One of the biggest surprises in Hollywood on December 8—at least among news not related to the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery—was Avatar: Fire and Ash not being nominated in any of the major categories for this year’s Golden Globe Awards. In an acknowledgement that the upcoming sequel to two of the top three highest-grossing films of all time is likely to be the biggest movie of the year, and could potentially gross over $2 billion, the awards body did nominate it in the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category, despite the fact that the movie won’t actually be released until this Friday.

Such is the confidence in Avatar director James Cameron. Over the course of his 40-year career, the 71-year-old filmmaker has increasingly made big bets on his projects, facing sky-high expectations to always produce a motherlode of box-office gold. Beginning in the 1980s with The Terminator and Aliens and extending through Titanic and the first two Avatar movies,. Cameron’s movies have collectively earned nearly $9 billion at the global box office, and his share of those earnings form the bulk of a personal net worth Forbes now estimates to be $1.1 billion.

That puts Cameron on the extremely short list of filmmakers who have reached billionaire status, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Tyler Perry. And unlike the others, who had significant deals or revenue streams outside of Hollywood, Cameron has reached the mark almost entirely from the success of his movies. Yet in interviews he denies any mention of his wealth (through a representative, he declined to be interviewed for this story).

“I wish I was a billionaire,” Cameron said in a recent podcast interview with Puck’s Matt Belloni. "The billionaire thing assumes certain deals that didn't exist, one, and, two, that I've never spent a dime in 30 years."

Even after accounting for Cameron’s extensive underwater exploration, conservationist philanthropy and real estate transactions—plus his long track record of sacrificing or risking his personal paychecks to maintain creative control—Forbes estimates that his salaries, profit participations, licensing revenues for theme parks and toys, and equity value from his production company Lightstorm Entertainment more than make up the difference.

And in the coming months, he’s only going to get richer. Forbes estimates that Cameron stands to make at least $200 million (before taxes and fees) on Avatar: Fire and Ash, assuming the movie lives up to its lofty box office expectations.

It’s an extraordinary rise for the one-time college dropout, who worked as a truck driver in his early 20s before landing a job as a production assistant........

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