James Cameronresponsible for hits such as “The Terminator” and “Titanic,” this week joined the select group of billionaire directors, a list made up of names such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and the Brazilian Walter Salles.
His fortune is estimated at $1.1 billion, according to Forbes calculations. Part of his wealth is due to the box office hits created by the director. Throughout his 40-year career, the 71-year-old filmmaker has invested more and more into his projects, facing extremely high expectations to always produce a smash hit at the box office.
The first two Avatar films, for example, grossed nearly $9 billion worldwide during their theatrical debut. The third part of this saga, scheduled for release on the big screen in Brazil on Friday (19), is expected to generate at least $2 billion in ticket sales. So, Forbes estimates that Cameron should receive at least $200 million from the box office of “Avatar: Fire and Ashes.”
Film career
Before his life as a renowned director, at the age of 20, Cameron worked as a truck driver until he got a job as a production assistant at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, where, he said, he earned $175 a week.
Cameron’s first film, 1981’s “Piranha II: The Flying Assassins,” didn’t pay much better, especially after he was fired two weeks into production due to creative differences and received only half of the $10,000 he was promised.
In 1985, Cameron’s big break came with “The Terminator”. In exchange for a guarantee that he would be allowed to direct the film, Cameron sold his script to producer Gale Anne Hurd for US$1. The film grossed $78 million worldwide on a budget of $6.4 million, launching the careers of Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger and launching a franchise that grossed more than $2 billion at the box office.
Cameron developed a reputation as a perfectionist, with a tendency to go over budget. The 1997 film “Titanic,” for example, benefited from an investment of more than $200 million. To calm Fox’s mood over the money spent, the director returned his $7 million salary at the time and gave up his share of the profits.
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The film grossed $1.8 billion in its theatrical debut, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, and sold an impressive 58 million VHS tapes, earning an estimated $800 million. To compensate Cameron, Fox gave him 10 percent of the film’s profits, according to Forbes, earning him about $150 million before taxes and fees.
Cameron has been married to actress Suzy Amis since the 2000s. He has been married at other times during his life to Linda Hamilton, Kathryn Bigelow and Gale Anne Hurd. He currently resides full-time in New Zealand, where he reportedly owns over 1,200 hectares of land.
His fascination with technology, which led to the creation of productions such as Avatar, has recently manifested itself in his production company Lightstorm Vision, which partnered with Meta in December to create 3D experiences for the company’s Meta Quest. And last September, he joined the board of directors of StabilityAI, creator of the photo and video generator Stable Diffusion.
He is also co-founder of Cameron Family Farms, established in 2012 in New Zealand, the climate consultancy group Avatar Alliance Foundation, founded in 2013, and the plant-based food company Verdient, established in 2017.
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