Action! Cut! This is how all classic blockbusters like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Titanic starts and ends. What do blockbusters make? Loads of money! You only need to look at the great bank balance of great directors like George Lucas, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg to see that’s true. Here is the list of the richest movie directors of all time.
- George Lucas
With a net worth of $5.4 billion, George Lucas is the richest director in the world! George is a director, writer, and producer and is probably most famous for directing the Star Wars franchise. Other films he’s worked on include, Body Heat, Labyrinth, and The Indiana Jones film franchise. Lucases net worth rocketed in 2012, when he sold his entire company, Lucasfilm, to Disney for a whopping $4 billion dollars!
- Steven Spielberg
Three-time Academy Award winner, Steven Spielberg, is one of the most famous and richest directors in the world. His career began at Universal Studios. He then directed a twenty-four-minute short film called “Amblin”, which caught the attention of Sidney Shainberg, vice president of production at Universal’s television division.
From there, Spielberg became the youngest director to sign a long-term contract with a major studio.
He has since gone on to direct a number of films over four decades, including Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park!
- James Cameron
Canadian-born director, Cameron, is responsible for some great films, such as Aliens, Rambo II, Terminator, and Titanic.
He has earned over $1.9 Billion dollars from his movies and has the credit of directing two of the highest-grossing movies of all time: Titanic & Avatar.
Amongst many other achievements, Cameron was the first person ever to direct a $100 million dollar movie.
- Tyler Perry
Tyler has a net worth of $600 million dollars, and personally earns between $100 and $150 million per year from his empire.
He is also the only filmmaker in history to have five films open #1 at the box office in the last five years.
He writes, directs, and produces all of his movies which means he takes a much bigger share of the profits!
- Peter Jackson
Lord of the Rings fan? Well, you can thank director, writer, and multi-award-winning producer, Peter Jackson for that.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy earned Jackson $180 million dollars, and paved the way for even more success, with films like “King Kong” and “The Lovely Bones”.
King Kong was a major contributing factor to his net worth, as he was paid $20 million dollars plus 20% of the box office sales!
After banking the cash, he went on to write, direct, and produce the Hobbit trilogy and is one of the richest directors in the world!
- Michael Bay
Micheal Bay American Bay is an American director and film producer that is most famous for directing films like Bad Boys I & II, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and the Transformers trilogy.
As well as his film career, Michael has also produced the television series: No Way Out and Cocaine Cowboys and has won five MTV Awards.
The Transformers Trilogy with Steven Spielberg as the producer has been Michael’s biggest career success, earning him $200 million dollars.