Phil
Lord

The director-writer-animator-producer has racked up huge hits in both animation (“The Lego Movie,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”) and live action (the “21 Jump Street” franchise). Along with Chris Miller, his writing and directing partner of 16 years, Lord is equally at home on the small screen, and both were Emmy nominated in 2015 for directing comedy series “The Last Man on Earth.”

The team’s first big break was the inventive but short-lived 2002 animated series “Clone High,” and their first major critical and commercial success was 2009’s surreal comedy “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” which grossed an impressive $243 million and spawned a 2013 sequel that did even better ($274 million).

In between, Lord and Miller directed the 2012 high school action comedy smash “21 Jump Street,” which grossed more than $200 million. That in turn spawned the 2014 blockbuster sequel, which did even better ($331 million). But it was “The Lego Movie,” a $469 million triumph that cleverly avoided the pitfalls of feeling like a corporate branding exercise that underscored their deft touch and tonal dexterity and cemented their reputations as uber-creative disruptors. The busy team’s working on an animated Spider-Man movie they’re writing and producing for Marvel, a Flash movie for Warner Bros. and several “Lego Movie” spin-offs and sequels. They also signed another three-year pod deal at Fox TV.