Mark Canton

Mark Canton’s Hollywood run? Yeah, it’s stacked. He had his hands all over blockbusters like 300 and its blood-soaked sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire—both straight-up box office juggernauts, with the first one smashing March records and hauling in over $460 million. Not too shabby for a graphic novel adaptation. He didn’t slow down, either. The Spiderwick Chronicles (you know, those fantasy books kids can’t get enough of) turned into a big family hit in early 2008, while Immortals dropped with that wild 11/11/11 release date and raked in nearly $250 million worldwide. Canton wasn’t just making hits—he was shaping studios. He came up at Warner Bros., climbing from VP all the way to President of Worldwide Theatrical Production, where he fueled franchises like Batman, Lethal Weapon, and National Lampoon’s Vacation. He championed directors like Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese, greenlighting everything from Beetlejuice to Goodfellas. Honestly, his taste for what would work on screen was kind of uncanny. Then, Sony snapped him up, and he ran Columbia Pictures—later Columbia TriStar—taking charge of everything from Men in Black to Jerry Maguire and My Best Friend’s Wedding. Basically, if you were watching movies in the ‘90s, odds are you caught some Canton magic. Oh, and the guy’s a New Yorker who crushed it at UCLA, gave the commencement speech, and keeps giving back to film and arts orgs. He’s not just moving Hollywood’s money—he’s shaping its legacy.