All 9 James Cameron movies ranked from worst to best

James Cameron has enjoyed unprecedented success with Avatar: The Way of Water since its 2022 release, but where does it fit among his legendary movies?

James Cameron is considered by many to be one of the great godfathers of movies. It’s hard to deny that, as the man has gifted us with now three of the top four highest-grossing movies of all time (two of which held the No. 1 spot at one point in time).

But filmmaking isn’t just about success, and that’s something that Cameron knows all too well, having contributed to the history of cinema by making movies that many consider to be nothing short of art. Few directors have been as revolutionary to the industry as he has, producing small-budget horrors that overperformed and changed the science fiction genre like The Terminator, the greatest love story in movie history in Titanic, and some of the best sequels ever made in T2 and Aliens.

He also defied expectations with his first movie in a decade, Avatar: The Way of Water, channelling its predecessor and becoming one of those three record-breaking movies we mentioned earlier. But how does the juggernaut sequel compare to its predecessor, and for that matter, all of Cameron’s works thus far? Let’s find out, as we rank James Cameron’s movies from worst to best.

9. Piranha II: The Reckoning

There’s really not much to say about this, other than the fact that it’s not really a James Cameron movie. Yes, it’s the movie that launched his career, but there was reportedly a lot of production difficulties, with conflicting reports as to how much involvement Cameron actually had.

At one point, the legendary director disowned the movie, and honestly it’s hard to blame him. It’s not that it failed at the box office, it’s just not very good.

If you didn’t know he directed this, well now you do. Piranha II is a James Cameron movie (in credit alone).