Peter Jackson | No 24

Director: King Kong , The Lord of the Rings trilogy Producer: District 9 , The Adventures of Tintin His last film, The Lovely Bones, was a damp squib, a misfire that sorely tested the limits of CGI. But only a fool would write off Peter Jackson. For a start, there's no messing with the £1.8bn-reaping, 17 Oscar-scooping success of The Lord of the Rings. His faithful Tolkien adaptation made fantasy credible (The Return of the King was the first film in the fantasy genre to win a best picture Oscar). And its boundary-pushing blend of live action and computer animation opened the door for other directors: James Cameron recently said it was only when he saw Gollum that he felt capable of making Avatar. Jackson has also had success as a producer, sponsoring the alien-apartheid thriller District 9 and getting back in bed with Spielberg for Tintin. The internet is buzzing with will-he-or-won't-he chatter about Jackson directing The Hobbit following Guillermo del Toro's decision to pull out ; Jackson is the executive producer and has worked on the script. He has said he doesn't want to compete with himself – but he may find there's no one else up to the challenge.