Blu Ray.com Community's TOP 20 DIRECTORIAL FEATURE DEBUTS

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

Do they have to be the director's first and best film, or just their first?

Anyway, I'll give this a shot.
Here is a list of good/great films that were the director's feature-film debut, in no particular order.

Orson Welles - Citizen Kane
Hayao Miyazaki - Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
James Cameron - The Terminator
John Lasseter - Toy Story
Brad Bird - The Iron Giant
Pete Docter - Monsters, Inc.
Andrew Stanton - Finding Nemo
Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois - Lilo & Stitch
Alex Garland - Ex Machina
Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Jennifer Yuh Nelson - Kung Fu Panda 2
Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff - The Lion King
John Musker & Ron Clements - The Great Mouse Detective
Rich Moore - Wreck-It Ralph
Hiromasa Yonebayashi - The Secret World of Arrietty
Quentin Tarantino - Reservoir Dogs
Don Bluth - The Secret of NIMH
Yoshifumi Kondō - Whisper of the Heart
Michaël Dudok de Wit - The Red Turtle
Peter Lord & Nick Park - Chicken Run
Henry Selick - The Nightmare Before Christmas
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey - The Secret of Kells
Peter Ramsey - Rise of the Guardians
Tim Miller - Deadpool
George Miller - Mad Max
Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud - Persepolis
Satoshi Kon - Perfect Blue
Hiroyuki Okiura - Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

It doesn’t necessarily have to be their best, just a solid or great debut that shows promise of things (already for some) to come. Ordering them would be a plus or else I’ll just point them the way they are.