Andrew Adamson
Andrew Adamson (born December 1, 1966) is a New Zealand film director based mainly in Los Angeles, California, U.S., where he made the blockbuster animation films, Shrek and Shrek 2 for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He was director, executive producer, and scriptwriter for C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Shooting took place in New Zealand, primarily in and around Auckland, but also in South Island where much of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. He also worked on the movies Batman Forever and Batman & Robin as a visual effects supervisor.
Adamson's parents were Christian missionaries. Born in New Zealand, Adamson moved to Papua New Guinea with his parents aged eleven, and he returned to Auckland aged eighteen. When twenty-four, he moved to San Francisco, and divided time between there and Los Angeles. Since making the Narnia films, he has settled back in New Zealand. Adamson has two daughters.
Adamson wanted to be an architect, but missed a university enrollment deadline because of a car accident. Andrew Adamson was recruited by Pacific Data Images to go to work in the USA. The company opened an office in the California city of Los Angeles. There he served as a technical director in the following movies: Toys (1992), starring Robin Williams, and Angels in the Outfield (1994), starring Danny Glover. Previously Andrew specialised in commercials but preferred the idea of telling a story in longer format. Andrew served as visual effects supervisor in the 1995 film Batman Forever, A Time to Kill (1996), and Batman and Robin (1997).
Andrew Adamson also directed Shrek (the first in the series) with a moderate budget of 60 million in 2001. However the film became a worldwide success taking in nearly $500 million in the box office. The film grossed 42,347,760 in the opening week-end. It grossed 267,665,011 in USA and Canada and foreign totals of 216,744,207 for a worldwide total of 484,409,218. The film featured famous Hollywood actors such as Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.
The next film in the series Shrek 2 (2004) had a big Hollywood budget of around 150 million and was even a bigger success than the first film taking in more than $900 million worldwide. The film opened at 108,037,878, one of the highest openings ever. In the USA and Canada the film went on to gross 441,226,247 and a foreign total off 478,612,511 for a worldwide total of 919,838,758. The film is currently the ninth top grossing worldwide film ever according to website box office tracker Box Office Mojo.
Andrew did not only direct this film but wrote the story too. However the next film in the series Shrek The Third, Andrew Adamson had no participation as he had been contracted by Disney to work with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Instead the film was co-directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui while Adamson served as executive producer. The script of the film was written by J. David Stem and Joe Stillman. The third film was still very successful taking in more than $795 million worldwide with a budget of no more than 160 million.
Adamson achieved commercial success and gained worldwide attention when he co-produced, co-wrote and directed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The film is based on the book by C.S. Lewis of the same name and won various awards, gained critical praise and was a box office success becoming the third highest grossing film worldwide of 2005 according to Box Office Mojo. The film opened in the US and Canada with totals of higher than 65million and the film ended up with a world-wide gross of 744,783,957 with a budget of 180million according to Box Office Mojo. He returned as director to the next Narnia film: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian which has a worldwide release in May 2008. However, he will not direct the next film in the franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, because he feels a need to take a break. Michael Apted, director of Amazing Grace, has taken over the series and will direct The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
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