Damien Chazelle

Best known as a Screenwriter based on credits in that role in 8 films, with $672,180,881 worldwide aggregate box office (rank #437)
Best-known technical roles: La La Land (Director), La La Land (Screenwriter), 10 Cloverfield Lane (Screenwriter), First Man (Director), First Man (Producer)
Most productive collaborators: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt
Born: January 19, 1985 (39 years old)
                                    

  1. Summary
  2. News
  3. Acting Credits
  4. Technical Credits

Career Summary


  MoviesDomestic
Box Office
International
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
As an ActorInverviewee1$0$0$0
In Technical RolesScreenwriter8$268,108,561$404,072,320$672,180,881
Director5$225,760,249$417,370,244$643,130,493
Producer1$44,936,545$60,587,192$105,523,737
Editor1$33,841$0$33,841

Latest Ranking on Selected Box Office Record Lists


Weekend predictions: $61.5 million is the target for Avatar over the Holiday weekend

December 23rd, 2022

Avatar: The Way of Water

A bevy of new films arrives in theaters for Christmas, but none are expected to put pressure on Avatar: The Way of Water over the weekend. Here are our (abbreviated) predictions for the weekend… More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: First Man

January 20th, 2019

First Man

First Man was made to win Oscars. I don’t think there are many people out there that would deny that. I don’t know if it is going to succeed in that goal, but it did struggle in theaters, earning barely more than $100 million worldwide. Is the film too much “Oscar-bait” to win over audiences? Or is it an unfairly overlooked gem? More...

2018 Preview: October

October 1st, 2018

First Man

September turned out to be a solid month. The Nun beat expectations to become a $100 million hit, while there were also several midlevel hits in the mix. Granted, it lost ground when compared to last September, but last September broke records, and this September held on better than expected. Hopefully this means October will be able to continue 2018’s winning ways. There are several potential $100 million hits, starting with Venom and A Star is Born, which open the first weekend. Meanwhile, both First Man and Halloween could break the century mark later in the month. By comparison, last October, no movie topped $100 million, with Blade Runner 2049 coming the closest. 2018 should extend its lead over 2017 during the full month, potentially by a significant margin. More...

Analysis: Films Like The Greatest Showman Should Be Considered Trendsetters, Not Flukes

February 1st, 2018

The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman’s box office life has almost mirrored that of a cliché Broadway musical. Before release, no one believed in its dreams: an $84 million circus musical starring Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron that was mocked by the bullies on film Twitter. It even had its darkest moment when it debuted at #4 with just $8.8 million, a definite sign of a total bomb. But then the rallying moment, as the film defied the odds and just kind of stuck around at #4 (and, on one weekend, #5) for 5 weeks straight, each weekend making more than its opening. Now the film’s soundtrack has reached #1 on the Billboard Top 100 albums, #1 on iTunes, and has over 200 million plays on Spotify. Two of the songs (“This is Me” and “Rewrite the Stars”) have been listened to over 50 million times each on Spotify (in comparison, the Spanish version of “Remember Me” from Coco has been listened to 12 million times). The film has earned a Golden Globe for Best Song and an Academy Award nomination for the same song. And, of course, it has shockingly earned over $100 million domestically. It currently stands at $128.2 million, which makes it the 15th-highest-grossing musical of all time, and it will climb higher on that list.

More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: La La Land

April 24th, 2017

La La Land

La La Land was one of the best-reviewed films of the year and inarguably the biggest player during Awards Season. In fact, it earning 14 Oscar Nominations, tying the record previously set by All About Eve and Titanic. However, this caused a bit of a backlash against the film. Is the film as good as its Awards Season run would indicate? Or did it only do as well as it did, because it was practically designed to sway Oscar voters? More...

2016 - Awards Season - And the Oscar Goes to... La La Land Moonlight!

February 26th, 2017

Moonlight

It’s Oscar night and we were live blogging the show. Read on the the highlights of what turned out to be a crazy night. More...

Oscar Predictions: La La Land Favorite to Win Nine Oscars Tonight

February 26th, 2017

Best Picture Nominees

Voting in our annual Predict the Academy Awards contest is now closed, and we can reveal the final vote totals in each category, along with the rough probability for which film will win each award. This year’s award nominations have been dominated by La La Land, and it is expected to pick up the most Oscars tonight, with Best Picture among them. It has already equalled the record for most nominations, with 14, but it’s not favored to equal or set the record for most wins, with our poll suggesting it will pick up nine awards. Read on for details of our poll.

- Predicted winners in each category
- Total votes in each category
- Predicted and actual winners in each category More...

2016 - Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations - Final Look

February 26th, 2017

La La Land

It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. Nominees in italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. More...

2016 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Director

February 23rd, 2017

La La Land

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Director. It is not a particularly competitive category with a favorite, a long shot with a shot, and then everyone else. More...

2016 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Original Screenplay

February 22nd, 2017

Manchester by the Sea

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, starting with Best Original Screenplay. At one time, La La Land looked to be the favorite, but that no longer seems to be the case. More...

2016 - Awards Season: WGA - Winners

February 19th, 2017

Arrival

The Writers Guild of America are the late major guild group to announce winners before the Oscars. We could see a small change in Oscar chances with a couple of winners tonight. More...

2016 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Winners - La La Lands on Top, Again

February 12th, 2017

La La Land

The BAFTA winners were announced on Sunday and there were very few surprises to talk about. La La Land again won the most awards with five, while only two other films, Lion and Manchester by the Sea, earned more than one award. They each won two. More...

2016 - Awards Season: DGA - Winners

February 5th, 2017

Lion

The last of the Directors Guild of America awards were handed out over the weekend in what was likely a warm venue. On the other hand, I’m dealing with a snow storm that hasn’t really stopped in three days and power outages. Joy. Fortunately, there’s not much to talk about. All three theatrical categories went as expected with La La Land winning yet again. More...

2016 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 24th, 2017

La La Land

The Oscar nominations were announced starting at 5:18 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, it’s a boring year for nominations with very few surprises worth talking about, especially in the biggest categories. Leading the way was La La Land with 14 nominations, tying the record. More...

2016 - Awards Season: DGA - Nominations

January 12th, 2017

Lion

The last of the Directors Guild of America nominations were announced and the Oscars are really shaping up to be a one-movie show. That movie is Deadpool. I’m joking of course, but it did get yet another nomination. At this point, it could earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination and I wouldn’t be surprised. The film that is dominating Awards Season is La La Land and frankly I’ve lost count of the number of nominations it has received. More...

2016 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Nominations

January 11th, 2017

La La Land

The BAFTA nominations were announced and it should come as no surprise what film lead the way... La La Land with 11 nominations, Nocturnal Animals and Arrival are tied for second with nine nominations a piece. More...

2016 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Winners - La La Lands on Top

January 8th, 2017

La La Land

The first major awards night was Sunday with the Golden Globes being handed out. La La Land led the way with seven wins, winning in every category it was nominated in. This is great news for its Oscar chances, but there’s already backlash building. More...

2016 - Awards Season: WGA - Nominations

January 4th, 2017

Hidden Figures

The Writers Guild of America is the latest group nominees to be announced. There are a lot of categories that WGA hand out awards, but only three of them are theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players, like Hidden Figures, but there are also some surprises. More...

2016 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Nominations

December 12th, 2016

La La Land

The Golden Globes nominations were announced and we are starting to see a few names pop up over and over again. La La Land led the way with seven nominations, but Moonlight was right behind with six and Manchester by the Sea earned five. You will be hearing those three names over and over and over again this Awards Season. More...

2016 Preview: December

December 1st, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

November was good, but not great. Fortunately, 2016 had a large enough lead going into November that the month only needed to be good. In fact, it could have been mediocre and 2016 would have still had an excellent shot to end the year above 2015. As for December, it’s a race between Star Wars and Star Wars. Almost no one thinks Rogue One is going to match The Force Awakens, but if Rogue One earns just half of what The Force Awakens managed, then 2016 will come out on top in the year-over-year comparison. There are only two other films with a better than 50/50 chance of hitting $100 million, Passengers and Sing. Either one could earn second place for the month, but Passengers will likely start faster. Last December, the only other film to earn more than $100 million was Daddy’s Home, which earned just a hair over $150 million. There’s a chance both Passengers and Sing will earn more than $150 million, which would be a boon to the box office. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was just too strong last year and it would take a miracle for 2016 to have a stronger December. That said, it would take a complete collapse for 2016 not to top 2015 in raw dollars. The growth might not be enough to keep pace with ticket price inflation, on the other hand. More...

2016 Preview: March

March 1st, 2016

Zootopia

It's March 1st, which is not only the beginning of the month, but also Super Tuesday. If you are not American and don't pay attention to American politics, Super Tuesday is sort of like the Oscar night of the primary season. I was going to write about my predictions, but it looks like the race is about to be over. On the Republicans side, if Trump gets more than 50% of the delegates, then he has won. It will be too late to stop him. If he gets less than 40%, then it becomes a real race again. If the polling is correct, then he will get closer to 50% than 40%. On the Democratic side, Sanders needs at least 45% of the delegates, or it is over for him. Anything less than that and Hillary Clinton will have too big a lead to overcome. If the South Carolina result is an indicator, Hillary Clinton could get two-thirds of the delegates awarded tonight.

As for the box office, February was amazing, thanks to Deadpool's record-breaking opening and better than expected legs. The month ended with 2016 being nearly 4% higher than 2015's pace. Additionally, there are some big releases coming out this month with both Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice looking to get more than $200 million, while Allegiant should hit $100 million. Last March, there were also three films that earned more than $100 million, but only one $200 million hit, Cinderella. It should be a really close race between 2016 and 2015. More...

2014 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Adapted Screenplay

February 17th, 2015

The Imitation Game poster

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two writing categories, ending with Best Adapted Screenplay. This is also a two-horse race, but one of the horses has a significant, but not insurmountable lead. More...

2014 Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations

January 17th, 2015

Birdman poster

The Oscar nominations were announced early in the morning, when all sensible people were asleep. There were some surprises, as well as some results that would have been surprises had it not been for the previous Awards Season nominations. Seventeen films earned two or more nods, led by Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, both of which picked up nine nominations, while The Imitation Game was right behind with eight. More...

2014 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Nominations

January 11th, 2015

The Grand Budapest Hotel poster

The BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday and unlike most other Awards Season voters, the BAFTA voters gave us some real surprises. For instance, Birdman didn't lead the way. In fact, it was a comedy, The Grand Budapest Hotel, that earned the most nominations at 11. Granted, Birdman and The Theory of Everything were tied for second place with ten each, but it is still strange to see a comedy leading the way. More...

2014 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Nominations

December 6th, 2014

Birdman poster

The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced last week and I'm getting to them a little late, because I needed to organize the whole Awards Season stories. Firstly, I've decided to use the year the movies were released not the year the awards are handed out, unlike what we did last year. This means both will have 2014 as the year. Not ideal, but it is better to fix the mistake now than carry on making it. Secondly, the headlines are just going to be the name of the Awards and either nominations or winners. This will make it easier for readers to find later on. As for the Independent Spirit Awards nominations, Birdman led the way with 6 nods, while Boyhood, Nightcrawler, and Selma were right behind with 5 each.

More...

All Acting Credits



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Release
Date
TitleRoleDomestic
Box Office
International
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
Aug 23, 2019Friedkin Uncut Himself
 
Averages n/an/an/a
Totals 1 n/an/an/a

All Technical Credits



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Release
Date
TitleRoleDomestic
Box Office
International
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
Dec 23, 2022Babylon Director
Screenwriter
$16,596,054$47,878,083$64,474,137
Nov 11, 2022The Swimmers Screenwriter
Oct 12, 2018First Man Director
Producer
$44,936,545$60,587,192$105,523,737
Dec 9, 2016La La Land Director
Screenwriter
$151,101,803$282,748,268$433,850,071
Mar 11, 201610 Cloverfield Lane Screenwriter $72,082,999$36,203,423$108,286,422
Oct 10, 2014Whiplash Director
Screenwriter
$13,092,006$26,156,701$39,248,707
Mar 7, 2014Grand Piano Screenwriter $22,555$816,441$838,996
Mar 1, 2013The Last Exorcism Part II Screenwriter $15,179,303$10,269,404$25,448,707
Nov 5, 2010Guy and Madeline on a Park … Director
Screenwriter
Editor
$33,841$33,841
 
Averages $39,130,638$66,379,930$97,213,077
Totals 9 $313,045,106$464,659,512$777,704,618


Director Credits


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Release
Date
TitleOpening
Weekend
Maximum
Theaters
Domestic
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
Domestic
Share
Dec 23, 2022Babylon $3,603,3683,351$16,596,054$64,474,13725.7%
Oct 12, 2018First Man $16,006,0653,640$44,936,545$105,523,73742.6%
Dec 9, 2016La La Land $881,1043,236$151,101,803$433,850,07134.8%
Oct 10, 2014Whiplash $135,388567$13,092,006$39,248,70733.4%
Nov 5, 2010Guy and Madeline on a … $3,2335$33,841$33,841100.0%
 
Averages $4,125,8322,160$45,152,050$128,626,09947.3%
Totals 5 $225,760,249$643,130,493


Producer Credits


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Release
Date
TitleOpening
Weekend
Maximum
Theaters
Domestic
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
Domestic
Share
Oct 12, 2018First Man $16,006,0653,640$44,936,545$105,523,73742.6%
 
Averages $16,006,0653,640$44,936,545$105,523,73742.6%
Totals 1 $44,936,545$105,523,737


Writer Credits


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Release
Date
TitleOpening
Weekend
Maximum
Theaters
Domestic
Box Office
Worldwide
Box Office
Domestic
Share
Dec 23, 2022Babylon $3,603,3683,351$16,596,054$64,474,13725.7%
Nov 11, 2022The Swimmers
Dec 9, 2016La La Land $881,1043,236$151,101,803$433,850,07134.8%
Mar 11, 201610 Cloverfield Lane $24,727,4373,427$72,082,999$108,286,42266.6%
Oct 10, 2014Whiplash $135,388567$13,092,006$39,248,70733.4%
Mar 7, 2014Grand Piano $2,96410$22,555$838,9962.7%
Mar 1, 2013The Last Exorcism Part II $7,728,3542,700$15,179,303$25,448,70759.6%
Nov 5, 2010Guy and Madeline on a … $3,2335$33,841$33,841100.0%
 
Averages $5,297,4071,899$38,301,223$96,025,84046.1%
Totals 8 $268,108,561$672,180,881