Chris McKay

Actor, Additional Crew

Birthdate: November 11, 1973 (52 Years Old)

Birthplace: Winter Park, Florida, USA

Chris McKay (birthname: Christopher McKay) worked as a writer-director-producer-animator-editor of several animated series, including the long-running Robot Chicken (2005-2011), and also for two decades as a feature film editor, starting in 1995 (except for directing and writing an indie movie in 2002 titled 2wks, 1yr). McKay then shifted into writing, producing, and directing in 2017 with the sequel, The Lego Batman Movie, for which McKay directed, with the voice cast of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, and Ralph Fiennes, and grossing $312 million worldwide. That same year, McKay was a lead producer on the other, less successful Lego Movie project, The Lego Ninjago Movie, with the voice cast of Dave Franco, Michael Pena, Fred Armisen, Kumail Nanjiani, Jackie Chan, Justin Theroux, and Olivia Munn, and grossing $123 million just under twice production costs of $70 million. (This actually marked McKay’s third Lego project; he was animation co-director, animation supervisor, and lead editor on The Lego Movie (2014), written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.) Chris McKay’s first feature as director of a live-action movie was The Tomorrow War (2021), starring Chris Pratt, J.K. Simmons, and Edwin Hodge, and earning--in a limited Amazon Studios theatrical release pre-streaming--$19.2 million. McKay’s first writing-only feature credit was as a story writer for the script of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), co-written by Michael Gilio and co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. McKay was director and a lead producer (with story writer Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst) on the Dracula-themed Renfield (2023), starring Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Awkwafina, released by Universal Pictures as part of the studio’s revived project to remake their classic horror movie library.

Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

Chris McKay was born in Winter Park, Florida, and raised in the Chicago area. McKay developed a fascination for the movies of Alfred Hitchcock and made his first short films on his family’s Super-8 camera. McKay studied film at Southern Illinois University in his freshman and sophomore years and then transferred to Columbia College Chicago, where he earned his B.A.

Known For

Renfield

Director (2023)

The Tomorrow War

Director (2021)

The Lego Batman Movie

Director (2017)

Awards

Winner, Best Short-Format Animated Program, Emmy Awards (2010); Winner, Best Edited Animated Feature Film, American Cinema Editors Awards (2015).

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy Awards

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy Awards

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy

Primetime Emmy Awards

Chris McKay Movies

Director

Collapse

Previous (3)

2023 |
Renfield
Renfield
2023
Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Renfield, Dracula's tortured henchman, is forced to capture prey for his master and do his every bidding. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there is a life outside his boss's shadow.
More Info
2021 |
The Tomorrow War
The Tomorrow War
2021
Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A family man is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront the past.
2017 |
The Lego Batman Movie
The Lego Batman Movie
2017
Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick.
More Info

Editor

Collapse

Previous (1)

-- |
The Lego Movie

Writer

Collapse

Previous (1)

2023 |
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
2023
Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.