Steven Spielberg effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest-grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest-grossing film ever. Spielberg's next film, "Schindler's List", was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust. "Schindler's List" earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg
Steven Spielberg in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of "War of the Worlds" (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", which depicted friendly alien visitors, "War of the Worlds" featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide. Spielberg's