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Chris Terrio

Chris Terrio

Writer · Born December 31, 1976 (49) · New York City, New York, USA

Oscar winner · Golden Globe nominee · BAFTA Award nominee · 2 other major award bodies

Chris Terrio (born December 31, 1976) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, a BAFTA, and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work. Terrio wrote the screenplay for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the follow-up to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, based on an earlier draft by David S. Goyer, and is credited as co-writer for the 2017 film Justice League, alongside Joss Whedon for the theatrical cut and Zack Snyder and Will Beall for the 2021 director's cut for Warner Bros. He completed another screenplay, A Foreigner, based on an article by the journalist David Grann. Terrio also co-wrote the script for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with director J. J. Abrams. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Terrio, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
December 31, 1976 (49)
From
New York City, New York, USA
Works as
Writer
Titles
6 on MovieCove · 10 credits in all

What are Chris Terrio's films like?

Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Bonds.

Themes

share of theme weight
Morality
30%
Bonds
26%
Self
20%
Power
7%
Ideas
7%
Survival
5%
Society
5%

What they feel like to watch

their average across 5 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category

Light 0 · Serious 2 · Dark 3

Grounded 1 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 4

Gentle 0 · Charged 0 · Intense 5

Steady 0 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 1

Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0

A split, not a type: Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 3

Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 2

A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 3

Resolved 4 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Tense
4
Melancholic
4
Hopeful
3
Thrilling
2
Dread
1
Other
2

How their films end

  • Happy3
  • Bittersweet2

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Chris Terrio's films?

As of October 24, 2026, all 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on HBO Max (3).

Subscription and free streaming for Chris Terrio's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

10 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.

  • Zack Snyder's Justice League(2021)

    Executive Producer · Screenplay · Story

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
  • Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker(2019)

    Screenplay · Story · as Colonel Aftab Ackbar (voice)

    Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
  • Justice League(2017)

    Executive Producer · Screenplay · Story

    Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all films
  • Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films
  • Argo(2012)

    Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
  • Damages(2007)

    Show 1 episode · Director

    Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all shows
  • Heights (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)

    Director · Additional Writing

  • Book of Kings (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Director · Editor · Producer · Writer

  • Richard II (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Screenplay

  • Sunset Boulevard (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Screenplay

Career shape

A full career of 10 titles, 8 of them dated from 2002 to 2021.

By role

only this rolewith another role
Acting1 of 10: 0 only acting, 1 with another roleDirecting3 of 10: 1 only directing, 2 with another roleWriting8 of 10: 4 only writing, 4 with another role · typical Midcredits score54thProducing3 of 10: 0 only producing, 3 with another roleEditing1 of 10: 0 only editing, 1 with another roleOther crew1 of 10: 0 only other crew, 1 with another role

10 titles, 5 with more than one role — writing and directing overlap on 1 of them.

By decade

2000s3 · crew2010s4 · 1 acting · 4 crew2020s1 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

Awards

an Oscar and 1 other major award from 5 major nominations, 2013.

WinNomination
  1. 2013
    • Oscar, won · Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
    • Golden Globe, nominated · Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
    • BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Adapted Screenplay
    • +2 other major bodies · 1 win and 1 nomination
      • Writers Guild Award, won · Best Adapted Screenplay
      • Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Adapted Screenplay

Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.

How do Chris Terrio's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 54th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 44th percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

44thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Approval · how many liked their films

62ndpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Reach · how many have seen their films

92ndpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Midcredits score across 6 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up3
  • 50th to 74th1
  • 25th to 49th2

Reviewers score the dialogue 51/100 and the plot and story 48/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Is Chris Terrio's work okay for kids?

Across up to 5 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity and frightening / intense run heavier than most films.

Their medianMedian of all filmsMiddle 80% of their titles
Violence & Gore5 titles54–72 · median 59 · moderateheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 44
Sex & Nudity5 titles14–30 · median 22 · mildnear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 32
Profanity5 titles32–67 · median 49 · moderateheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 36
Alcohol & Drugs5 titles20–37 · median 30 · mildnear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 33
Frightening / Intense5 titles48–67 · median 61 · intenseheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 39

Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.

Who does Chris Terrio work with?

People who share at least 2 of Chris Terrio's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Ben Affleck shares the most, 4.

Directors

Actors

Composers, cinematographers and editors

Producers