Shawn Levy

Shawn Levy (birthname: Shawn Adam Levy) is a diverse producer, director, and screenwriter whose movies have blended high-concept with mainstream entertainment vehicles, expanding his portfolio as director-producer from television to features with—first—two family-oriented films that didn’t receive theatrical releases (Address Unknown and Just in Time in 1997).

Levy was director of Universal Pictures’ $53-million-grossing teen comedy, Big Fat Liar (2002), with Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, and Lee Majors, and then followed as director with two back-to-back high-earning comedies: 20^th Century Fox’s rom-com hit ($101.6 million gross) co-starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy, Just Married (2003); and Fox’s $190.5-million-grossing Steve Martin remake, Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), with Bonnie Hunt and Hilary Duff.

Levy continued with Steve Martin as director of the reboot, The Pink Panther (2006), featuring Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, and Beyoncé, earning a mild $164 million, and then the same year, Levy became a movie director-producer by launching the successful franchise for 20^th Century Fox, Night at the Museum (2006), followed by the sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), all starring Ben Stiller and grossing a cumulative $1.35 billion worldwide.

Levy directed and produced another hit comedy for Fox with the snarky rom-com, Date Night (2010), starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Taraji P. Henson, Common, and Mark Wahlberg and earning $152 million worldwide on a $55 million budget. Shawn Levy’s strong box-office streak as director-producer continued with Disney/DreamWorks Pictures’ robots vs. boxers movie, Real Steel (2011), based on a Richard Matheson short story and starring Hugh Jackman, and grossing a strong $300 million globally.

Levy returned as director-producer of the Vince Vaughn (as star, co-writer, co-producer) comedy for 20^th Century Fox, The Internship (2013), co-starring Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Max Minghella, earning a weak $93 million. Levy then directed and produced the ensemble comedy-drama, This is Where I Leave You (2014), based on screenwriter Jonathan Tropper’s novel, and co-starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, and Jane Fonda, grossing a decent $41.3 million global number for distributor Warner Bros.

Levy took a break from the big screen to devote energies to producing and also directing multiple episodes of the smash hit series, Stranger Things (2016-present) before returning to the movies as a producer and the director of the Ryan Reynolds-starring action comedy, Free Guy (2021), with Jodie Comer, Lil Rei Howery, and Taika Waititi, premiering at the Locarno film festival and then grossing a solid $331.5 million worldwide for 20^th Century Fox.

Shawn Levy reunited as director-producer with Ryan Reynolds for Netflix’s streaming action comedy, The Adam Project (2022), and then returned to the big screen with two of his favorite stars—Reynolds and Hugh Jackman—for his first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), on which director-producer Levy also co-wrote the script with four other credited writers including Reynolds (who also produced), and which was released by Disney. Levy, as director-producer, continued his run with star and writer Reynolds on the musical comedy, Boy Band (date to be announced), co-written by Jesse Reynolds.

Levy has served as a big-screen producer on several movies he did not direct, including: Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), The Rocker (2008), James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now (2013), Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014), the Oscar-nominated sci-fi adventure Arrival (2016), Why Him? (2016), Fist Fight (2017), Table 19 (2017), Love and Monsters (2020), The Boogeyman (2023), Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip (date to be announced), and Alexandre Aja’s horror movie, Never Let Go (2024), Dollhouse (2024), Sovereign (date to be announced), The Backrooms (2025), The Defender (date to be announced), and Night of the Ghoul (date to be announced).