Steven Spielberg: What's next for the acclaimed director after 'Bridge of Spies'
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Director Steven Spielberg鈥檚 newest movie, 鈥淏ridge of Spies,鈥� comes to theaters today.聽
It鈥檚 the newest historical drama by the director who was previously behind the camera for such films as 鈥淟incoln鈥� and 鈥淢unich.鈥� 鈥淏ridge鈥� is the story of lawyer James Donovan (frequent Spielberg collaborator Tom Hanks), who becomes involved in Cold War politics when the possibility of a prisoner exchange between the US and the Soviet Union is raised.
Since many of Mr. Spielberg鈥檚 previous films have won or been nominated for the best picture Oscar prize (he won for the 1993 film 鈥淪chindler鈥檚 List鈥� and won the Best Director Oscar for another World War II film, 1998鈥檚 鈥淪aving Private Ryan鈥�), 鈥淏ridge鈥� is currently considered a strong contender for Oscar season.聽
Spielberg is a prolific director, having entered the public consciousness with the 1975 summer blockbuster 鈥淛aws鈥� and released a movie at least every few years since then.
He has made the historical drama a specialty of his, with recent movies like 鈥淏ridge,鈥� 鈥淟incoln,鈥� and 鈥淢unich鈥� being well-received. But Spielberg is also known for crafting films that appeal to almost all ages as far back as 1982鈥檚 鈥淓.T.鈥�
How are movies aimed at the entire family received these days? One company that usually aims for all ages and succeeds is Pixar, whose films long ago proved that animated movies aren鈥檛 just for children. Their most recent production, 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� became a big hit this summer.
Disney is also hitting it big with its live-action adaptations of its animated stories, which are targeted at all ages. Its take on 鈥淐inderella鈥� from earlier this year, 2014鈥檚 鈥淢aleficent,鈥� and 2010鈥檚 鈥淎lice in Wonderland鈥� have done well, and more, like a live-action version of 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥� are planned.
The Marvel movies have various violent scenes that would prevent parents from bringing at least younger children to those films 鈥� almost all of them end in a big battle against the villain. But movies like 鈥淎vengers: Age of Ultron鈥� and 鈥淎nt-Man鈥� no doubt attract at least older kids.
It has been some time since Spielberg himself hit it big with a family-aimed movie, however. Recent efforts like 2011鈥檚 鈥淲ar Horse鈥� and 鈥淭he Adventures of Tintin鈥� did okay at the box office but didn鈥檛 become breakout hits. His biggest box office successes are still family movies from decades past like 鈥淓.T.鈥� and 鈥淛urassic Park.鈥�
However, he has two big projects coming up that could win over audiences of a wide age range. His upcoming movie 鈥淭he BFG鈥� is an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel of the same name and is scheduled for the summer of 2016 鈥� 鈥淏FG鈥� could attract a large audience. In addition, his upcoming project 鈥淩eady Player One,鈥� which is based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Ernest Cline, has a catchy premise with shades of 鈥淐harlie and the Chocolate Factory鈥� in which a teenager must battle others in a virtual reality to win the right to control the virtual world as well as inherit the world鈥檚 creator鈥檚 money. 鈥淩eady鈥� won the American Library Association Alex Award, which is given to books that are targeted at adults but could win over teen readers as well. If the book has an appeal towards different age groups, the movie could, too.
