James Cameron Net Worth : Movie Career & Lifestyle
Canadian film director, editor, artist, screenwriter, and environmentalist James Francis Cameron’s net worth is $700 million.
Cameron is best known for making science fiction movies. Epic movies like Titanic, Avatar are also in his portfolio.
Cameron gained initial recognition for directing movies such as The Terminator, Aliens, Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and many more.
He won Academy Awards in Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing for Titanic and Avatar also garnered him nominations in the same categories.
He also co-founded film production companies Light storm Entertainment, Digital Domain, and Earth ship Productions.
Apart from making movies, he is also well known for National Geographic sea exploring and has produced numerous documentaries.
Cameron became the first person to perform a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth’s Ocean.
Moreover, films directed by James Cameron have grossed over $6 billion globally. His two films Avatar is the highest-grossing movie in history earning $2.85 billion.
Similarly, his other film Titanic holds the third spot in the highest-grossing movie, earning $2.19 billion worldwide.
Likewise, Cameron also records having directed the first two of the five films in history to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
Time Magazine listed Cameron’s name as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Early Life
James Cameron, originally James Francis Cameron, was born on August the 16th, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. His father, Philip Cameron, was an electrical engineer, and his mother, Shirley, was an artist and a nurse.
His family moved to Brea, California, in the states. He was 17 years of age at that time. He went to Sonora High School and later attended Brea Olinda High School.
As per his classmates, Cameron was not the kind of guy who loved sports; instead, he liked building stuff.
After completing high school, James attended a community college named Fullerton College in 1973 to study physics. But later switched back to English and dropped out of the college at the end of 1974.
He did odd jobs such as janitor, truck driver but wrote in his free time. During this particular time, he developed a passion for film technology, special effects.
He also learned about them by reading their student’s work. Eventually, he left his job as a truck driver and entered the film industry.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | James Francis Cameron |
| Net Worth | $700 million |
| Birth Date | 16 August 1954 |
| Known as | James Cameron |
| Age | 69 years old |
| Birth Place | Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada |
| Religion | Agnostic |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Ethnicity | Not Known |
| Education | Sonora High School, Brea Olinda High School, Fullerton College |
| Zodiac Sign | Leo |
| Father’s Name | Philip Cameron |
| Mother’s Name | Shirley Cameron |
| Siblings | John David Cameron, Mike Cameron |
| Height | 6 ft. 2 in (1.88 cm) |
| Weight | 78 kg (172 pounds) |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
| Hair Color | Gray |
| Eye Color | Green |
| Build | Athletic |
| Profession | Director, Editor, Artist, Screenwriter |
| Signature Movies | Terminator, Titanic, Avatar |
| Active Years | 1978-Present |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse | Suzy Amis Cameron (m. 2000) |
| Children | Josephine Archer Cameron, Quinn Cameron, Elizabeth Rose Cameron, Charlie Cameron |
| Social Media | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram |
| Last Update | April, 2024 |
James Cameron Net Worth and Income
Net Worth
Filmmaker and director James Francis Cameron has a net worth of $700 as of April, 2024.
Most of his wealth comes from globally successful movies such as Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar.
In the United States alone, Cameron’s movies have grossed over $1.9 billion.
Movie directors cut in Hollywood mostly comes from backend bonuses.
Income
James Cameron has earned a few but noteworthy financial payouts during the course of his career. He made some enormously lucrative business decisions.
James gave up his salary from the Titanic movie, which was still $8 million because the movie went over budget.
But the backend bonus from the movie alone was $650 million when the film became the highest-grossing movie in history then.
Yet another savvy deal came with his 2009 movie Avatar.
He earned at least $350 million from the film, and two of its sequels are in the pipeline, which means Cameron is expected to make more than half-billion dollars from the upcoming Avatar franchise.
Now let’s peek into some of the noteworthy salaries Cameron has made to date.
In total, Cameron has made over $7 billion worth of revenues, including his movies box office collection, DVDs, television shows, and merchandise.
Not to mention that Cameron was the first director to make a movie with a $100 million budget.
Still, today his earnings from Titanic are one of the highest in Hollywood. Above all, he is one of the richest directors in the world.
From Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he earned about $60 million.
Terminator $1 deal
However, the director failed to take a savvy business decision in the movie Terminator back in the 80s.
Cameron sold the rights of his film Terminator to the producer Gale Anne Hurd in return to direct the movie himself. The $6.4 million budget film went on, making over $78.4 million.
They even came up with four sequels for the movie and Television series.
Even though Cameron is not doing so bad now but deeply regrets the decision.
Since the release of “The Terminator,” the franchise has grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide.
His decision made him let go of yet another highest-grossing movie slip through his hands. However, he got the rights for the movie back in 2019.
Net Worth of James Cameron in Different Currencies
Let’s look into James Cameron’s net worth in different currencies April, 2024.
| Currency | Net Worth |
| Euro | € 589,374,450 |
| Pound Sterling | £ 503,506,570 |
| Australian Dollar | A$ 935,078,900 |
| Canadian Dollar | C$ 871,395,000 |
| Indian Rupee | ₹ 52,141,250,000 |
| BitCoin | ฿ 20,686.53 |
James Cameron Houses, Cars, Bikes, Watch and Submarine
Houses
Malibu, Los Angeles California, United States (Former Residence)
James Cameron owns a mansion named Milabu in Los Angeles, California.
The mansion originally spanned over 8,272 square feet of living space, but Cameron combined several other properties to make it a 4.5-acre compound consisting of several structures.
The land has two large mansions with 16,000 square feet of living space with 11 bedrooms, two massive pools, multiple spas, and many more.
Other additional features of the property include a tennis court, gourmet kitchen, courtyard, several guesthouses, and an indoor cinema.
However, James listed the compound for sale in September 2020 for a whopping $25 million.
New Zealand Farmland
Avatar director James Cameron paid about $20 million for two large rural properties in South Wairarapa, New Zealand.
James purchased over 1000 hectares of land in 2012 December. One of the two properties was sold by Heather and Rob McCreary.
The property includes large sections of native bush, much of it covered by covenant and was sold by Bill and Annette Shaw, who started a luxury resort nearby.
Cars
Not just houses, but James Cameron also owns several cars and motorbikes. Some of them are listed below.
Chevrolet Corvette C6 Convertible
James owns the impressive Chevrolet Corvette C6, a very powerful 6.2-liter V8 engine that produces 430 brake horsepower. The car also comes with six-piston front and four-piston rear brakes.
The average price for this car is $42,000.
Tesla Model S
Cameron purchased this five-seat sedan for $50,000. This is fully electric and has a range of 260 km. It can reach from 0-60 in just 5.6 seconds and has a top speed of 130 miles an hour.
Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Unlike other celebrities in Hollywood, Cameron chooses rather a practical kind of wheels. Another car in his garage is his Toyota Highlander hybrid.
The SUV is decently priced yet has luxurious touches in the interior. It comes equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine.
The car offers features like Bluetooth, dual-zone climate control, and voice triggered touch screen navigation system.
Rather interesting news came up about James Cameron owning Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR, but there is no confirmed news about whether or not he owns it.
But he sure did appear in its showcase in Nevada, Las Vegas back in 2020.
Bikes
Ducati 848 EVO
Ducati is known for its large array of superbike production. James owns the 848 EVO, which cost around $13,000.
Besides Ducati, Cameron owns another 3 Harley Davidson motorbikes.
Submarine
Now we know why James Cameron does not own a private jet even though he has a net worth of $700 million. He is very much interested in traveling underwater than in the air.
James owns a fleet of submarines. Most of the underwater sequences in his movie Titanic were filmed using his own submarines.
He not just owns the fleet of submarines but also dives in them for an underwater expedition.
Cameron has traveled to the bottom of Mariana Trench, a depth nearly seven miles from the ocean’s surface.
The price for a submarine can go up to billions of dollars, but since his net worth is about $700 million, we assume that Cameron’s submarine costs at least a million dollars.
Watches
James Cameron has an insane collection of watches, most from Rolex.
- Rolex Submariner Black Dial Stainless Steel Men’s Watch 16610- Price $9,990
- Seadweller Deepsea Black Dial Steel Men’s Watch 126660- Price $14,390
- Seadweller Deepsea 44 Cameron D-Blue Men’s Watch 126660- Price $15,990
Lifestyle and Vacations
Lifestyle
So what is one of the world’s richest director’s daily routine? Let’s find out.
James wakes up at 5 in the morning and does his pre-workout followed by a green smoothie that includes spinach, apple, orange, and banana. Soon after that, at around 6 in the morning, he does his daily workouts, including kickboxing, yoga, and lightweight training.
For breakfast, he does tofu, scrambled eggs, quesadilla made with plant cheese, red beans, and rice, a protein shake made with fruit, nut butter, pea protein, and a B12 sublingual tablet followed by a cup of Oolong tea.
At around 11, he drinks his juice made with grapes, watermelon, and berries. He does lunch at around 1-1:30. His lunch includes a bowl of soup and lunch prepared by his vegan chefs.
Cameron has a great passion for deep-sea diving in his submarine. In fact, he owns several submarines of his own and likes underwater traveling.
Apart from that, Cameron is very fond of drawing and painting and gets into it whenever he has free time.
Vacations
Since he has houses in different nations worldwide, he takes a trip up and down every now and then. His current residence is in New Zealand, but he owned a house in Los Angeles as well.
Cameron is absolutely passionate about his work and every aspect of his line of profession.
Due to his passion for his work, Cameron barely gets any time to go for a vacation.
Though he does not personally and goes out for a vacation, he still manages to travel out of work.
Cameron has visited many countries for his work as a director to shoot movies.
He has been to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, located in a Chinese province. The real place on Earth inspired the floating mountains we saw in the movie Avatar.
Charity
There are multiple charitable foundations and causes that Cameron supports and is actively involved in.
Since he loves getting in his submarine and travels underwater, he supports Oceana, which protects the world’s oceans.
Similarly, Cameron supports Global Green which is contributing by creating green buildings and cities, eliminating weapons of mass destruction that threaten the environment.
It also provides clean and safe drinking water for the 2.4 billion people who lack access to clean water.
Likewise, Cameron is a great supporter of Earth Day Network, founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970. It basically works to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide.
Cameron makes most of his charitable donations through Avatar Alliance Foundation.
The foundation works to tackle climate change issues, energy policy, deforestation, ocean conservation, and sustainable agriculture.
Though the foundation is low-key, Cameron’s grantmaking has been modest.
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Movies, Investments, and Book Publication
Movies
James Cameron has been in the movie industry for quite some time and has given the historical movies.
According to IMDB, he has 54 credits as Writer, 42 as Producer, 23 as director, and 7 credits as edit.
Cameron has even fixed the release date for his upcoming movies.
His movie franchise Avatar has been scheduled to release in 2022, Avatar 3 in 2024, Avatar 4 is still filming and is scheduled to release in 2026, and Avatar 5, which is still filming and is scheduled to release in 2028.
Let’s take a peek at the top 10 highest grossing movies of James Cameron.
| Year | Movie | Worldwide Collection |
| 2009 | Avatar | $2,789,958,507 |
| 1997 | Titanic | $2,187,463,944 |
| 1991 | Terminator 2: Judgement Day | $520,884,847 |
| 2019 | Alita: Battle Angel | $404,852,543 |
| 1994 | True Lies | $378,882,411 |
| 2019 | Terminator: Dark Fate | $258,749,056 |
| 1986 | Aliens | $131,335,326 |
| 2011 | Sanctum | $108,609,310 |
| 1989 | The Abyss | $90,000,098 |
| 1991 | Point Break | $83,531,958 |
James Cameron combined worldwide box office collection.
| As | Movies | Total Collection |
| Director | 14 | $6,291,648,202 |
| Screenwriter | 13 | $6,960,358,807 |
| Producer | 13 | $6,643,327,411 |
| Editor | 2 | $2,845,899,541 |
| Cinematographer | 1 | $2,207,986,545 |
Investments
With a net worth of more than half-billion dollars, James Cameron has invested some of his cash in profitable business ventures.
He owns Lightstrom Entertainment which was founded in 1990. Most of its films have been distributed and owned by 20th Century Studios.
The production company has produced some of the iconic movies in Hollywood, including Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar franchise.
Apart from that, Cameron has invested an undisclosed amount in the organic pea processing plant in Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, and his wife, Suzy Amis.
The company’s name is Verdient Foods Inc. which handles 160,000 tonnes of organic pea protein, making it the largest of its kind in North America.
Though the total investment has not been revealed, reportedly, it is huge.
Books Publications
James Francis Cameron has authored several books throughout his career.
Let’s check them out
- Exploring the Deep: Released in 2017
- Around the World in 113 Days: A Slice of History from the Past: Released in 2016
- Oils and Varnishes: Released in 2016
- Peace Moves: Nuclear Protest in the 1980s: Released in 1984
- Active Shooter – Workplace Violence Preparedness: P. A. C. E. – Prepare, Act, Care, Evacuate: Released in 2019
Career
James Cameron’s career breakthrough came from directing The Terminator 1984.
Similarly, his greatest success came from directing the 1997 Titanic and 2009 Avatar.
The critically acclaimed movie Titanic received 14 nominations on Academy Awards, a record tie with the 1950s All about Eve.
The film was also chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
From being a truck driver to one of the most influential people in the whole world James Cameron has lived his life with his share of ups and downs and made history, and left his mark not just in the movie industry but the whole world.
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Facts About James Cameron
- The first film of James Cameron, a 10-minute short called Xenogenesis, was made with a budget of $20,000 raised from local dentists.
- He used his own voice on Sarah Connor’s answering machine at the beginning of Terminator.
- Even though Titanic is one of his non-sci-fi movies, but the project started as an otherworldly title: Planet Ice.
FAQs
Where was Titanic filmed?
Titanic was filmed at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Fox Baja Studios in Mexico.
What movie made James Cameron famous?
Obviously, Titanic made James Cameron famous.
