Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa, Japan's greatest filmmaker, directed 30 films over five decades, with Seven Samurai (1954) routinely voted the best foreign-language film ever made—a title held for decades. His visual storytelling innovations, including the wipe cut and multi-camera action techniques, directly influenced George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and virtually every action filmmaker who followed. Kurosawa's Honorary Academy Award in 1990 acknowledges his global impact, yet he never won a competitive Oscar, unlike Scorsese (#4) who finally secured one for The Departed. Seven Samurai's budget of $500,000 (a massive sum at the time) yielded a runtime of 207 minutes, making it 30% longer than the typical action film but epic in scope. His films have sold over 100 million tickets worldwide, a figure that surpasses #3's box office in adjusted terms.