Veteran director Chris Columbus has been involved in a lot of iconic movies. In the 1980s, he wrote Gremlins and The Goonies before going on to make his name by directing smash-hits Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire. But to modern audiences, he’s best known for his adventures in the wizarding world: directing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
His work on these movies laid the groundwork for the rest of the franchise and he can take credit for ensuring that the movie’s stories and characters remained faithful to the books and for casting Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.
But, in a new interview with Screenrant, Columbus revealed that his first inspiration was Marvel Comics:
“…But honestly, the reason I got into the film business, the reason I got into movies as a kid, was because of Marvel Comics, because that’s what I wanted to do. And Spider-Man was my hero as a kid.”
Despite this, Columbus has never directed a superhero movie. The closest he’s come is being an executive producer on 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, though having those turkeys on your CV isn’t exactly something to boast about.
He’s come close a few times, at one point being in the running to direct Spider-Man before Sam Raimi got the gig. Still, it’d be fun to see what he could do if he were given the reins of an MCU movie. Unfortunately, Marvel Studios tend to work with less established directors that they can encourage to work to the house style, so I wouldn’t bet on him meeting with Kevin Feige anytime soon.
More recently, Chris Columbus has been attached to a Five Nights at Freddy movie, though has now dropped out of that. However, he has also said he’s working on a script for Gremlins 3. Let’s hope we hear more on that soon.