The 50 Highest Grossing Film Directors of All Time

Peyton Reed is known for directing two of the Ant Man movies, both of which have the highest Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of any of his films. Away from the comic-book genre, Reed scored a hit with “Bring it On,” a comedy about a high school cheerleading competition, starring Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union.

In addition to producing some of the action-packed Bourne movie series, Liman also directed an action film himself, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Liman’s 1996 indie comedy “Swingers,” starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, was a surprise hit

“American Pie,” a bawdy look at teens trying to lose their virginity, had the highest return of investment for Paul Weitz. Weitz, who comes from a show business – his mother was Oscar-nominated actress Susan Kohner – can count “Little Fockers” and “American Pie 2” among his other successes.

“American Beauty,” a film that harpooned American suburban life and culture, was the movie with the highest return on investment for Sam Mendes. The movie was his directorial debut and it earned him an Oscar for Best Director. The British filmmaker went on to helm the James Bond films “Skyfall” and “Spectre,” and his motion picture “1917” set new standards for the depiction of the horrors of World War I.

After directing the well-received plot-twisting “Usual Suspects” in 1995, Bryan Singer went in the action-movie direction, helming the highly profitable X-Men series and “Superman Returns.” A more recent triumph was his direction of the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”