Steven Spielberg
Directors are the heart and soul of any movie and are the driving force in getting the script to the big screen.
In recent years we have seen some of the biggest directors deliver some of the most successful movies of all time.
We take a look at which filmmakers have brought in the most money at the box office.
- Steven Spielberg: $8,440 billion
Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time and has delivered some truly iconic movies during his illustrious career.
And that illustrious career has been big bucks at the box office as Spielberg is the filmmaker that has brought in the most cash.
With movies such as Jurassic Park, ET, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws and the Indiana Jones movies, Spielberg has grossed a whopping $8,440 billion at the global box office.
Jurassic Park remains his most successful film off all time; it has just broke the $1 billion barrier after getting a 3D re-release.
- James Cameron: $6,201 billion
James Cameron has enjoyed a career that has so far spanned over thirty years, and he remains one of the most innovative filmmakers.
The top two biggest grossing movies of all time saw Cameron in the director's chair - of course I am talking about avatar and Titanic. They are also the only two films in history to gross over $2 billion at the global box office.
With movie such as Avatar, Titanic, The Terminator, Terminator 2 and Aliens, Cameron has grossed $6,201 billion at the box office.
And with Avatar sequels on the horizon we are going to see Cameron enjoy even more success in the coming years.
- Peter Jackson: $4,612 billion
Peter Jackson delivered one of the greatest trilogies of all time at the beginning of the noughties as he brought The Lord of the Rings to the big screen; a book that was deemed unfilmable.
While Jackson had already been making movies for years, The Lord of the Ring films really did put him on the global map.
That franchise alone grossed over $2.9 billion and has been a huge contributor to his $4,612 billion box office gross.
Since The Lord of the Rings, Jackson has enjoyed success with King Kong, The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; the first part in his Hobbit trilogy.
December 2013 and December 2014 will see the second and third films hit the big screen and they will no doubt enjoy big box office success like the first.
- Robert Zemeckis: $4,094 billion
Robert Zemeckis is a director who has enjoyed success making live action films as well as animation projects.
Zemeckis was behind trilogy Back To The Future as well as movies such as Forrest Gump and Cast Away.
In more recent years the director has turned his hand to animation and has been behind fantastic movies such as The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol.
Zemeckis is perhaps not a director that you would automatically think of when putting a list like this together, but his movies have grossed $4,094 billion at the global box office over the years.
He returned to live action earlier this year as he directed Denzel Washington in Flight; a movie that Washington would go on to pick up an Oscar nomination for.
- Chris Columbus: $3,852 billion
Chris Columbus is perhaps another director that wouldn't have immediately sprung to mind when talking about billion dollar directors.
But Columbus has been at the helm of two Harry Potter film and two Home Alone films, so it shouldn't really come as any surprise.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the first of J.K. Rowling's novels to be adapted for the big screen; it was also the most successful film in the franchise until Deathly Hallows Part 2 came along.
Other movies in the Columbus back catalogue include Bicentennial Man, Stepmom, Nine Months and Mrs Doubtfire, which as resulted in Columbus grossing a very cool $3,852 billion.
Other directors that have done well for themselves include Michael Bay ($3,849 billion), Tim Burton ($3,766 billion), Ron Howard ($3,622 billion) and Gore Verbinski ($3.591 billion).