Box Office Star Records > International > Lifetime Specific Technical Role > Top International Directors
Top Grossing Director at the International Box OfficeBETA
See also: Top Domestic Directors - Top International Art Directors - Top International Assistant Directors - Top International Assistant Editors - Top International Associate Producers - Top International Casting Directors - Top International Cinematographers - Top International Co-Producers - Top International Composers - Top International Costume Designers - Top International Costume Supervisors - Top International Dialogue Editors - Top International Editors - Top International Executive Producers - Top International Make-up and Hair Designers - Top International Music Editors - Top International Music Supervisors - Top International Producers - Top International Production Designers - Top International Re-recording Mixers - Top International Screenwriters - Top International Second Unit Directors - Top International Set Decorators - Top International Set Designers - Top International Sound Designers - Top International Sound Editors - Top International Sound Effects Editors - Top International Sound Mixers - Top International Story Creators - Top International Stunt Coordinators - Top International Supervising Sound Editors - Top International Unit Production Managers - Top International Visual Effects Supervisors - Top Worldwide Directors
This list shows the highest grossing Directors based on the international 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
| Best known as an Executive Producer based on credits in that role in 55 films. |
| Top films contributed to this record: Jurassic Park ($643,049,687 in 1993), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($469,534,294 in 2008), Ready Player One ($441,365,481 in 2018), The Lost World: Jurassic Park ($389,552,320 in 1997), War of the Worlds ($372,556,181 in 2005), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ($357,852,418 in 1982), The Adventures of Tintin ($296,402,120 in 2011), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($277,000,000 in 1989), Saving Private Ryan ($268,700,000 in 1998), Minority Report ($226,800,000 in 2002) |
2
James Cameron
| Best known as a Director based on credits in that role in 14 films. |
| Top films contributed to this record: Avatar ($2,138,484,377 in 2009), Avatar: The Way of Water ($1,636,174,514 in 2022), Titanic ($1,548,588,773 in 1997), Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($311,880,794 in 1991), True Lies ($219,017,589 in 1994), Aliens ($98,131,008 in 1986), The Terminator ($40,000,000 in 1984), Ghosts of the Abyss ($11,648,645 in 2003), Aliens of the Deep ($3,797,000 in 2005), The Abyss ($30,768 in 1989) |
3
Joe Russo
| Best known as a Producer based on credits in that role in 13 films. |
| Top films contributed to this record: Avengers: Endgame ($1,859,130,922 in 2019), Avengers: Infinity War ($1,369,544,272 in 2018), Captain America: Civil War ($743,815,237 in 2016), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($454,654,931 in 2014), You, Me and Dupree ($54,600,000 in 2006), The Gray Man ($451,178 in 2022), The Au Pair ($0 in 2019), Avengers: Doomsday ($0 in 2026), Cherry ($0 in 2021), The Electric State ($0 in 2025) |
Complete List
| Rank | Name | International Box Office |
Movies | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Spielberg | $6,068,212,562 | 37 | $164,005,745 |
| 2 | James Cameron | $6,007,753,468 | 14 | $429,125,248 |
| 3 | Joe Russo | $4,482,196,540 | 10 | $448,219,654 |
| 4 | Anthony Russo | $4,482,196,540 | 9 | $498,021,838 |
| 5 | David Yates | $4,443,118,956 | 10 | $444,311,896 |
| 6 | Peter Jackson | $4,390,447,986 | 15 | $292,696,532 |
| 7 | Michael Bay | $4,146,788,476 | 18 | $230,377,138 |
| 8 | Christopher Nolan | $3,615,416,352 | 14 | $258,244,025 |
| 9 | Ridley Scott | $3,099,600,446 | 32 | $96,862,514 |
| 10 | James Wan | $2,807,392,230 | 12 | $233,949,353 |
| 11 | Roland Emmerich | $2,647,584,943 | 15 | $176,505,663 |
| 12 | Tim Burton | $2,626,008,937 | 20 | $131,300,447 |
| 13 | Pierre Coffin | $2,488,513,384 | 5 | $497,702,677 |
| 14 | Chris Renaud | $2,450,441,957 | 6 | $408,406,993 |
| 15 | Jon Favreau | $2,449,173,988 | 10 | $244,917,399 |
| 16 | J.J. Abrams | $2,438,701,363 | 7 | $348,385,909 |
| 17 | Jon Watts | $2,393,939,066 | 6 | $398,989,844 |
| 18 | Bryan Singer | $2,350,186,767 | 10 | $235,018,677 |
| 19 | Chris Columbus | $2,341,276,937 | 19 | $123,225,102 |
| 20 | Sam Raimi | $2,323,759,762 | 16 | $145,234,985 |
| 21 | Robert Zemeckis | $2,259,486,534 | 25 | $90,379,461 |
| 22 | Kaige Chen | $2,243,989,426 | 13 | $172,614,571 |
| 23 | Carlos Saldanha | $2,216,298,124 | 8 | $277,037,266 |
| 24 | Ron Howard | $2,200,335,279 | 36 | $61,120,424 |
| 25 | Chen Sicheng | $2,175,902,474 | 9 | $241,766,942 |
| 26 | Shawn Levy | $2,162,717,959 | 16 | $135,169,872 |
| 27 | Kyle Balda | $2,156,568,145 | 4 | $539,142,036 |
| 28 | Gore Verbinski | $2,153,175,250 | 12 | $179,431,271 |
| 29 | Zhang Yimou | $2,151,752,282 | 23 | $93,554,447 |
| 30 | Tsui Hark | $2,141,364,437 | 14 | $152,954,603 |
| 31 | Dante Lam | $2,138,678,994 | 10 | $213,867,899 |
| 32 | Sam Mendes | $2,118,511,273 | 14 | $151,322,234 |
| 33 | Chris Buck | $2,103,925,324 | 4 | $525,981,331 |
| 34 | Francis Lawrence | $2,047,658,124 | 12 | $170,638,177 |
| 35 | Brad Bird | $2,031,008,791 | 6 | $338,501,465 |
| 36 | Justin Lin | $1,993,311,108 | 11 | $181,210,101 |
| 37 | Zi Jiao (饺子) | $1,952,645,875 | 1 | $1,952,645,875 |
| 38 | Todd Phillips | $1,946,784,108 | 11 | $176,980,373 |
| 39 | Tom McGrath | $1,928,359,451 | 7 | $275,479,922 |
| 40 | Zack Snyder | $1,850,792,659 | 13 | $142,368,666 |
| 41 | Jennifer Lee | $1,843,416,197 | 2 | $921,708,099 |
| 42 | Joss Whedon | $1,842,858,335 | 4 | $460,714,584 |
| 43 | Bill Condon | $1,785,625,749 | 13 | $137,355,827 |
| 44 | Guy Ritchie | $1,782,398,870 | 19 | $93,810,467 |
| 45 | M. Night Shyamalan | $1,775,626,502 | 16 | $110,976,656 |
| 46 | George Lucas | $1,732,869,839 | 6 | $288,811,640 |
| 47 | Eric Darnell | $1,658,291,348 | 5 | $331,658,270 |
| 48 | Colin Trevorrow | $1,645,731,630 | 5 | $329,146,326 |
| 49 | Andrew Stanton | $1,612,695,328 | 5 | $322,539,066 |
| 50 | Rob Marshall | $1,612,048,521 | 7 | $230,292,646 |
| 51 | Christopher McQuarrie | $1,603,349,599 | 6 | $267,224,933 |
| 52 | James Gunn | $1,543,621,511 | 9 | $171,513,501 |
| 53 | Fan Guo (郭帆) | $1,503,115,305 | 5 | $300,623,061 |
| 54 | Andrew Adamson | $1,445,296,887 | 6 | $240,882,815 |
| 55 | Hayao Miyazaki | $1,431,160,013 | 12 | $119,263,334 |
| 56 | Conrad Vernon | $1,417,185,167 | 7 | $202,455,024 |
| 57 | John Lasseter | $1,414,874,920 | 6 | $235,812,487 |
| 58 | Byron Howard | $1,414,517,960 | 5 | $282,903,592 |
| 59 | James Mangold | $1,413,730,110 | 13 | $108,748,470 |
| 60 | Mike Mitchell | $1,385,538,267 | 9 | $153,948,696 |
| 61 | Clint Eastwood | $1,369,420,040 | 40 | $34,235,501 |
| 62 | F. Gary Gray | $1,367,738,401 | 14 | $97,695,600 |
| 63 | Louis Leterrier | $1,364,932,797 | 11 | $124,084,800 |
| 64 | Matt Reeves | $1,353,447,816 | 7 | $193,349,688 |
| 65 | Barry Sonnenfeld | $1,347,154,805 | 12 | $112,262,900 |
| 66 | Jake Kasdan | $1,328,868,797 | 8 | $166,108,600 |
| 67 | Andy Wachowski | $1,326,943,742 | 6 | $221,157,290 |
| 68 | Martin Campbell | $1,326,281,934 | 17 | $78,016,584 |
| 69 | Pete Docter | $1,321,763,507 | 4 | $330,440,877 |
| 70 | Rich Moore | $1,319,514,718 | 4 | $329,878,680 |
| 71 | David Leitch | $1,318,802,804 | 9 | $146,533,645 |
| 72 | Hao Ning | $1,309,925,438 | 8 | $163,740,680 |
| 73 | Steven Soderbergh | $1,271,782,484 | 38 | $33,467,960 |
| 74 | Jia Ling | $1,266,947,096 | 2 | $633,473,548 |
| 75 | Peyton Reed | $1,259,294,207 | 7 | $179,899,172 |
| 76 | Hu Guan | $1,253,818,176 | 7 | $179,116,882 |
| 77 | David Fincher | $1,245,269,790 | 12 | $103,772,483 |
| 78 | Kenneth Branagh | $1,244,839,507 | 23 | $54,123,457 |
| 79 | Lee Unkrich | $1,239,811,792 | 3 | $413,270,597 |
| 80 | Jon Turteltaub | $1,215,894,772 | 13 | $93,530,367 |
| 81 | Martin Scorsese | $1,207,373,740 | 31 | $38,947,540 |
| 82 | John Musker | $1,205,185,899 | 6 | $200,864,317 |
| 83 | Ron Clements | $1,205,185,899 | 7 | $172,169,414 |
| 84 | Paul W.S. Anderson | $1,204,303,904 | 14 | $86,021,707 |
| 85 | Ryan Coogler | $1,181,627,939 | 5 | $236,325,588 |
| 86 | Mike Newell | $1,180,601,621 | 17 | $69,447,154 |
| 87 | Quentin Tarantino | $1,174,716,661 | 12 | $97,893,055 |
| 88 | Joseph Kosinski | $1,168,096,249 | 6 | $194,682,708 |
| 89 | Rob Minkoff | $1,162,990,947 | 10 | $116,299,095 |
| 90 | Juan Antonio Bayona | $1,155,940,300 | 5 | $231,188,060 |
| 91 | Xu Zheng | $1,151,024,990 | 8 | $143,878,124 |
| 92 | Jon M. Chu | $1,142,742,770 | 14 | $81,624,484 |
| 93 | Marc Webb | $1,135,163,882 | 9 | $126,129,320 |
| 94 | Denis Villeneuve | $1,120,847,959 | 11 | $101,895,269 |
| 95 | Muye Wen | $1,107,258,211 | 4 | $276,814,553 |
| 96 | Ang Lee | $1,096,247,798 | 14 | $78,303,414 |
| 97 | Matthew Vaughn | $1,086,089,850 | 8 | $135,761,231 |
| 98 | Raja Gosnell | $1,075,310,592 | 11 | $97,755,508 |
| 99 | Dean DeBlois | $1,075,053,502 | 5 | $215,010,700 |
| 100 | Tony Scott | $1,072,669,282 | 16 | $67,041,830 |
The International Market is defined as all territories excluding 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
