Jon Watts

Although as a director he has worked nearly under the radar, Jon Watts (birthname: Jonathan Watts) has become one of Hollywood’s most commercially successful helmers, having delivered the three most recent Spider-Man movies (all starring Tom Holland and Zendaya) and, for Marvel Studios, two of the most profitable film in its stable: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

The former has compiled a worldwide gross of $1.1 billion—the first Spider-Man to surpass one billion—while the latter has earned an astonishing $1.9 billion, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time and the most profitable Spider-Man movie to date. After more than a decade directing and producing short films and music videos, Jon Watts co-wrote the script of the horror movie, Clown (2014), with Christopher Ford, and scored the backing of producer Eli Roth who joined the cast of Laura Allen and Peter Stormare in a cameo as Frowny the Clown.

Watts and Ford proceeded with another script, Cop Car (2015), secured the casting of Kevin Bacon, Camryn Manheim, and Shea Whigham, and earned a world premiere slot at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Even though the movie was a commercial failure, Watts was able to parlay this into sitting in the director’s chair for Marvel’s hotly anticipated Spider-Man reboot with Tom Holland as Spidey, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), co-starring Zendaya, Donald Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, and Bokeem Woodbine.

It surely marks one of the most unexpected promotions of a filmmaker operating in the relatively obscure corners of American indies to lead one of Hollywood’s most prized franchises, the byproduct of a deal reached by Sony and Marvel to share the film rights, and earning over $880 million in global gross. In a project without a production start date or release date set, Watts is scheduled to produce and direct Brad Pitt and George Clooney in an untitled thriller for Apple Studios. Watts and his wife Dianne McGunigle are also set to co-produce the sixth entry in the Final Destination franchise (date to be announced).