Top 10 Billion Dollar Directors

With the success of Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg became the first director whose movies earned more than $10 billions worldwide. Here, we will see top 10 directors whose movies made billion dollars. The data specified here are referred from the box office reporting website Box Office Mojo, which is operated by leading movie database website IMDb, on May 2, 2018.

1.    Steven Spielberg (33 movies)

Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time. His Jaws (1975) is the first blockbuster movie ever. Seven of the Spielberg’s movies are in IMDb’s Top Rated 250 Movies list (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can). 33 of Spielberg’s movies have collected $10.4 billions (adjusted for inflation) or $10.08 billions (unadjusted for inflation) worldwide. 

Top 3 Movies of Steven Spielberg (Inflation Adjusted)

1.   E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial - $1,299,385,700 million

2.   Jaws - $1,173,202,000 million

3.   Jurassic Park - $839,255,900 million

2.   Peter Jackson (12 movies)

In the beginning, Jackson is known for his comedy horror movie Braindead (1992). When he made The Lord of the Rings trilogy based on already famous fantasy novel with the same name, everything changed for him and film industry itself. The critically acclaimed epic trilogy made him a top director. The Lord of the Rings trilogy set benchmark for several things including film making, visual effects, and motion capture techniques. The Lord of the Rings movies are ranked at top positions (12, 16 and 7) in IMDb’s Top 250 list. Nine of Jackson’s movies have made $ 6.5207 billions worldwide. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies alone earned $5.847 billions.

Top 3 Movies of Peter Jackson

1.   The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - $1,119.1 million

2.   The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - $1,021.1 million

3.   The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug -$958.4 million

3.   Michael Bay (13 movies)

Bay is famous for entertaining movies like Transformers, Bad Boys and The Rock. His movies are not much critically acclaimed but attracted young people around the world. 13 of his movies have made $6.4506 billions worldwide. Five ‘Transformers’ movies themselves made $4.379 billions.

Top 3 Movies of Michael Bay

1.   Transformers: Dark of the Moon $1,123.8 million

2.   Transformers: Age of Extinction $1,104.1 million

3.   Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $836.3 million

4.   James Cameron (9 movies)

Cameron is known for his perfection and technically advanced movies. He has directed iconic movies like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Aliens, Titanic and Avatar. So far, he is the only director whose two movies collected more than two billion dollars each. Even though Avatar received mixed reviews, it has great visual effects, especially 3D effects. It collected $2.7772 billions, just $222.8 millions less than $3 billions. Nine of his movies have collected $6.1389 billions. 

Cameron is making four more Avatar movies. We don’t know whether new four Avatar movies will be good or bad. Cameron is a perfectionist and he may make them good. As per rumor news, the next Avatar movie is set completely underwater. It is really fascinating. If the box office collection of Avatar sequels is good, he may reach 2^ndor 1^stposition in this list.

Top 3 Movies of James Cameron

1.   Avatar - $2,777.2 million

2.   Titanic - $2,128.9 million

3.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day - $519.8 million

5.   David Yates (7 movies)

As like Peter Jackson, David Yates has become a billion-dollar director by directing a successful fantasy novel, Harry Potter. Six of Yates movies have made $5.3468 billions worldwide. Among those six movies, four are Harry Potter movies.His ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is written by J.K. Rowling, the same novelist who wrote Harry Potter series. 

        Top 3 Movies of David Yates

1.   Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $ 1,341.5 million

2.   Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - $960.3 million

3.   Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - $939.9 million

6.   Christopher Nolan (9 movies)

Nolan is a critically celebrated director who makes mind blowing movies. He has directed 10 movies, of which 8 movies are in IMDb’s Top 250 movies list. His ‘The Dark Knight’ movie, which is at 4^thrank in IMDb’s Top 250 list, revolutionized the movies based on comic books. The Dark Knight trilogy, which rebooted Batman movies, created a new trend of rebooting old movies in Hollywood. Nine of Nolan’s movies have collected $4.7548 billions. 

Top 3 Movies of Christopher Nolan

1.   The Dark Knight Rises - $1,084.9 million

2.   The Dark Knight - $1,003 million

3.   Inception - $828.3 million

7.   Robert Zemeckis (16 movies)

Zemeckis is a remarkable and unique director. He has made peculiar and critically acclaimed iconic movies like Forrest Gump, Back to the Future trilogy and Contact. He has directed movies of different genres. 16 of his movies have collected $4.2436 billions. 

Top 3 Movies of Robert Zemeckis

1.   Forrest Gump - $677.4 million

2.   Cast Away - $429.6 million

3.   1Back to the Future - $381.1million

8.   Chris Columbus (13 movies)

Columbus has directed renowned Home Alone and two Harry Potter movies (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Thus, Harry Potter movies have made two ‘billion-dollar’ directors. 13 of Columbus’s movies have made $4.0603 billions. Two of his Harry Potter movies alone earned $1.8538 billion.

Top 3 Movies of Chris Columbus

1.   Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - $974.8 million

2.   Harry Potter and the Chamber of the Secrets - $879.0 million

3.   Home Alone - $476.7 million

9.   Tim Burton (15 movies)

Burton is famous for his Batman and fantasy movies. His Batman movies, acted by Michael Keaton, were popular before Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. Jack Nicholson’s Joker role in Batman is praised as one of the greatest movie villains of all time. 15 of Burtons movies have collected $3.9797 billions.

Top 3 Movies of Tim Burton

1.   Alice in Wonderland - $1,025.5 million

2.   Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - $475.0 million

3.   Batman - $411.3 million

10. Ridley Scott (18 movies)

 Ridley Scotty is a great and influential director who has created iconic movies

 like Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. 18 of his movies have

 collected $3.9425 billions worldwide. 

Top 3 Movies of Ridley Scott

1.   The Martian - $630.2 million

2.   Gladiator - $460.6 million

3.   Prometheus - $403.4 million

Hopeful directors who may overtake some of the current top billion-dollar directors:

Ron Howard, whose 20 movies have collected $3.8118 billions, is famous for Apollo 13 and biographical movies A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon. His ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, which portrays story of one of the loveable protagonists of all time, Han Solo, is releasing this month. Recent Star Wars movies have earned more than $1 billion (Force Awakens $2.068 billions, Last Jedi $1.332 billion and Rogue One $1.056 billion). If ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ earn $1 billion, Howard will overtake Nolan for now. 

Next in the line is ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies director Gore Verbinski. His movies have collected $3.755 billions. He is very close to Ron Howard in the box office collection. 

But, big competitor to Howard is J.J. Abrams. He is the second ‘two billion-dollar’ director next to James Cameron. So far, Cameron and Abrams only have made ‘two billion-dollar’ movies. His ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ has earned $2.068 billions. He is directing Star Wars: Episode IX which will be released on 2020. If it earns $2 billions, he may move to the 5^thposition in this list. 

The financial success and quality of a movie are not always related. Great movies like The Shawshank Redemption, which is the No.1 movie in the IMDb’s Top 250 movies list, collected only $28.3 millions worldwide. The production budget of The Shawshank Redemption was $25 millions according to The Numbers website. The Blade Runner, which is considered as an iconic sci-fi movie, earned only $32.8 millions worldwide. 

Top 10 ‘Billion Dollar’ Directors List – Summary

1.    Steven Spielberg - $10.4 billions

2.    Peter Jackson - $6.52 billions

3.    Michael Bay - $6.45 billions

4.    James Cameron - $6.13 billions

5.    David Yates - $5.34 billions

6.    Christopher Nolan - $4.75 billions

7.    Robert Zemeckis - $4.24 billions

8.    Chris Columbus - $4.06 billions

9.    Tim Burton - $3.97 billions

10.Ridley Scott - $3.94 billions

Photo Credit:

Movie Reel Projector - JanBaby from Pixabay