Destin Daniel Cretton

Producer, Writer, Director, Editor

Destin Daniel Cretton (birthname: Destin Yori Daniel Cretton) is part of a group of formerly independent American filmmakers who have realized success as studio franchise directors, and who made his feature debut as director/writer/producer/editor of the indie drama, I Am Not a Hipster (2012), starring Dominic Bogart, and which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Cretton made his breakthrough as director/writer of the feature adaptation of his short film, Short Term 12 (2013), starring Brie Larson, John Gallagher, Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, LaKeith Stanfield and Melora Walters, and grossing an excellent $2.3 million (based on estimated costs) for distributor Cinedigm after winning the jury Grand Prize and Audience Best Film awards at the South by Southwest Film Festival.

Cretton as director/co-writer reunited with lead Brie Larson for the biopic, The Glass Castle (2017), adapted by Cretton (and co-writers Andrew Lanham and Marti Noxon) from Jeannette Walls’ 2005 best-selling memoir, co-starring Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson, Max Greenfield and Sarah Snook, and grossing $22 million for distributor Lionsgate. Cretton rejoined co-writer Lanham and with co-writer John Fusco for the screenplay of Lionsgate’s fantasy movie, The Shack (2017), starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer, earning nearly $97 million.

Destin Daniel Cretton was again the director/co-writer (with regular writing partner Andrew Lanham) of a biopic based on a memoir and co-starring Brie Larson, Just Mercy (2019), starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson and Rafe Spall, produced (in part) by Endeavor Content and Participant Media and grossing $50 million for Warner Bros. Pictures after launching at the Toronto Film Festival. Cretton joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as director and co-writer/co-story writer (again with Lanham, and also with co-writer/co-story writer Dave Callahan) of the 25th MCU movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), starring Simu Liu (in the title role), Awkwafina, Zhang Meng’er, Fala Chan, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley and Tony Leung, and which grossed over $432 million globally for Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Cretton continued in the MCU as director only of the anticipated franchise sequel, Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), starring Tom Holland (in the title role), Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal and Mark Ruffalo, produced by Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios/Pascal Pictures and released wide by Sony Pictures Releasing. Cretton was a lead producer only on director/writer Lloyd Lee Choi’s U.S./Canada indie drama, Lucky Lu (2025), based on Choi’s 2022 short film, Same Old, starring Chang Chen, and which premiered in the Directors Fortnight competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Movies

Known For

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

(2021)

Short Term 12

(2013)

Just Mercy

(2019)

The Glass Castle

(2017)

Destin Daniel Cretton Movies

Director

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Previous (4)

2026 |
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
2026
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A forgotten Peter Parker lives alone as a full-time Spider-Man until mounting pressure triggers a dangerous change and a powerful new enemy emerges.
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2021 |
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
2021
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Shang-Chi, the master of weaponry-based Kung Fu, is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organization.
More Info Watch Now
2019 |
Just Mercy
Just Mercy
2019
Biography, Crime, Drama
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
More Info Watch Now
2017 |
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle
2017
Biography, Drama
A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who's an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children's imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.
More Info Watch Now

Writer

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Previous (4)

2021 |
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
2021
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Shang-Chi, the master of weaponry-based Kung Fu, is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organization.
More Info Watch Now
2019 |
Just Mercy
Just Mercy
2019
Biography, Crime, Drama
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
More Info Watch Now
2017 |
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle
2017
Biography, Drama
A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who's an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children's imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.
More Info Watch Now
2017 |
The Shack
The Shack
2017
Drama, Fantasy
A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called "The Shack."
More Info Watch Now

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