mix-Up''), which were all released by Disney, under both the Walt Disney Pictures and the Touchstone Pictures banners. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ''ER''. In 1989, he brought the concept of ''The Dig'' to LucasArts. He contributed to the project from that time until 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game ''Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair'', which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player. The Spielberg name provided branding for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation.

In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series ''seaQuest DSV''; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in ''Jaws'') and Jonathan Brandis akin to ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' that aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm. on NBC. While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and the show was cancelled mid way through it.

Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on ''The Haunting'', ''The Prince of Egypt'', ''Just Like Heaven'', ''Shrek'', and ''Evolution''. He served as an executive producer for the 1998 film ''Men in Black'', and its sequels, ''Men in Black II'' and the upcoming ''Men in Black III''. In 2005, he served as a producer of ''Memoirs of a Geisha'', an adaptation of the novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. In 2006, Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's film called ''Monster House'', marking their eight collaboration together since 1990's ''Back to the Future Part III''. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's ''Flags of Our Fathers'' and ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' with Robert Lorenz and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg served as executive producer for ''Disturbia'' and the ''Transformers'' live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg continued to collaborate on the sequels, ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. In 2011, he produced the J. J. Abrams science fiction thriller film ''Super 8'' for Paramount Pictures.

Other major television series Spielberg produced were ''Band of Brothers'', ''Taken'' and ''The Pacific''. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries ''Into the West'' which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score. For his 2010 miniseries ''The Pacific'' he teamed up once again with co-producer Tom Hanks, with Gary Goetzman also co-producing'. The miniseries is believed to have cost $250 million and is a 10-part war miniseries centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Writer Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of (''Band of Brothers''), was the head writer.

In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced ''On the Lot'' a short-lived TV reality show about filmmaking. Despite this, he never gave up working on television. He currently serves as one of the executive producers on ''United States of Tara'', a show created by Academy Award winner Diablo Cody which they developed together (Spielberg is uncredited as creator).

In 2011, Spielberg launched ''Falling Skies'', a science fiction television series, on the TNT network. He developed the series with Robert Rodat and is credited as an executive producer.

Acting credits

Steven Spielberg had cameo roles in ''The Blues Brothers'', ''Gremlins'', ''Vanilla Sky'', and ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'', as well as small uncredited cameos in a handful of other films, such as a life-station worker in ''Jaws''. He also made numerous cameo roles in the Warner Brothers cartoons he produced, such as Animaniacs, and even made reference to some of his films. Spielberg voiced himself in the film ''Paul'', and in one episode of ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' titled ''Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian''.

Involvement in video games

Apart from being an ardent gamer Spielberg has had a long history of involvement in video games. In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including an action game and an award winning puzzle game for the Wii called ''Boom Blox'' (and its 2009 sequel: ''Boom Blox Bash Party''). Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game ''The Dig''. In 1996, Spielberg worked on and shot original footage for a movie-making simulation game called ''Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair''. He is the creator of the ''Medal of Honor'' series by Electronic Arts. He is credited in the special thanks section of the 1998 video game ''Trespasser''.

Upcoming and announced projects

In early 2009, Spielberg shot the first film in a planned trilogy of motion capture films based on ''The Adventures of Tintin'' written by Belgian artist Hergé, with Peter Jackson. ''The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn'', will not be released until December 23, 2011 due to the complexity of the computer animation involved. Jackson has been announced to direct the second film, which Spielberg will produce. Spielberg's next film ''War Horse'', was shot in England in the summer of 2010, and will be released just five days after ''The Adventures of Tintin'', on December 28, 2011. The film, based on the novel of the same name, is about the long friendship between a British boy and his horse Joey before and during World War I — a novel that was adapted into a hit play in London which is running on Broadway as of April 2011. It will be released and distributed by Disney, with whom DreamWorks has made a 30-picture deal. The novel was written by Michael Morpurgo and published in 1982. He will follow this with ''Lincoln'', starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's bestseller ''Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln'', the film will follow Lincoln's leadership during the years of the American Civil War. Written by Tony Kushner, the film will be shot in the fall of 2011 in Richmond, Virginia and released in the fourth quarter of 2012 by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. Spielberg also made a commitment to direct a film based on the novel ''Robopocalypse''.

In 2009, Spielberg reportedly tried to obtain the screen rights to make a film based on Microsoft's ''Halo'' series. In September 2008, Steven Spielberg bought film rights for John Wyndham's novel ''Chocky'' and is interested in directing it. He is also interested in making an adaptation of ''A Steady Rain'', ''Pirate Latitudes'', ''The 39 Clues'', and ''Under the Dome'', along with a remake of ''When Worlds Collide''. In May 2009, Steven Spielberg bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Spielberg will be involved not only as producer but also as a director. However, the purchase was made from the King estate, led by son Dexter, while the two other surviving children, the Reverend Bernice and Martin III, immediately threatened to sue, not having given their approvals to the project.

In June 2006, Steven Spielberg announced he would direct a scientifically accurate film about "a group of explorers who travel through a worm hole and into another dimension", from a treatment by Kip Thorne and producer Lynda Obst. In January 2007, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan met with them to discuss adapting Obst and Thorne's treatment into a narrative screenplay. The screenwriter suggested the addition of a "time element" to the treatment's basic idea, which was welcomed by Obst and Thorne. In March of that year, Paramount hired Nolan as well as scientists from Caltech, forming a workshop who will begin adapting the treatment after completing the script for Warner Bros.' ''The Chicago Fire''. The following July, Kip Thorne said there was a push by people for him to portray himself in the film ''Interstellar''.

Spielberg is also producing the Fox TV series ''Terra Nova''. ''Terra Nova'' will begin in the year 2149 when all life on the planet Earth is threatened with extinction resulting in scientists opening a door that allows people to travel back 85 million years to prehistoric times. Spielberg will also help produce the upcoming TV series ''The River'' and ''Smash''.

Themes

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood, and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''Hook'', and ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence''. According to Warren Buckland, these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''Empire of the Sun'', ''Jurassic Park'', etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like ''Munich'', ''Saving Private Ryan'', ''The Terminal'', ''Minority Report'', and ''Amistad''. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in ''Jaws'' are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming. Another child oriented theme in Spielberg's films is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In ''Empire of the Sun'', Jim, a well-groomed and spoiled English youth, loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II China. Similarly, in ''Catch Me If You Can'', Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.

The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in ''Hook'' starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of his film regains the respect of his children. The notable absence of Elliott's father in ''E.T.'', is the most famous example of this theme. In ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', it is revealed that Indy has always had a very strained relationship with his father, who is a professor of medieval literature, as his father always seemed more interested in his work, specifically in his studies of the Holy Grail, than in his own son, although his father does not seem to realize or understand the negative effect that his aloof nature had on Indy (he even believes he was a good father in the sense that he taught his son "self reliance," which is not how Indy saw it). Even Oskar Schindler, from ''Schindler's List'', is reluctant to have a child with his wife. ''Munich'' depicts Avner as a man away from his wife and newborn daughter. There are of course exceptions; Brody in ''Jaws'' is a committed family man, while John Anderton in ''Minority Report'' is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child and by the absence of his father. Furthermore to this theme, protagonists in his films often come from families with divorced parents, most notably ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (protagonist Elliot's mother is divorced) and ''Catch Me If You Can'' (Frank Abagnale's mother and father split early on in the film). Little known also is Tim in ''Jurassic Park'' (early in the film, another secondary character mentions Tim and Lex's parents' divorce). The family often shown divided is often resolved in the ending as well. Following this theme of reluctant fathers and father figures, Tim looks to Dr. Alan Grant as a father figure. Initially, Dr. Grant is reluctant to return those paternal feelings to Tim. However, by the end of the film, he has changed, and the kids even fall asleep with their heads on his shoulders.

Most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Critics frequently accuse his films of being overly sentimental, though Spielberg feels it is fine as long as it is disguised. The influence comes from directors Frank Capra and John Ford.

Contemporaries

In terms of casting and production itself, Spielberg has a known penchant for working with actors and production members from his previous films. For instance, he has cast Richard Dreyfuss in several films: ''Jaws'', ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', and ''Always''. Aside from his role as Indiana Jones, Spielberg also cast Harrison Ford as a headteacher in ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (though the scene was ultimately cut). Although Spielberg directed him only once (in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he voiced many of the animals), veteran voice actor Frank Welker has lent his voice in a number of productions Spielberg has executively produced from ''Gremlins'' to its sequel ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', as well as ''The Land Before Time'' (and lending his voice to its sequels which Spielberg had no involvement in), ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', and television shows such as ''Tiny Toons'', ''Animaniacs'', and SeaQuest DSV. Recently Spielberg has used Tom Hanks on several occasions and has cast him in ''Saving Private Ryan'', ''Catch Me If You Can'', and ''The Terminal''. Spielberg also has collaborated with Tom Cruise twice on ''Minority Report'' and ''War of the Worlds''. Spielberg has also cast Shia LaBeouf in five films: ''Transformers'', ''Eagle Eye'', ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'', and ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. Spielberg prefers working with production members with whom he has developed an existing working relationship. An example of this is his production relationship with Kathleen Kennedy who has served as producer on all his major films from ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' to the recent ''Munich''. Other working relationships include Allen Daviau, a childhood friend and cinematographer who shot the early Spielberg film ''Amblin'' and most of his films up to ''Empire of the Sun''; Janusz Kamiński who has shot every Spielberg film since ''Schindler's List'' (see List of film director and cinematographer collaborations); and the film editor Michael Kahn who has edited every film directed by Spielberg from ''Close Encounters'' to ''Munich'' (except ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''). Most of the DVDs of Spielberg's films have documentaries by Laurent Bouzereau.

A famous example of Spielberg working with the same professionals is his long time collaboration with John Williams and the use of his musical scores in all of his films since ''The Sugarland Express'' (except ''The Color Purple'' and ''Twilight Zone: The Movie''). One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting picture and sound of the film in the memories of the film audience. These visual scenes often uses images of the sun (e.g. ''Empire of the Sun'', ''Saving Private Ryan'', the final scene of ''Jurassic Park'', and the end credits of ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (where they ride into the sunset), of which the last two feature a Williams score at that end scene. Spielberg is a contemporary of filmmakers George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, collectively known as the "Movie Brats". Aside from his principal role as a director, Spielberg has acted as a producer for a considerable number of films, including early hits for Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis.

Personal life

Marriages and children

From 1985 to 1989 Spielberg was married to actress Amy Irving. In their 1989 divorce settlement, she received $100 million from Spielberg after a judge controversially vacated a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin. Their divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history. Following the divorce, Spielberg and Irving shared custody of their son, Max Samuel.

Spielberg subsequently developed a relationship with actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. They married on October 12, 1991. Capshaw is a convert to Judaism. They currently move among their four homes in Pacific Palisades, California; New York City; Quelle Farm, Georgica Pond in East Hampton, NY; and Naples, Florida.

There are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family:

Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976) – daughter from Kate Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw

Max Samuel Spielberg (born June 13, 1985) – son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving

Theo Spielberg (born 1988) – son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later also adopted him Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990, Los Angeles) Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992, Los Angeles)

Mikaela George (born February 28, 1996) – adopted with Kate Capshaw

Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996)

Wealth

''Forbes'' magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.0 billion.

Recognition

In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flagbearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, ''Premiere'' listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. ''Time'' listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the 20th century, ''Life'' named him the most influential person of his generation.

Starbright

In 1991 Steven Spielberg co-founded Starbright with Randy Aduana—a foundation dedicated to improving sick children's lives through technology-based programs focusing on entertainment and education. In 2002 Starbright merged with the Starlight Foundation forming what is now today the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Politics

Spielberg usually supports U.S. Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 for the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and worked with the President for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled ''The American Journey''. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Spielberg resigned as a member of the national advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001 because of his disapproval of the organization's anti-homosexuality stance.

Spielberg joined Jeffrey Katzenberg and Haim Saban in endorsing the re-election of Hollywood friend Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican Governor of California, on August 7, 2006.

In 2007 the Arab League voted to boycott Spielberg's movies after he donated $1 million for relief efforts in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.

On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama. However, on June 14, 2007, Spielberg endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for President. While Geffen and Katzenberg supported Obama, Spielberg was always a supporter of Hillary Clinton. However Spielberg directed a video for Obama at the DNC in August 2008 and attended Obama's inauguration.

In February 2008, Spielberg pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur. Spielberg said in a statement that "''I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual''." It also said that "''Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more.''." The International Olympic Committee respected Spielberg's decision, but IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted in an interview that "''[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity.''" Spielberg's statement drew criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media calling his criticism "unfair".

In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage, by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.

Hobbies

Spielberg is an avid film buff, and, when not shooting a picture, he will indulge in "movie orgies" (watching many over a single weekend). He sees almost every major summer blockbuster in theaters if not preoccupied and enjoys most of them; "If I get pleasure from anything, I can't think of it as dumb or myself as shallow [...] I'll probably go late to that movie and go, 'What the dickens was everybody complaining about, that wasn't so bad!'".

Since playing Pong while filming ''Jaws'' in 1974, Spielberg has been an avid video gamer. He owns a Wii, a PlayStation 3, a PSP, and Xbox 360, and enjoys playing first-person shooters such as the ''Medal of Honor'' series and ''Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare''. He has also criticized the use of cut scenes in games, calling them intrusive, and feels making story flow naturally into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers.

Stalking

In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him, along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, of controlling her thoughts through "cybertronic" technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her. Napolis was committed for life in a mental institution before pleading guilty to stalking and released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.

Spielberg was a target of the 2002 white supremacist terror plot.

Jonathan Norman was arrested after making two attempts to enter Spielberg's Pacific Palisades home in June and July 1997. Norman was jailed for 25 years in California. Spielberg, told the court: "Had Jonathan Norman actually confronted me, I genuinely, in my heart of hearts, believe that I would have been raped or maimed or killed."

Achievements

Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (''Schindler's List'' and ''Saving Private Ryan''), and seven of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (''Schindler's List'' won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.

Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree, which Spielberg attended, and where he personally counseled many boys in their work on requirements.

That same year, 1989, saw the release of ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments and service to others, Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.

In 1998 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his film ''Schindler's List'' and his Shoa-Foundation.

In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999; Cohen presented the award in recognition of Spielberg's film ''Saving Private Ryan''.

In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur by president Jacques Chirac. On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival, and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short, filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for ''Saving Private Ryan'', as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's ''Candide'', conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).

In November 2007, he was chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony resulting from conflicts in the 2007–08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony. In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.

In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.

Spielberg received an honorary degree at Boston University's 136th Annual Commencement on May 17, 2009. In October 2009 Steven Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; presenting him with the medal was former US president and Liberty Medal recipient Bill Clinton. Special guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

Praise and criticism

Film

In 2005, Steven Spielberg was rated the greatest film director of all time by Empire Magazine.

After watching the unconventional, off-center camera techniques of ''Jaws'', Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg," saying "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch." Or, to paraphrase, he was the first mainstream director to think outside the visual dynamics of the theater, although that didn’t stop Hitchcock from removing Spielberg from the set of ''Family Plot'', his last film.

Some of Spielberg's most famous fans include film legends Robert Aldrich, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, Sidney Lumet, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Francois Truffaut and Zhang Yimou.

Subsequently, Spielberg's movies have also influenced many directors that followed, including J.J Abrams, Paul Thomas Anderson, Neill Blomkamp, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Roland Emmerich, David Fincher, Peter Jackson, Kal Ng, Robert Rodriguez, John Sayles, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino.

British film critic Tom Shone has said of Spielberg, "If you have to point to any one director of the last twenty-five years in whose work the medium of film was most fully itself – where we found out what it does best when left to its own devices, it has to be that guy."

However, Spielberg is not without his critics—many of whom complain that his films are overly sentimental and tritely moralistic. In his book ''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood'', Peter Biskind summarized the views of Spielberg's detractors, accusing the director of "infantilizing the audience, reconstituting the spectator as child, then overwhelming him and her with sound and spectacle, obliterating irony, aesthetic self-consciousness, and critical reflection."

Critics of mainstream film such as Ray Carney and American artist and actor Crispin Glover (who starred in the Spielberg-produced ''Back to the Future'' and also sued Spielberg for using Glover's likeness in ''Back to the Future Part II'') claim that Spielberg's films lack depth and do not take risks.

The late film critic, Pauline Kael, who had championed Spielberg's films in the 1970s, expressed disappointment in his later development, stating that "he’s become, I think, a very bad director.... And I’m a little ashamed for him, because I loved his early work.... [H]e turned to virtuous movies. And he’s become so uninteresting now.... I think that he had it in him to become more of a fluid, far-out director. But, instead, he’s become a melodramatist."

Imre Kertész, Hungarian Jewish author, Nazi concentration camp survivor, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, criticized Spielberg's depiction of the Holocaust in ''Schindler's List'' as kitsch, saying "I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust."

French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard stated that he holds Spielberg partly responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema and accused Spielberg of using his film ''Schindler's List'' to make a profit of tragedy while Schindler's wife lived in poverty in Argentina. In defense of Spielberg, critic Roger Ebert said "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"

Stephen Rowley wrote an extensive essay about Spielberg and his career in Senses of Cinema. In it he discussed Spielberg's strengths as a film maker, saying "there is a welcome complexity of tone and approach in these later films that defies the lazy stereotypes often bandied about his films" and that "Spielberg continues to take risks, with his body of work continuing to grow more impressive and ambitious", concluding that he has only received "limited, begrudging recognition" from critics .

Other

Spielberg, as a then co-owner of DreamWorks, was involved in a heated debate in which the studio proposed building on the remaining wetlands in Southern California, though development was later dropped.

In August 2007, Ai Weiwei, artistic designer for the Beijing Olympic Stadium Bird's Nest accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Spielberg, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists. Ai said, "It's disgusting. I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

'''Academy Awards:

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1983: Best Picture (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Best Picture (''The Color Purple'', nominated)

1987: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (won)

1994: Best Director (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: Best Picture (''Schindler's List'', won)

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Best Picture (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

2006: Best Picture (''Munich'', nominated)

2007: Best Picture (''Letters from Iwo Jima'', nominated)

'''BAFTA Awards:

1976: Best Direction (''Jaws'', nominated)

1979: Best Direction (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1979: Best Screenplay (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1983: Best Direction (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1983: Best Film (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Academy Fellowship (won)

1994: Best Film (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: David Lean Award for Direction (''Schindler's List'', won)

1999: Best Film (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

1999: David Lean Award for Direction (''Saving Private Ryan'', nominated)

'''Cannes Film Festival

1974: Best Screenplay (''The Sugarland Express'', won)

1974: Golden Palm (''The Sugarland Express'', nominated)

'''Critics Choice Awards:

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2003: Best Director (''Catch Me If You Can'' and ''Minority Report'', won)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

'''Directors Guild of America:

1976: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Jaws'', nominated)

1978: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated'')

1983: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''The Color Purple'', won); this was the first time a director won this award without receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Director.

1988: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Empire of the Sun'', nominated)

1994: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Amistad'', nominated)

1999: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Saving Private Ryan'', won); this win makes Spielberg the only individual to win this award three times.

2000: The D.W. Griffith Award for Lifetime Achievement

2006: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (''Munich'', nominated)

'''Golden Globes:

1976: Best Director (''Jaws'', nominated)

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1978: Best Screenplay (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', nominated)

1983: Best Picture – Drama (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1986: Best Director (''The Color Purple'', nominated)

1994: Best Picture – Drama (''Schindler's List'', won)

1994: Best Director (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Best Director (''Amistad'', nominated)

1999: Best Picture – Drama (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Best Director (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2002: Best Director (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', nominated)

2006: Best Director (''Munich'', nominated)

2008: Cecil B. DeMille Award (won)

'''Hasty Pudding Theatricals:

1983: Man of the Year (won)

'''Hollywood Walk of Fame:

2003: Star on the Walk of Fame (won)

'''NBR Award:

1987: Best Director (''Empire of the Sun'', won)

2001: Billy Wilder Award (won)

'''Primetime Emmys:

1986: Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (''Amazing Stories'' for episode "The Mission", nominated)

1991: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''Tiny Toon Adventures'' for episode "The Looney Beginning", nominated)

1995: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery'', nominated)

1996: Outstanding Animated Program – One Hour or Less (''A Pinky & the Brain Christmas Special'', won)

2002: Outstanding Non-Fiction Special – Informational (''We Stand Alone Together'', nominated)

2002: Outstanding Miniseries (''Band of Brothers'', won)

2003: Outstanding Miniseries (''Taken'', won)

2006: Outstanding Miniseries (''Into the West'', nominated)

'''Producers Guild of America:

1994: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Schindler's List'', won)

1998: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Amistad'', nominated)

1998: Vision Award (''Amistad'', won)

1999: Motion Picture Producer of the Year (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

1999: Milestone Award (won)

2000: PGA Hall of Fame – Motion Pictures (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

2002: Television Producer of the Year – Longform (''Band of Brothers'', won)

2006: Television Producer of the Year – Longform (''Into the West'', nominated)

'''Saturn Awards:

1978: Best Director (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', won); tied with George Lucas for ''Star Wars''

1978: Best Writing (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', won); tied with George Lucas for ''Star Wars''

1982: Best Director (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', won)

1983: Best Science Fiction Film (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', won)

1983: Best Director (''E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'', nominated)

1985: Best Director (''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'', nominated)

1994: Best Science Fiction Film (''Jurassic Park'', won)

1994: Best Director (''Jurassic Park'', won)

1994: President's Award (won)

1998: Best Director (''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', nominated)

1999: Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film (''Saving Private Ryan'', won)

2002: Best Science Fiction Film (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

2002: Best Director (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', nominated)

2002: Best writing (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

2003: Best Science Fiction Film (''Minority Report'', won)

2003: Best Director (''Minority Report'', won)

2006: Best Director (''War of the Worlds'', nominated)

2009: Best Director (''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', nominated)

'''Venice Film Festival:

1993: Career Golden Lion (won)

2001: Future Film Festival Digital Award (''AI: Artificial Intelligence'', won)

'''Writers Guild of America:

1975: Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (''The Sugarland Express'', nominated)

1978: Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen (''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', nominated)

Other

2009 Liberty Medal

2006 Kennedy Center Honors

2001 Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire (Honorary)

2003 Knight Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

1998 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

References

Further reading

External links

Steven Spielberg Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

Official website of DreamWorks

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (founded by Spielberg)

''Time'' 100: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg at 60 – Empire

Fansite and forum "Playmountain," the successor of "Spielbergfilms"

Spielberg's financial success in a single image

The Question Spielberg: A Symposium — Part One: Position Papers and Part Two: Films and Moments, ''Senses of Cinema'' (2003)

Spielberg Symposium, ''Reverse Shot'' (2003)

Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knight Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award Category:National Humanities Medal recipients Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Akira Kurosawa Award winners Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Distinguished Eagle Scouts Category:Science fiction fans Category:Film theorists Category:Film studio executives Category:Special effects people Category:English-language film directors Category:American film actors Category:American film editors Category:American film producers Category:American film directors Category:American screenwriters Category:American television producers Category:American humanitarians Category:American art collectors Category:American billionaires Category:American Jews Category:Jews and Judaism in Cincinnati, Ohio Category:People from Cincinnati, Ohio Category:People from East Hampton (town), New York Category:People from Haddon Township, New Jersey Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Scottsdale, Arizona Category:California State University, Long Beach alumni Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Short film directors Category:California Democrats

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Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
name	Steve Aoki
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Steve Hiroyuki Aoki
birth date	November 30, 1977
origin	Miami, Florida, United States
genre	Electro house, Electronic
label	Dim Mak Records, Ministry of Sound Australia
website	}}

Steve Aoki (Steve Hiroyuki Aoki, born November 30, 1977) is an American electro house musician, record producer and the founder of Dim Mak Records.

Early life

Steve Hiroyuki Aoki was born in Miami and grew up in Newport Beach, California. He graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995; he was a star player on the varsity Badminton team. He is the third child of Rocky Aoki and Chizuru Kobayashi. His father was a former Japanese Olympic wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He has two older siblings, sister Kana (who is now known as "Grace"), and brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant). He also has three half-siblings, all of whom are younger: half-brother Kyle and half-sisters Echo, and Devon, the supermodel and actress. As a child, Steve lived with his grandfather, his mother, and his two older siblings.

Aoki attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with two B.A.s; one in Women's Studies and the other in Sociology. In college, he produced do-it-yourself records and ran underground concerts out of his Biko room in the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative , which was located in Isla Vista, a section of residential land adjacent to UCSB. As a concert venue, the apartment became known as ''The Pickle Patch''. By his early 20s, Aoki had built his own record label, which he named Dim Mak after his childhood hero, Bruce Lee. He has also been in numerous bands, including This Machine Kills, which released an album on Ebullition Records, Esperanza, and The Fire Next Time.

His father, Rocky, once said that he had 'three kids from three different women at exactly the same time'. He found out about the third child with the third woman when he was sued for paternity. In 2005, Rocky sued four of his children (Grace, Kevin, Kyle, and Echo) for an alleged attempt to take control of the companies he founded, which, at the time, had an estimated value between US $60 million and $100 million. Steve and his younger half-sister, Devon, were not named in the suit.

Musical career

Aoki founded his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996. The label has released music by other electro house artists such as MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, and Mustard Pimp, as well as by Klaxons, Scanners, Whitey, and Mystery Jets. Aoki is also a club promoter and DJ. He has also teamed up with Blake Miller of the LA -based band Moving Units to produce remixes. The duo of Miller and Aoki work under the moniker Weird Science.

Aoki's debut album, ''Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles'' was released in January 2008. He also had an Essential Mix that aired on BBC Radio 1 on August 2, 2008.¹⁰

He has remixed many artists and bands, including Drake, Lenny Kravitz, Bloc Party, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke, S.P.A., Kid Cudi, Chester French and Peaches.

He remixed the track "When The Wind Blows" that features on the UK edition of The All-American Rejects 2008 album ''When The World Comes Down''.

On November 10, 2009 he released a remix for Drake's song "Forever". The song features Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. The track made it to the top of Hype Machine's chart in December 2009.

In March 2010 Aoki released "I'm In The House", a collaboration with Zuper Blahq—alter-ego of The Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. The song charted at #29 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release.

Producer-songwriter Lucas Secon confirmed in a May 2010 interview with HitQuarters that he and Rivers Cuomo had recently worked with Aoki on a single.

In May 2006, Aoki became a board member for MC5 bassist Michael Davis' Music Is Revolution Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides music education support within public schools.

Business ventures

The Dim Mak Collection clothing line was launched in 2006. A new fashion range designed by Steve and his sister Devon Aoki was released in 2009. They've partnered with the founders/owners of Ksubi, George Gorrow and Dan Single to release this range together. "We've been putting it together for two years, from the very early stages." Aoki told. Also with Dan Single and George Gorrow, Ksubi will be partnering up and creating a Dim Mak sunglass line that will drop in 2009 as well.

Aoki and friend Greger, the owner of WeSC, came up with the idea together to do the "Aoki headphones." They used different shades of green, because that was Aoki's favorite color at the time. Each season Aoki plans to design new headphones for WeSC. Aoki also is endorsed by KR3W Apparel and Supra Footwear, where he develops and designs an entire range of clothing and shoes for both companies under his name.

Aoki is a co-owner in a Korean BBQ restaurant ''Shin'' alongside Danny Masterson, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Ronson, Laura Prepon, Jerry Butler, among others. He also co-owned a management company called ''Deckstar'' with DJ AM along with their managers and Paul Rosenberg. Underneath the Deckstar Management division, Dim Mak management has been formed to manage some of the label's artists and other DJs.

In November 2009, Aoki created his own magazine titled "Aoki" through a celebrity magazine publishing company called MYMAG.

Guest appearances

He was featured in the video games ''NBA 2K8'' and ''NBA 2K9'' as a special celebrity player, even though he admits to being terrible at basketball. He makes cameos in the videos for Cobra Starship's 2007 single "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ)" and The Sounds' single "Tony The Beat".

Discography

Mix Albums

''Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles'' (2008)

Singles

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Single ! scope="col" colspan="6"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album |- ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK DAN ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK IND ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| AUS ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| BEL (FLA) ! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| NL |- | 2010 ! scope="row"| "I'm in the House" (feat. Zuper Blahq) | 29 || 3 || 1 || — || 43 || 40 |''I'm In The House - EP'' |- | 2011 ! scope="row"| "Turbulence" (with Laidback Luke feat. Lil Jon) | 66 || — || — || 37 || — || — |rowspan="1"| |- | 2011 ! scope="row"| "No Beef" (with Afrojack feat. Miss Palmer) | || — || — || || — || — |rowspan="1"| |}

Remixes

Michael Jackson - "Dancin' Machine" (Universal Motown)

Autoerotique - "Gladiator" (Steve Aoki x DJ AM) (Dim Mak)

NASA - "Gifted" (feat. Kanye West, Lykke Li, Santigold) (Anti)

Chris Cornell - "Part of Me" (feat. Timbaland) (Interscope)

Chester French - "She Loves Everybody" (Star Trak)

The Killers - "Spaceman" (Steve Aoki & The Bloody Beetroots) (Polydor)

Fact - "Rise" (Avex)

All American Rejects - "The Wind Blows" (Interscope)

Good Charlotte - "Misery" (Epic)

S.P.A. - "Pets Dance" (Dim Mak)

Lenny Kravitz - "Dancin' Til Dawn" (Virgin)

Robin Thicke - "Magic" (Interscope)

Duran Duran - "Skin Divers" (feat. Timbaland) (Interscope)

Drake - "Forever" (feat. Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem)

Weezer - "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To"

Kid Cudi - "Pursuit of Happiness" (feat. MGMT & Ratatat)

Klaxons - "Echoes"

Weird Science production

Steve Aoki and Blake Miller's production group

Haus of Cards - "Original" (Dim Mak)

Snoop Dogg – "Sensual Seduction" (Geffen)

Teddybears – "Cobrastyle" (Atlantic)

Bloc Party – "Helicopter" (Dim Mak)

The Rakes – "Work Work Work" (Dim Mak)

Metro Station - "Control" (Columbia)

Younglove – "Discotech" (Island)

Peaches - "Boys Wanna Be Her" (XL)

Under the Influence of Giants – "Mama's Room" (Island)

The Fashion – "Like Knives & Solo Impala" (Columbia)

Featurings

The Bloody Beetroots - "Warp 1977" (feat. Steve Aoki & Bobberman) (Dim Mak)

The Bloody Beetroots - "Warp 1.9" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Dim Mak)

The Bloody Beetroots - "Warp 7.7" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Dim Mak)

Junkie XL - "1967 Poem" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Nettwerk)

Motor - "Kick It" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Dim Mak)

Tai - "Paradise Poltergeist" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Dim Mak)

Travis Barker - "Misfits" (feat. Steve Aoki) (Dim Mak)

Collaborations

Steve Aoki & Armand Van Helden - "Brrrat"

Steve Aoki - "I'm In The House" (feat. Zuper Blahq)

Steve Aoki & Laidback Luke & Lil Jon - "Turbulence"

Steve Aoki & Afrojack - " No Beef"

Steve Aoki & Sidney Samson - "Wake Up Call"

Steve Aoki & Atari Teenage Riot - Codebreaker

Nervo, Afrojack & Steve Aoki - We're All No One

Awards

Best DJ of the Year - Paper Magazine (2007)

Best Set of the Season - Ibiza Awards (2007)

Best Party Rocker DJ - BPM Magazine (2007)

Best Mix Album of the Year - Billboard (2008)

References

External links

The LA Times article

Dim Mak Records website

Dim Mak Collection website

UCSB Student Interview with Steve Aoki

The Santa Barbara Independent article

Interview with Steve Aoki, Submerge Magazine, Dec. 2008

Interview by Maximalminimal, April 2009

Interview by Clubplanet, May 2010

Steve Aoki on RCRD LBL

Category:1977 births Category:Club DJs Category:American DJs Category:Living people Category:People from New York City Category:People from Newport Beach, California Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Category:American musicians of Japanese descent

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