This is a light hearted look at the box office performance of James Cameron's movies. He currently holds number 1 & 2 positions at the all time global box office. He also ties the record of oscar wins for one film, 11 for Titanic in 1998.

1. showBUSINESS:The Films of James CameronThe director with the Midas touch www.mrmcgowan.blogspot.com

2. “Nobody knows anything.” William Goldman, Screenwriter

3. James Cameron “Iron Jim” Profile Birth – Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, August 16th, 1954 Education – Fullerton College & California State University (English & Physics) Big Break – Greenlight for The Terminator (a Tech Noir) Oscars – 3 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing) – all for Titanic Wives – 5!

5. Pirahana II: The Spawning (1981) James Cameron’s first feature was this low budget sequel for legendary film producer Roger Corman. Cameron was not given final edit. He later broke into the cutting room in Rome to complete his own edit. He later got ill in Rome and dreamed up his next movie.

6. Budget $6.5m Gross $78m

7. The Terminator (1984) The idea for the novel idea about a cyborg assassin from the future returning to bump off the mother of its enemy came in a hallucinatory dream when Cameron was ill. Against all advice, he gave the robot role to an ex-bodybuilder from Austria… Arnold Scwartzenegger. The rest is history!

8. Budget $18.5 Gross $131m

9. Aliens (1986) While writing Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cameron was offered the chance to write and direct a sequel to 1979’s smash sci-fi horror, Alien. Drawing on Vietnam, Starship Troopers and Forever War, and indeed Rambo, Cameron created the Colonial Marines who were going to fight the Xenomorph. He also introduced the Power-Loader (used again in Avatar) and made Ripley a cross between Rambo and John Wayne!

10. Budget $70m Gross $90m

11. The Abyss (1989) The Abyss was Cameron’s childhood answer to Close Encounters, and this story was one he conjured up as a teenager. At 3 hours long it didn’t really engage his audiences the way they would expect. It is memorable for a tough shoot in an empty Nuclear reactor, and the first use of the morphing CGI technique which he would return to in T2.

12. Budget $102m Gross $520m

13. T2: Judgement Day (1991) “If Arnie was a Panzer Tank, then the T-1000 would be a Porsche!” In T2 the story was similar but this time in the sequel, Arnie’s Terminator was sent back to protect John Connor – leader of the resistance against Sky Net – the computers who take over the world. Little known Robert Patric played the shape-shifting T-1000… and morphing CGI was used in every movie from Jurassic Park to Forest Gump!

14. Budget $110m Gross $378m

15. True Lies (1994) Cameron’s remake of a French spy comedy La Totale, was his answer to James Bond. The biggest budget in history at the time saw him reteam with Arnie and an incredible array of FX. The scene on the Florida Keys Highway was real! They rebuilt old disused bridges and then blew them up again with the Navy Harrier fighter aircraft!

16. Budget $200m Gross $1,843m

17. Titanic (1997) “Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic” was Iron Jim’s pitch. The biggest budget ever and a movie doomed to fail. A troubled shoot on a water tank in Mexico led to reports that a story about a ship that everyone knew sank would lead to the end of Cameron’s career. $1.6 billion and 11 Academy Awards later, Cameron could feel smug when bragging: “I’m the King of the World!”

18. Budget $237m Gross $2,600m

19. Avatar (2009) After a 12 year self-imposed hiatus, Cameron was back with another budget busting sci-fi spectacular. A story inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, and even his own Aliens, surely this would fail also? Think again. 3-D technology, and IMAX screenings have turned Avatar into the most successful film ever at the box office, beating Cameron’s own Titanic.

20. Conclusion James Cameron Films TOTAL BUDGETS $744 James Cameron Films TOTAL BOX OFFICE GROSS $5640 James Cameron Films TOTAL PROFIT $4896