John Lee Hancock

The "feel good movie" may never have had a bigger proponent than John Lee Hancock. As a writer, director, and producer of high profile feature films, Hancock introduced his earnest and often sentimental sensibilities to sports movies like "The Rookie" (2002) and "The Blind Side" (2009), show business pictures like "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013), and the occasional fairy tale jaunt, including "Maleficent" (2014). Achieving big numbers at the box office and awards recognition in the process, Hancock established himself over the course of his decades in the filmmaking game as a reliable perpetrator of crowd-pleasing entertainment. Although intermittent attempts at darker and more severe material proved substantially less fortuitous, Hancock powered through these missteps to become a veritable fixture in the family-directed film community.