The following is a non-definitive list of the film directors with the highest career film grosses as of August 2025. The list is not adjusted for inflation.
The following is a non-definitive list of the film directors with the highest career film grosses as of August 2025. The list is not adjusted for inflation.
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker and deep-sea explorer. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, his films combine cutting-edge film technology with classical filmmaking techniques and have grossed over $9 billion worldwide, making him the second-highest-grossing film director of all time. Cameron has received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, as well as nominations for six British Academy Film Awards.
Born and raised in Ontario, Cameron moved to California aged 17 and enrolled at Fullerton Community College. Beginning his career with the short film Xenogenesis (1978), he first gained recognition for writing and directing the science fiction action film The Terminator (1984). He had further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and True Lies (1994), as well as the Avatar franchise (2009–present). He directed, wrote, co-produced, and co-edited the historical romance epic Titanic (1997), winning Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing.
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (/ˈspiːlbɜːrɡ/ SPEEL-burg; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema and is the highest-grossing film director of all time. Among other accolades, he has received three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and three BAFTA Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, an honorary knighthood in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. According to Forbes, he is the wealthiest celebrity.
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He moved to California and studied film in college. After directing several episodes for television, including Night Gallery and Columbo, he directed the television film Duel (1971), which was approved by Barry Diller. He made his theatrical debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), also beginning his decades-long collaboration with composer John Williams, with whom he has worked with for all but five of his theatrical releases. He became a household name with the summer blockbuster Jaws (1975), and continuously directed more acclaimed escapist box-office blockbusters with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and the original Indiana Jones trilogy (1981–1989). He also explored drama in The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987).
The following is a list of awards and nominations received by Steven Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg is an American filmmaker. He began his career in the New Hollywood era and is currently the most commercially successful director. Spielberg is recipient of various awards including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, twelve Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, three Directors Guild of America Awards, and seven Producers Guild of America Awards.
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English filmmaker. His work includes science fiction, crime, and historical epic films, with an atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. He ranks among the highest-grossing directors, with his films grossing a cumulative $5 billion worldwide. He has received many accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003, and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024.
An alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London, Scott began his career in television as a designer and director before moving into advertising as a director of commercials. He made his film directorial debut with The Duellists (1977) and gained wider recognition with his next film, Alien (1979). Though his films range widely in setting and period, they showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, spanning 2nd-century Rome in Gladiator (2000) and its 2024 sequel, 12th-century Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), medieval England in Robin Hood (2010), ancient Memphis in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), contemporary Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down (2002), futuristic cityscapes of Los Angeles in Blade Runner (1982), and extraterrestrial worlds in Alien, Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015) and Alien: Covenant (2017).
Sir Peter Robert Jackson ONZ KNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Other notable films include the critically lauded drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster remake film King Kong (2005), the World War I documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) and the documentary The Beatles: Get Back (2021). He is the fourth-highest-grossing film director of all-time, with his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.