Who is the most profitable movie director of all time? Steven Spielberg of course… But who is the second biggest money maker in Hollywood? That question isn’t as easy to answer, is it? I decided to put together a listing of the Top 10 Most Profitable Movie Directors of All Time:
Steven Spielberg
Filmography: Munich, War of the Worlds, The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report, A.I., Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Hook, Always, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws
Total Domestic Box Office: $3.445 Billion
Per Film Average: $164.1 Million
Robert Zemeckis
Filmography: Beowulf, The Polar Express, Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Contact, Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Romancing the Stone, Used Cars
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.799 Billion
Per Film Average: $150 Million
George Lucas
Filmography: American Graffiti, Star Wars, Star Wars Episode I, Star Wars Episode II, Star Wars Episode III
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.698 Billion
Per Film Average: $340 Million
Ron Howard
Filmography: The Da Vinci Code, Cinderella Man, The Missing, A Beautiful Mind, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, EDtv, Ransom, Apollo 13, The Paper, Far and Away, Backdraft, Parenthood, Willow, Gung Ho, Cocoon, Splash, Night Shift
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.606 Billion
Per Film Average: $100.3 Million
Chris Columbus
Filmography: Rent, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Bicentennial Man, Stepmom, Nine Months, Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Only The Lonely, Heartbreak Hotel, Adventures in Babysitting
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.567 Billion
Per Film Average: $130.6 Million
Gore Verbinski
Filmography: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Weather Man, The Ring, The Mexican, Mouse Hunt
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.308 Billion
Per Film Average: $187 Million
Peter Jackson
Filmography: King Kong, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Frighteners
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.268 Billion
Per Film Average: $253.6 Million
Tim Burton
Filmography: Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.267 Billion
Per Film Average: $97.4 Million
Sam Raimi
Filmography: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, The Gift, For Love of the Game, A Simple Plan, The Quick and the Dead, Army of Darkness, Darkman
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.247 Billion
Per Film Average: $138.5 Million
James Cameron
Filmography: Titanic, True Lies, Terminator 2, The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator
Total Domestic Box Office: $1.147 Billion
Per Film Average: $163.8 Million
Please Note: To simplify things, I only counted/mentioned films that played on over 500 screens.
So what do you notice while looking at this list? What do all these directors have in common?
Six out of the ten directors have helmed a trilogy (Spielberg - Indiana Jones, Zemeckis - Back tot he Future, Lucas - Star Wars, Verbincki - Pirates, Jackson - Lord of the Rings) Sam Raimi actually directed two trilogies (Spider-Man and Evil Dead).
And while Tim Burton and James Cameron have yet to direct a full-on trilogy, both filmmakers directed Part 1 and 2 of a big franchise (Batman/Terminator respectfully). Christopher Columbus has been part of the start of two franchises, Harry Potter and Home Alone. And Spielberg even directed the first two Jurassic Park films, and who knows, he might eventually helm a third film in the series.
Ron Howard is the odd man out. The only one in the bunch yet to direct a sequel (although Angels & Demons is approaching on the horizon).
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Heh.. all old white guys.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
I wonder who’s number 12? He’s like the benchwarmer when all of these guys pass on a film I imagine - could have been you at one time, Mr. Tobe Hooper.
Is Spielberg’s Munch the blockbuster sequel to the cult film Munchies?
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
It is an interesting list, but I wonder if it shouldn’t be better titled “Highest Grossing Directors of all time”? Profitability and Gross are certainly two different things and I would suspect that the “Most Profitable” list would look a little different. I understand that list would be almost impossible to put together given the studios notoriously strange accounting systems. But sometimes movies that don’t cost much can actually make a higher profit than the block-busters.
It is also sad just how brief Lucas’ filmography is, where are all these small projects that he talked so much about?
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
A piece of me wanted to see Uwe Boll. Just ’cause. He’s adorable.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
The Munich typo has been fixed :)
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
When’s that site redesign and message board coming?
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
They new design was supposed to launch yesterday… We’re running a little behind. It should be up by Sundance, which is later this month!
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Shouldn’t Peter Jackson have two entries, Chubby and Makeover
I always thought Lucas directed Radioland Murders with the AWOL dude from Dream On. Guess not. Too busy being the Steinbrenner of cinema.
Michael Bay can’t be too far off the list, I’d imagine.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Here is more of the list for those interested:
11. Michael Bay
12. Clint Eastwood
13. Andrew Adamson
14. Ivan Reitman
15. Brett Ratner
16. Ridley Scott
17. Joel Schumacher
18. Tony Scott
19. Jay Roach
20. Tom Shadyac
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Surely this is meaningless since it is only going to be the latest films bolstered by inflation. Far more interesting would be who attracted the largest audiences and then we’d see a lot of the real greats back in contention.
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Xerif - Excellent point, I always thought attendance was a much better measure of a film’s popularity than gross anyway what with constantly changing inflation numbers and ticket prices.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I wonder what this list would look like if international gross was included? And if it was sorted by per film average? I imagine Lucas, Cameron and Jackson would rise to the top.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Good stuff, Pete. I find Jay Roach at #19 to be really interesting. The Meet the Parents movies and the three Austin Powers films. That’s about it for Mr. Roach. Kind of like Gore Verbinski…
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 am
SO many of these guy’s numbers have been inflated via franchises (sorry sam). however, i think its a pretty solid list. and no one can touch spielberg… thus far.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 am
Totally agree with Xerif. This is meaningless unless you adjust the figures for inflation….
I’m sure Hitchcock and others would be up there if you did that
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
Hey Freddie…are you a racist, sexist, *and* an ageist?\
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
Where are the Wachowski brothers??
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 am
“And Spielberg even directed the first two Jurassic Park films, and who knows, he might eventually helm a third film in the series.”
there was already a 3rd jurassic Park film, it was indeed very forgettable though.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:07 am
This post should probably be called the Highest Grossing Director’s at the US Box Office. With Titanic grossing 1.8 billion world wide and the huge numbers from the Potter Movies and LOTR, no doubt this would be a very different list!
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:10 am
This is really a lazy list. As others have pointed out, this is *not* a list of most profitable directors. Further, sorting them by total career gross seems sort of silly, Lucas’s $340MM gross per film puts the others in the shade.
Also @eric: Although there was a Jurassic Park 3, it was not directed by Spielberg
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:48 am
I’m surprised Hitchcock is not in the list since he is considered the best of all times.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Thanks for the list, but I agree that it falls short of its stated objective in terms of profitability. Were these amounts adjusted to today’ dollar values, or left as absolute values? If the list were rebuilt with the title of Highest Grossing Film Directors, AND the dollar amounts were adjusted for inflation, you might be approaching a useful list. Anyway, thanks for the effort.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
This shows gross but not profits. Profits are more meaningful, I would argue.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
In Peter’s defense, profitability is almost impossible to determine and is mostly based on guess work and the limited (and certainly biased) information the studio provides. The most famous case probably being Forest Gump which the studio claimed actually lost money, even though it grossed way beyond 300 million, due to contract disputes and legal issues the studio had at the time. It is easy for the studios to muck about with their numbers and difficult to truly determine a films profitability.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
this list doesn’t do justice to good film makers. i complained all summer about sequels being just extra money makers and thats what 90% of these directors stake claim too. for that im huge on ron howard and tim burton for overall product. i think lucas at three is over rated and peter jackson is just lucky there are so many nerds out there.
its grossing list, not the best directors….so i can accept it. but if we talked top ten directors i bet half these guys don’t come close in public opinion
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Domestic box office alone does not determine profitability. The original cost of producing the film, adjusted rates of inflation, DVD sales/rentals and the potential for marketing products based on the film should also be taken into consideration. Movies like Cocoon and Forrest Gump are less profitable overall than Star Wars or Harry Potter because there is no potential for action figures,toys,books or cross-marketing schemes based on the characters from Cocoon or Forrest Gump.
However, I can understand why Peter wouldn’t want to spend the additional hours required to research the true profitability of each film for a one page article.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Check out Andrew Adamson’s boxoffice average: $333,534,072
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=andrewadamson.htm
January 5th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Interesting…
All these directors primarily do Sci-fi/Fantasy films. With the exception of Ron Howard, yet again. What’s up with that.
Maybe people enjoy seeing lasers and swords.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:33 am
Why there is no Roland Emmerich on this list? The film Independence Day,Stargate,Godzilla,The Patriot and The Day After Tomorrow has grossed more than 2 billion.That is quite enough to beat some of the directors.