I do love ranking stuff, but I think rankings are especially on every moviegoer’s mind this week with the release of The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of one of the greatest stories ever told, hitting theaters everywhere.
First, I cannot recommend it enough: it’s incredible in every aspect. The cast is fantastic, everything looks and feels real and seeing it in IMAX was one of the most incredible theatrical experiences I’ve ever had.
This has prompted a lot of discussions as to where it lands on yearly lists (No. 1 for me so far) and where it lands in Nolan’s incredible filmography. Does it stack up to his previous feature, Oppenheimer, which won seven Oscars? It does for me, but talking about Nolan made me think about how he’s one of the few directors with multiple films featured on paint schemes … and wonder just how many have more than one to their name.
Turns out, none of them have more than three, but I had made a note to look at actors and actresses at some point and figure out who recurred the most in terms of cast members; that’ll come at some other time. For now, let’s take a look at those who helmed these films.
Leading the way are the eight directors with three apiece, and I’ll talk about them more or less in order of prominence.
Kicking things off is one of the most recognizable names tied to multiple huge franchises: George Lucas. Say what you will about his direction and writing of Episodes I, II and III in the Star Wars prequels (not the greatest, though Revenge of the Sith rocks), but he helped create both Star Wars and Indiana Jones, which will be part of the cultural zeitgeist for centuries to come.
The other most prominent directors are Zack Snyder and Sam Raimi. Both fall under the superhero movie banner; Raimi engineered the first real superhero franchise in the 2000s with Spider-Man and its sequels, a delicate balance of lighthearted action with real stakes and some truly dark moments (worked in perfectly by the Evil Dead and Drag Me To Hell director).
Raimi’s trilogy appeared on the cars of Robby Gordon, Lyndon Amick, Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte.
Snyder seems like a chill dude, but I never got on board with his DC Comics adaptations. Man of Steel devolves into two indestructible dudes punching each other through buildings for the last 45 minutes, Batman v Superman was a disaster and Justice League was almost worse. Snyder did not fully direct the latter due to a personal tragedy, but Joss Whedon didn’t exactly help things when he took over.
The rest land in the animated-movie territory. John Lasseter is the most notable, especially considering we’re talking about NASCAR, because he directed both Cars and Cars 2 (though his first movie in this criteria was Toy Story 2, also huge). Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2, the first Chronicles of Narnia) and Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Madagascar 3, The Boss Baby 2) each have three movies to their name as well.
Rob Cohen might just be the most random of the three-film directors. Whereas some were hugely prominent and helmed franchises (Raimi, Snyder, Lucas) or were part of mass-appeal animated films, Cohen had three franchises come up across nearly two decades. First, The Fast and the Furious in 2001, then The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2008; and finally, The Hurricane Heist in 2018. Two of them kind of make sense (racing-ish movie, franchise), but the third was quite the random one-off.
I’ll give Steven Spielberg 2.5 films featured on the tally, because while E.T. the Extraterrestrial and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull certainly count, Jurassic Park was only a sponsor in the context of the Universal Studios park ride. So it was based on the movie, but it was not a branch of the movie itself. Shame for one of the greatest of all time to not lead this count.
Nearly a dozen directors have two to their name, so I’m not going to fully detail each and every single one of them here, but I’ll touch on the most notable filmmakers.
Christopher Nolan is the obvious one. Batman Begins, to tie it back to The Odyssey, was given to Nolan as a project and consolation prize for not directing Troy in 2004. That’s one of the few films to sponsor an entire race, the Batman Begins 400 at Michigan International Speedway in 2005. He then went on to direct The Dark Knight Rises, which had one of the more iconic movie cars since Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapped a four-year win drought in the No. 88 TDKR car.
Anne Hathaway is the main link between The Dark Knight Rises and The Odyssey, playing Catwoman in the former and Penelope in the latter.
There are seven other directors with two to their name. The most recent is Pierre Coffin, most notable for being the co-creator and voice actor for the Minions in the Despicable Me universe, who directed Minions and the 2026 installment Minions & Monsters. Raja Gosnell directed Scooby-Doo and Smurfs 2, while Dennis Dugan helmed I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and The Benchwarmers.
Pete Docter, Vicky Jenson and Conrad Vernon all have animation credits to their name that appeared in NASCAR, directing or co-directing features for the major studios. Finally, Brett Ratner — who was accused of misconduct by half a dozen victims in 2017 — directed both Rush Hour 3 and Superman Returns, neither of which were very good. My hot take is that none of the Rush Hour movies are particularly good, and I stand by that.
One other ranking we’ll take a look at before the year is up is breaking down the best and worst films to be featured on paint schemes. Again, I love ranking movies, so I feel I need to at least give that a shot.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.
Superman Returns was directed by Bryan Singer. I can understand the confusion though, since Ratner took over for Singer on the third X-Men film, and Singer is also… problematic to say the least. Not that it matters at all, but useless movie trivia is probably my strongest skillset.