The film received critical accolades for its precision in special effects, creating a thoroughly real and moving blend of scientific fact and human emotion. The international hit received nine Oscar nominations and won two (for Best Editing and Best Sound). Howard also won the much desired Director’s Guild Association Outstanding Feature Film Directorial Achievement Award. He followed this success with the bloody, fast-paced juggernaut Ransom (1996), starring Mel Gibson, which was a hit with audiences everywhere. His next big feature, EdTV (1999) met less box office success, but earned some critical praise for its unique treatment of humdrum American culture’s unexpected clash with celebrity. Howard executive produces the television series Felicity, as well as Eddie Murphy’s recent animated sitcom, The PJs. Pop.com, the highly-publicized Internet film company and Web site launched as a joint venture between Imagine and Dreamworks SKG (headed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen), failed to get off the ground in the fall of 2000.

In November of 2000, Howard garnered his best opening-weekend box office gross ever (over $55 million) with the long-awaited big budget film version of Dr. Seuss' holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey as the titular curmudgeon. The following year, Howard's Christmastime offering was the ambitious biopic A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe as the brilliant but tortured mathematician John Nash. The film earned Howard the most favorable critical notice of his career, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and serious Oscar buzz. Howard currently resides in Connecticut with his wife (former high school sweetheart), Cheryl, and their three kids. His children are named after the places they were conceived: Bryce Dallas (in Dallas, Texas), and Paige Carlyle and Jocelyn Carlyle at the Hotel Carlyle in New York. .