Every James Cameron Movie, Ranked

In 44 years as a working filmmaker, James Cameron has only directed 12 movies. And since 2009, he’s only made three features: Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avatar: Fire and Ash. So when there’s a new James Cameron picture, it is always an event.

And what better way to celebrate such an event than by looking back at his entire filmography, all 12 films, and ranking them all. That total does include Cameron’s two nature documentaries about his undersea exploration — 2003’s Ghosts of the Abyss and 2005’s Aliens of the Deep — but it does not include his significant (but not strictly directorial) contributions to other fiction movies like Strange Days (which he produced and co-wrote), Alita: Battle Angel (ditto), or Terminator: Dark Fate (double ditto). 

This list is also missing his T2-3D film that used to be an attraction at Universal Studios. It was awesome in its day, but it didn’t really feel fair to compare an experience like that with more traditional motion pictures. (If you never got to see it in person, there are also videos of it on YouTube. It didn’t make a lick of sense in the Terminator timeline — but nothing makes sense in the Terminator timeline at this point, so why bother complaining about that?)

So from Piranha II to Avatar 3, here are all of James Cameron’s movies, ranked from worst to best. They are…

READ MORE: ScreenCrush’s Review of Avatar: Fire and Ash