---
name: "Chris Columbus"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/chris-columbus"
fi1m_id: "chris-columbus"
imdb_id: "nm0001060"
tmdb_id: 10965
wikidata_id: "Q75079"
roles: ["Director","Producer","Writer"]
born: "10 September 1958"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 18
average_fi1m_score: 63
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-23T04:19:12.742640+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Chris Columbus

## Identity

Chris Columbus

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/chris-columbus
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** chris-columbus
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001060
- **TMDB ID:** 10965
- **Wikidata ID:** Q75079
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Columbus_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q75079, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001060/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10965

Director and producer. Born 10 September 1958 in Spangler, Pennsylvania, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer, Writer
- **Born:** 10 September 1958, Spangler, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Active:** 1984–present
- **Also known as:** Christopher Joseph Columbus
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 18: 7 directing, 3 writing, 8 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Michael Barnathan](https://film.one/person/michael-barnathan.md), [Ben Garant](https://film.one/person/robert-ben-garant.md), [Ben Stiller](https://film.one/person/ben-stiller.md), [Corey Feldman](https://film.one/person/corey-feldman.md), [Daniel Radcliffe](https://film.one/person/daniel-radcliffe.md), [Daniel Stern](https://film.one/person/daniel-stern.md), [David Heyman](https://film.one/person/david-heyman.md), [Emma Watson](https://film.one/person/emma-watson.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 63, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 75 (3), 1990s 72 (3), 2000s 62 (6), 2010s 64 (4), 2020s 66 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 63 to 60 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 5, Adventure 4, Family 3, Fantasy 3, Action 1, Crime 1
- **Screen time:** 15 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $3,428m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Columbus_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q75079, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001060/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10965

## Coming up

- *Werwulf* (2026-12-25), Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/werwulf.md)
- *Gremlins 3* (2027-11-18), Producer

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Home Alone*](https://film.one/film/home-alone.md) (80), [*Nosferatu*](https://film.one/film/nosferatu.md) (75), [*Mrs. Doubtfire*](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md) (74), [*Home Alone 2: Lost in New York*](https://film.one/film/home-alone-2-lost-in-new-york.md) (63), [*Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian*](https://film.one/film/night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian.md) (54)
- **HBO Max:** [*Gremlins*](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md) (80), [*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md) (68), [*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md) (65)
- **Peacock:** [*The Goonies*](https://film.one/film/the-goonies.md) (76)
- **Tubi:** [*The Help*](https://film.one/film/the-help.md) (66)
- **Netflix:** [*The Thursday Murder Club*](https://film.one/film/the-thursday-murder-club.md) (57)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Pixels*](https://film.one/film/pixels.md) (36)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Chris Columbus

> Chris Columbus can make family comedy funny without dismissing the hurt behind it. We like his patience with actors, but wish he were less determined to make everybody feel better.

The fussiness of Robin Williams’s nanny in *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993) matters as much as the comic voice. Chris Columbus lets the invented woman have firm opinions about how people ought to behave, and leaves room for the father’s unhappiness beneath the impersonation. We were moved by those quieter indications of Daniel Hillard’s distress, because Williams makes the separation matter even during the farce. Sally Field gives that separation weight too. This is Columbus doing something worthwhile: allowing a broad family comedy to take its characters’ troubles seriously.

Screenplays for *Gremlins* (1984) and *The Goonies* (1985) came before his directing debut, *Adventures in Babysitting* (1987). His breakthrough, *Home Alone* (1990), established the mix of slapstick and family feeling that *Mrs. Doubtfire* continued. His ability to get convincing reactions from children also suited *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone* (2001) and *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002). The first established the series’ visual style and tone.

His patience with performers does not always help the finished film. Columbus gave Williams extensive room to improvise on *Mrs. Doubtfire*, and he understands that the actor need not work at full volume throughout. Yet the film keeps insisting that everybody should feel better, and at 125 minutes it needs a firmer cut. The performances are worth an evening, but the sentiment would be more persuasive if there were less of it.

In *The Thursday Murder Club* (2025), the determination to keep things pleasant becomes a serious problem. Mirren, Brosnan, Kingsley and Imrie make agreeable company, but Columbus gives their murder investigation too little urgency. Don Burgess’s late-afternoon lighting and James Merifield’s warm stone interiors make the retirement village look comfortable and untroubled. Thomas Newman’s skipping score tells us to enjoy ourselves before the jokes have earned it, while Dan Zimmerman ends scenes before unease can develop.

He does not need to become a harsher director. *Home Alone* and *Mrs. Doubtfire* show that he can build a comic set piece and judge how long to hold it, something the armchair conversations in *The Thursday Murder Club* lack. Start with *Mrs. Doubtfire*, allowing for the extra sentiment and a running time its performances do not quite justify.

## Biography

Chris Columbus is an American filmmaker. Born Christopher Joseph Columbus on 10 September 1958 in Spangler, Pennsylvania, he studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He began his career writing screenplays for *Gremlins* (1984) and *The Goonies* (1985), then made his directorial debut with *Adventures in Babysitting* (1987).

Columbus achieved commercial success directing *Home Alone* (1990), its sequel *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York* (1992) and *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993). He later directed the first two *Harry Potter* films, *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone* (2001) and *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002). He co-founded the production company 1492 Pictures in 1995.

More recent credits include directing *Pixels* (2015) and, as director and producer, *The Thursday Murder Club* (2025). He also produced *Nosferatu* (2024) through his company Maiden Voyage, founded with his daughter Eleanor Columbus.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (18)

### Directed (7) — the average rests on these

- *The Thursday Murder Club* (2025), Fi1m 57, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-thursday-murder-club.md)
- *Pixels* (2015), Fi1m 36, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/pixels.md)
- *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002), Fi1m 65, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md)
- *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001), Fi1m 68, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md)
- *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md)
- *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York* (1992), Fi1m 63, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/home-alone-2-lost-in-new-york.md)
- *Home Alone* (1990), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/home-alone.md)

### Wrote (3)

- *The Goonies* (1985), Fi1m 76, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-goonies.md)
- *Young Sherlock Holmes* (1985), Fi1m 68, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/young-sherlock-holmes.md)
- *Gremlins* (1984), Fi1m 80, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md)

### Produced (8)

- *Nosferatu* (2024), Fi1m 75, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/nosferatu.md)
- *The Lighthouse* (2019), Fi1m 82, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lighthouse.md)
- *It Had to Be You* (2016), Fi1m 70, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/it-had-to-be-you.md)
- *The Help* (2011), Fi1m 66, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-help.md)
- *Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian* (2009), Fi1m 54, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian.md)
- *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* (2007), Fi1m 52, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer.md)
- *Fantastic Four* (2005), Fi1m 48, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-2005.md)
- *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* (2004), Fi1m 82, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban.md)

## Complete filmography (67)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Gremlins 3* (2027), Producer, Director, Original Film Writer
- *Werwulf* (2026), Executive Producer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/werwulf.md)
- *The President's Cake* (2026), Executive Producer
- *The Voyage Out* (2025), Executive Producer
- *The Thursday Murder Club* (2025), Director, Producer — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/the-thursday-murder-club.md)
- *Nosferatu* (2024), Producer — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/nosferatu.md)
- *Dìdi (弟弟)* (2024), Executive Producer
- *Chupa* (2023), Producer
- *Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again* (2022), Executive Producer
- *The Exiles* (2022), Executive Producer
- *Cusp* (2021), Executive Producer
- *The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two* (2020), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Yes, God, Yes* (2020), Executive Producer
- *Scoob!* (2020), Executive Producer
- *The Lighthouse* (2019), Executive Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lighthouse.md)
- *The Christmas Chronicles* (2018), Producer
- *I Kill Giants* (2017), Producer
- *Patti Cake$* (2017), Producer
- *Menashe* (2017), Executive Producer
- *It Had to Be You* (2016), Executive Producer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/it-had-to-be-you.md)
- *Tallulah* (2016), Producer
- *The Young Messiah* (2016), Producer
- *The Witch* (2016), Executive Producer
- *Mediterranea* (2015), Producer
- *Pixels* (2015), Director, Producer — Fi1m 36, [page](https://film.one/film/pixels.md)
- *Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb* (2014), Producer
- *Little Accidents* (2014), Executive Producer
- *Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters* (2013), Executive Producer
- *Applebaum* (2012), Director, Executive Producer
- *The Help* (2011), Producer — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-help.md)
- *French Exchange* (2011), Executive Producer
- *Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief* (2010), Director, Producer
- *The Cove* (2009), Thanks
- *I Love You, Beth Cooper* (2009), Director, Producer
- *Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian* (2009), Producer — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian.md)
- *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* (2007), Executive Producer — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer.md)
- *Night at the Museum* (2006), Producer
- *Rent* (2005), Director, Producer
- *Fantastic Four* (2005), Executive Producer — Fi1m 48, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-2005.md)
- *Christmas with the Kranks* (2004), Screenplay, Producer
- *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* (2004), Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban.md)
- *Building a Scene* (2003), Actor
- *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002), Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md)
- *Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers* (2002), Actor
- *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001), Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md)
- *Monkeybone* (2001), Executive Producer
- *Bicentennial Man* (1999), Director, Producer
- *Stepmom* (1998), Director, Producer
- *Jingle All the Way* (1996), Producer
- *Nine Months* (1995), Producer, Screenplay, Director
- *Mrs. Doubtfire* (1993), Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/mrs-doubtfire.md)
- *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York* (1992), as Man in Toy Store (uncredited) · Director — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/home-alone-2-lost-in-new-york.md)
- *Only the Lonely* (1991), Director, Screenplay
- *Home Alone* (1990), Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/home-alone.md)
- *Gremlins 2: The New Batch* (1990), Characters
- *Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland* (1989), Screenplay
- *Heartbreak Hotel* (1988), Director, Writer
- *Adventures in Babysitting* (1987), Director
- *Galaxy High School* (1986), series, Writer, Creator
- *Young Sherlock Holmes* (1985), Screenplay — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/young-sherlock-holmes.md)
- *The Goonies* (1985), Screenplay — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/the-goonies.md)
- *Gremlins* (1984), Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md)
- *Reckless* (1984), Writer
- *I Think I'm Going to Like it Here* (1980), Director
- *3-D Rocks*, Director
- *A Christmas Carol*, Producer
- *Labyrinth 2*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Chris Columbus](https://film.one/media/person/8076/gallery-84b0d11db4ed.jpg) Chris Columbus — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Chris_Columbus_-_Home_Alone_35th.jpg/1280px-Chris_Columbus_-_Home_Alone_35th.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![See title](https://film.one/media/person/8076/gallery-491ee353dfc5.jpg) See title — Nightscream, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Chris_Columbus.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Chris Columbus](https://film.one/media/person/8076/gallery-be249f8d7605.jpg) Chris Columbus — Image via TMDB
- ![Chris Columbus](https://film.one/media/person/8076/gallery-b7edd49b2aa9.jpg) Chris Columbus — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2012: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Help*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/chris-columbus