Box Office Star Records > Domestic > Lifetime Specific Technical Role > Top Domestic Directors

Top Grossing Director at the Domestic Box OfficeBETA


See also: Top Domestic Art Directors - Top Domestic Assistant Directors - Top Domestic Assistant Editors - Top Domestic Associate Producers - Top Domestic Casting Directors - Top Domestic Cinematographers - Top Domestic Co-Producers - Top Domestic Composers - Top Domestic Costume Designers - Top Domestic Costume Supervisors - Top Domestic Dialogue Editors - Top Domestic Editors - Top Domestic Executive Producers - Top Domestic Make-up and Hair Designers - Top Domestic Music Editors - Top Domestic Music Supervisors - Top Domestic Producers - Top Domestic Production Designers - Top Domestic Re-recording Mixers - Top Domestic Screenwriters - Top Domestic Second Unit Directors - Top Domestic Set Decorators - Top Domestic Set Designers - Top Domestic Sound Designers - Top Domestic Sound Editors - Top Domestic Sound Effects Editors - Top Domestic Sound Mixers - Top Domestic Story Creators - Top Domestic Stunt Coordinators - Top Domestic Supervising Sound Editors - Top Domestic Unit Production Managers - Top Domestic Visual Effects Supervisors - Top International Directors - Top Worldwide Directors

This list shows the highest grossing Directors based on the domestic box office of the movies they worked on.

Since we are still actively researching technical roles, we consider this chart to be in beta mode. The table includes data for movies in The Numbers database. While we make every effort to collect all available data, there are inevitably omissions and errors. Please help us by sending corrections to corrections@the-numbers.com.

  1
Steven Spielberg photo
Steven Spielberg
Best known as an Executive Producer based on credits in that role in 54 films.
Top films contributed to this record: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ($439,454,989 in 1982), Jurassic Park ($415,404,543 in 1993), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($317,101,119 in 2008), Jaws ($272,965,550 in 1975), War of the Worlds ($234,280,354 in 2005), The Lost World: Jurassic Park ($229,086,679 in 1997), Raiders of the Lost Ark ($225,686,079 in 1981), Saving Private Ryan ($216,335,085 in 1998), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($197,171,806 in 1989), Lincoln ($182,207,973 in 2012)

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  2
James Cameron photo
James Cameron
Best known as a Director based on credits in that role in 14 films.
Top films contributed to this record: Avatar ($785,221,649 in 2009), Avatar: The Way of Water ($684,075,767 in 2022), Titanic ($674,460,013 in 1997), Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($203,464,105 in 1991), True Lies ($146,282,411 in 1994), Aliens ($85,160,248 in 1986), The Abyss ($54,763,229 in 1989), The Terminator ($38,019,031 in 1984), Ghosts of the Abyss ($17,093,668 in 2003), Aliens of the Deep ($8,968,684 in 2005)

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  3
Christopher Nolan photo
Christopher Nolan
Best known as a Director based on credits in that role in 13 films.
Top films contributed to this record: The Dark Knight ($534,235,491 in 2008), The Dark Knight Rises ($448,139,099 in 2012), Oppenheimer ($329,702,240 in 2023), Inception ($292,576,195 in 2010), Batman Begins ($205,343,774 in 2005), Dunkirk ($190,068,280 in 2017), Interstellar ($188,017,894 in 2014), Insomnia ($67,263,182 in 2002), Tenet ($58,504,105 in 2020), The Prestige ($53,089,891 in 2006)

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Complete List

Rank Name Domestic
Box Office
Movies Average
1 Steven Spielberg $4,628,674,821 36 $128,574,301
2 James Cameron $2,697,508,805 14 $192,679,200
3 Christopher Nolan $2,392,586,118 13 $184,045,086
4 Michael Bay $2,349,060,734 16 $146,816,296
5 Anthony Russo $2,280,821,799 8 $285,102,725
6 Joe Russo $2,280,821,799 9 $253,424,644
7 J.J. Abrams $2,198,878,974 7 $314,125,568
8 Peter Jackson $2,154,450,828 15 $143,630,055
9 Ron Howard $2,107,006,487 33 $63,848,681
10 Robert Zemeckis $2,106,012,859 22 $95,727,857
11 Clint Eastwood $1,991,216,528 40 $49,780,413
12 Tim Burton $1,952,960,023 20 $97,648,001
13 Sam Raimi $1,936,804,266 15 $129,120,284
14 David Yates $1,888,344,657 10 $188,834,466
15 Jon Favreau $1,884,920,021 9 $209,435,558
16 Ridley Scott $1,767,841,327 31 $57,027,140
17 Chris Columbus $1,750,209,687 18 $97,233,872
18 George Lucas $1,742,052,836 6 $290,342,139
19 Francis Lawrence $1,647,831,838 10 $164,783,184
20 Jon Watts $1,539,037,854 6 $256,506,309
21 Gore Verbinski $1,529,313,769 11 $139,028,524
22 M. Night Shyamalan $1,428,134,929 15 $95,208,995
23 Brad Bird $1,402,462,020 6 $233,743,670
24 Todd Phillips $1,372,700,160 11 $124,790,924
25 Roland Emmerich $1,368,123,123 15 $91,208,208
26 Chris Renaud $1,363,282,890 6 $227,213,815
27 Bryan Singer $1,358,536,966 10 $135,853,697
28 Zack Snyder $1,319,613,325 13 $101,508,717
29 James Wan $1,285,485,165 12 $107,123,764
30 Ryan Coogler $1,279,755,205 4 $319,938,801
31 Shawn Levy $1,251,403,460 14 $89,385,961
32 Bill Condon $1,250,466,252 13 $96,189,712
33 Richard Donner $1,235,597,338 19 $65,031,439
34 Pierre Coffin $1,221,492,160 4 $305,373,040
35 Andrew Stanton $1,163,691,774 4 $290,922,944
36 James Gunn $1,155,311,072 9 $128,367,897
37 Andrew Adamson $1,155,302,481 6 $192,550,414
38 Brett Ratner $1,141,127,806 12 $95,093,984
39 Jay Roach $1,126,880,733 14 $80,491,481
40 Joss Whedon $1,112,207,145 4 $278,051,786
41 Conrad Vernon $1,108,194,059 7 $158,313,437
42 Martin Scorsese $1,102,814,761 31 $35,574,670
43 Steven Soderbergh $1,100,540,719 36 $30,570,576
44 Ivan Reitman $1,100,044,915 15 $73,336,328
45 Dennis Dugan $1,095,764,223 15 $73,050,948
46 Tony Scott $1,091,945,398 16 $68,246,587
47 Rob Marshall $1,086,580,004 7 $155,225,715
48 Barry Sonnenfeld $1,075,149,233 12 $89,595,769
49 James Mangold $1,074,344,999 13 $82,641,923
50 Jon Turteltaub $1,052,846,655 11 $95,713,332
51 John Lasseter $1,051,798,233 6 $175,299,706
52 Colin Trevorrow $1,037,456,766 5 $207,491,353
53 Garry Marshall $1,023,085,661 18 $56,838,092
54 Justin Lin $1,019,230,661 10 $101,923,066
55 Tyler Perry $1,012,562,012 27 $37,502,297
56 Chris Buck $1,001,168,102 4 $250,292,026
57 Joseph Kosinski $998,242,870 6 $166,373,812
58 Sam Mendes $994,264,034 10 $99,426,403
59 Kyle Balda $970,940,835 3 $323,646,945
60 Tom McGrath $970,881,049 7 $138,697,293
61 Guy Ritchie $963,803,622 18 $53,544,646
62 Joel Schumacher $961,222,524 23 $41,792,284
63 Pete Docter $940,561,454 4 $235,140,364
64 Jake Kasdan $919,818,908 8 $114,977,364
65 Peyton Reed $916,410,864 7 $130,915,838
66 Tom Shadyac $894,892,308 8 $111,861,539
67 Tim Story $889,845,720 18 $49,435,873
68 Rob Minkoff $883,973,432 10 $88,397,343
69 Carlos Saldanha $879,704,944 8 $109,963,118
70 Jennifer Lee $878,326,587 2 $439,163,294
71 Rian Johnson $869,107,390 6 $144,851,232
72 Joe Johnston $864,635,053 11 $78,603,187
73 David Fincher $863,491,953 12 $71,957,663
74 Peter Segal $843,206,980 12 $70,267,248
75 Ron Clements $842,889,830 7 $120,412,833
76 F. Gary Gray $837,019,935 14 $59,787,138
77 Matt Reeves $822,611,090 7 $117,515,870
78 Antoine Fuqua $821,272,125 23 $35,707,484
79 Raja Gosnell $820,457,129 11 $74,587,012
80 Sydney Pollack $819,954,986 18 $45,553,055
81 John Musker $819,284,296 6 $136,547,383
82 Mike Mitchell $814,388,572 9 $90,487,619
83 Barry Levinson $809,277,910 28 $28,902,783
84 Bobby Farrelly $808,383,025 14 $57,741,645
85 Robert Rodriguez $800,982,309 25 $32,039,292
86 Quentin Tarantino $796,272,220 12 $66,356,018
87 Greta Gerwig $793,292,649 3 $264,430,883
88 Mike Nichols $780,147,924 18 $43,341,551
89 Wolfgang Petersen $776,217,802 11 $70,565,255
90 Gareth Edwards $775,228,040 5 $155,045,608
91 Oliver Stone $765,612,122 22 $34,800,551
92 Eric Darnell $764,270,657 5 $152,854,131
93 Peter Farrelly $758,730,940 17 $44,631,232
94 Paul Greengrass $753,465,880 10 $75,346,588
95 Byron Howard $752,237,385 4 $188,059,346
96 Adam Shankman $751,985,720 10 $75,198,572
97 Kenneth Branagh $736,193,838 21 $35,056,849
98 Rich Moore $731,772,636 3 $243,924,212
99 Gary Ross $729,901,714 6 $121,650,286
100 Martin Campbell $726,345,056 14 $51,881,790

The Domestic Market is defined as the North American movie territory (consisting of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam).

This table is updated daily to reflect the latest studio reports.

Note: This chart is not adjusted for inflation.

Image attributions

Steven Spielberg: By Romain DUBOIS (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (creativecommons.org)], via Wikimedia Commons

James Cameron: Angela George [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Christopher Nolan: By Photograph by Richard Goldschmidt, www.piqtured.comDerivative by Keraunoscopia [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons