Mark Canton's filmography boasts a range of notable titles, including 300, 300: Rise of an Empire, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Immortals. 300, based on the Frank Miller graphic novel and directed by Zack Snyder for Warner Bros Pictures, achieved record-setting box office numbers upon its release in 2007, grossing over $460 million worldwide and holding the distinction of being the highest-grossing March release in the history of the motion picture business.
The Spiderwick Chronicles, adapted from the best-selling children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black, with Mark Waters (Mean Girls) directing, premiered in February 2008 through Paramount Pictures and emerged as the highest-grossing family film of early 2008. Immortals, an epic mythological tale set in ancient Greece during a time of war, was released on November 11, 2011, and has accumulated a worldwide gross of nearly $250 million.
Mark Canton initially joined Warner Bros. as Vice President of Production, eventually rising to Senior Vice President and President of Worldwide Theatrical Production. During his tenure at the studio, Canton played a pivotal role in creating the Batman, Lethal Weapon, and National Lampoon's Vacation film franchises. His creative influence helped bring some of today's most influential filmmakers to the forefront and some of the studio's most successful films to the screen.
The latter included Tim Burton's Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Beetlejuice, the Academy Award-winning Driving Miss Daisy, and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Canton was also instrumental in putting into production such popular hits as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Purple Rain, Above the Law, The Witches of Eastwick, The Mission, and Presumed Innocent, among others.
He departed Warner Bros. to join Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia Pictures as Chairman. Subsequently, he rose to Chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies, with all creative, operational, and management responsibility for Columbia Pictures, Triumph Films, Sony Pictures Classics, SPE's international theatrical operations, and Columbia TriStar's strategic motion picture alliances.
Under Canton's leadership at Sony, the studio produced several notable films, including the Academy Award-winning As Good as It Gets, starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt; Oscar-winner Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr.; Men in Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones; the Julia Roberts romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding; the thriller Anaconda; and the Wolfgang Peterson film Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford.
Mark Canton is a native of New York and a graduate of UCLA, where he earned his degree magna cum laude and was a member of the National Honor Society for American Studies. He delivered the 2011 commencement address at UCLA's School of History and has served on the UCLA Board of Councilors and the Deans Advisory Board for the School of Theatre, Film, and Television.
In addition to his contributions to the film industry, Canton has also been involved in various philanthropic endeavors. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute and Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AFI's Third Decade Council. In recent years, he has been Honorary Chair of the prestigious Ischia Global Film & Music Festival and the Los Angeles, Italia Film Festival.
