Introduction

James Cameron is a Canadian professional filmmaker and environmentalist with an estimated net worth of $700 Million.

Cameron has produced 51 films throughout his nearly five decades in the entertainment industry. However, his backend profits from just three of those films account for almost $1.1 billion of his total income. These three films are, of course, Titanic, and the two Avatar installments, which grossed a combined $7.5 billion at the global box office, plus additional billions in merchandising and media revenues.

Quick Facts

• Earned an estimated $650 million from Titanic
• Films have grossed over $11 billion at the global box office
• Earned roughly $445 million from the two Avatar films

Before Wealth & Fame

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, James Cameron and his family moved to California when he was a teenager. He briefly attended Fullerton College to study physics but ended up dropping out. People might not know that Cameron worked numerous jobs before becoming a successful filmmaker. The most notable of these was his work as a truck driver, and he would often read books on cinematography and special effects between shifts to learn about the art of filmmaking. 

Cameron’s first job in the film industry was building miniature models at Roger Corman’s studio. He also worked in other roles as part of a film crew on set design, backdrops, and special effects to fully understand how films are made. With all of these jobs, he learnt the skills solely by borrowing library books on the individual subjects

Titanic Earnings

According to our research, the success of the 1997 film Titanic is responsible for the bulk of James Cameron’s career earnings, and has earned him even more compensation than Avatar. Cameron reportedly secured an $8 million upfront salary to direct the film, but when the production cost began running over budget, he forfeited his salary to ensure that costs weren’t cut.

As a result of forgoing his $8 million paycheck, Cameron negotiated a deal that would pay him between 10% and 15% of the profits after breaking even. The film’s budget grew to an estimated $200 million in total, which at the time, broke the record for the most expensive movie ever produced. However, when it was released, the film initially grossed $1.84 billion, and subsequent re-releases increased the total to $2.26 billion.

Box Office Earnings

Titanic was the first film to ever gross over $1 billion, and made Cameron a ridiculous sum of money. Typically, theatres take between 40% and 50% of the gross, which would have been between $900 million and $1.1 billion. With a $200 million production cost and potentially another $100 million for marketing, this brings the remainder to between $900 million and $1.1 billion in profit. If Cameron received 15% of the profits, he would have earned in the ballpark of $150 million from box office revenues. 

VHS/DVD Earnings

According to the data, Titanic sold 25 million VHS tapes in the United States and was later also released on both DVD and Blu-Ray. The total revenue from these sales exceeded $1 billion globally, which likely netted Cameron an additional $100 million.

Additional Earnings

After considering box office and DVD sales, we still need to consider licensing revenues for television and streaming platforms, as well as merchandising and theme park rides. In total, James Cameron has earned an estimated $650 million from Titanic in the past three decades.

Avatar Earnings

After realizing just how much money he could earn from backend percentages compared to upfront salaries, James Cameron followed a very similar deal when it came to 2009’s Avatar. When Avatar was released, it grossed $2.92 billion worldwide, and even though sixteen years have passed since then, it’s still the highest-grossing film ever released. Cameron reportedly earned $350 million from his backend percentage in the film. 

The second film, Avatar: The Way of Water, was released in 2022 and grossed $2.32 billion worldwide. Although it wasn’t as successful as the original, it became Cameron’s third film to exceed $2 billion in box office revenues. Reports suggest that he earned $95 million from Way of Water, bringing his total earnings from the franchise to $445 million.

Highest-Grossing Movies

Here’s a complete list of James Cameron’s ten highest-grossing movies:

1. Avatar – $2.92 billion (2009)
2. Avatar: The Way of Water – $2.32 billion (2022)
3. Titanic – $2.26 billion (1997)
4. Gravity – $773 million (2013)
5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day – $521 million (1991)
6. Terminator Genisys – $441 million (2015)
7. Pacific Rim – $411 million (2013)
8. Alita: Battle Angel – $405 million (2019)
9. True Lies – $379 million (1994)
10. Apollo 13 – $355 million (1995)

Introduction

Andy Ruiz Jr. is a Mexican-American professional boxer with an estimated net worth of $10 Million.

Fight Earnings

Early Career Earnings

The information above regarding Andy Ruiz Jr.’s fight earnings has been gathered through public reports. Two sources stated that Ruiz’s total career earnings before his 2019 fight with Anthony Joshua were under $300,000, but our research contradicts this statement. From 2009 to 2019, Ruiz fought thirty-three professional fights before stepping into the ring against Joshua. Of those thirty-three fights, we found guaranteed purses for just three.

These included $1 million for his 2016 fight against Joseph Parker, $500,000 against Devin Vargas in 2018, and $200,000 against Alexander Dimitrenko at the beginning of 2019. This would equate to a minimum of $1.7 million for those three fights. While the other thirty weren’t big enough to be on the radar financially, they still should have earned Ruiz a decent amount of money.

Anthony Joshua Earnings

Ruiz’s two fights against Joshua were the biggest paydays of his career. In the June 2019 upset, Ruiz earned approximately $7 million, whereas Joshua earned roughly $25 million. The pay disparity was primarily due to Joshua’s already cemented status in boxing, beating legends such as Carlos Takam, Wladimir Klitschko, and Alexander Povetkin. In the rematch, Ruiz’s earnings increased to an estimated $13 million, totaling $20 million from the two fights.

Recent Fight Earnings

Ruiz has fought only three times in the past five years, each earning him approximately $500,000 less than the previous. In 2021, he beat Chris Arreola for a reported payday of $1.5 million. His 2022 victory over Luis Ortiz earned him $1 million, and his most recent fight against Jarrell Miller guaranteed him a purse of $500,000.

This would place Andy Ruiz Jr.’s career fight earnings at an estimated $24.7 million but doesn’t consider any fights before 2016. 

Tyson Fury Negotiations

In 2023, Ruiz Jr. was in negotiations with the Gypsy King, Tyson Fury, to schedule a fight, but talks reportedly came to an end due to Ruiz’s demands for a guaranteed $20 million. Fury posted a video on his social media accounts, saying he was “ready to rumble,” but nobody wanted to fight him. Regarding the Ruiz negotiations, he stated:

“Andy Ruiz has asked for $20 million—silly little bastard. I don’t know where he’s getting that from. Who’s out there? Who’s available?”

Ruiz likely still could have earned several million dollars from a fight with Fury, but it appears he ultimately missed out due to his high demands. 

Financial Issues

There has been a lot of speculation in recent years regarding Andy Ruiz Jr’s finances, with many believing that the fighter began overspending and blowing through his millions after his first fight with Anthony Joshua. Before the fight, Ruiz had been accustomed to earning between $200,000 and $1 million per bout, but his paycheck from facing Joshua was a completely different story.

Immediately following the fight, Ruiz purchased a multi-million-dollar mansion in California and also began adding a large quantity of luxury vehicles to his collection. The retail value of all his cars, brand new, amounts to at least $1.5 million, and includes:

• Lamborghini Urus
• Rolls-Royce Ghost
• Rolls-Royce Cullinan
• Mercedes AMG G 63 (owns two)
• Porsche Panamera
• Mercedes-Benz G 550

Six of these vehicles are models from 2019-2022, and were manufactured after his first fight with Joshua. In addition to the vehicles and house, Ruiz has also publicly stated that his jewelry collection is worth over $1 million, which was later stolen amid a breakup with his ex-partner. 

When you add all these things together, it amounts to an insane amount of expenditure for somebody who, by our knowledge, has only earned roughly $25 million in fight purses before taxes.

Highlights 

Here are some of the best highlights of Andy Ruiz Jr.’s career: 

• He had 34 fights in total, 33 wins, 1 loss
• American Olympic Qualifications results (2008)

Introduction

Wendy Williams is an American professional television host with an estimated net worth of $20 Million. 

Before Wealth & Fame

Although Wendy Williams was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, her family moved to Ocean Township after the race riots in 1970. As a child, Williams was shy and struggled to fit in, stating that she felt different from other people her age. 

After high school, she studied communications at Boston’s Northeastern University, where she also worked as a DJ for the college’s WRBB 104.9 FM radio station. This experience led to her landing a job at the WVIS urban radio station in the U.S. Virgin Islands after graduating from Northeastern.

The Wendy Williams Experience

Having already built up a decent amount of radio experience at WRBB and WVIS, Williams worked at numerous stations throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, including the following:

• WOL, Washington D.C. (late 1980s)
• WQHT Hot 97, New York (early 1990s)
• WRKS 98.7 KISS FM, New York (mid-1990s)
• Power 99 FM, Philadelphia (late 1990s)

The latter was when she began to reach her peak popularity in radio, leading to an offer from WBLS 107.5 FM in New York to host her own show. In 2002, “The Wendy Williams Experience” first aired on radio. The show centered around bold and often controversial celebrity interviews, leading to various conflicts over the years.

This included beefs with stars such as 50 Cent, Diddy, Mariah Carey, and Method Man. However, one of the most notable interviews of Williams’ radio career was when things got heated in an interview with Whitney Houston over rumors of her drug usage. 

TV Career

The Wendy Williams Experience was so successful that in 2006, it evolved into the VH1 reality show. Initially, the show went by the same name but was eventually renamed The Wendy Williams Show in 2008. The show aired for fourteen seasons from 2008 to 2022, comprising a total of over 2,262 episodes. 

Her TV fame has landed Williams numerous appearances as a guest on other talk shows, including Entertainment Tonight, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The View, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Wendy Williams Show Salary

During the peak of The Wendy Williams Show, Williams was reportedly earning $10 million annually. She typically aired a new episode daily from Monday to Friday, reaching up to 250 episodes yearly. However, the average number is reportedly closer to 180 episodes, for an average of $55,000/episode.

While it’s unknown when she began earning $10 million annually from the show, over fourteen years, this could potentially place her total earnings in the ballpark of $100 million.

Financial Guardianship

In early 2022, Williams’s finances were placed under court-appointed guardianship after Wells Fargo froze her accounts, citing concerns about her mental health and the risk of financial exploitation. The court granted control of her accounts, estimated at $20 million, to Sabrina Morrissey, an attorney specializing in guardianships, after Williams’s former financial advisor at Wells Fargo raised concerns about her mental health and financial decisions. Williams strongly contested these claims, arguing through her legal team that the decision unfairly blocked her from accessing her own money.

Seeking to regain control, Williams filed a temporary restraining order against Wells Fargo in February 2022, demanding that her accounts be unfrozen. The legal battle unfolded alongside personal health challenges, including her 2023 diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, which further complicated her case.

By 2023, reports surfaced suggesting that the restrictive guardianship had left Williams struggling to manage her affairs independently, raising questions about whether the arrangement was in her best interest.

This case has drawn comparisons to Britney Spears’s long-term conservatorship, sparking conversations about guardianship laws and their impact on the rights and well-being of individuals under such arrangements, especially public figures with substantial assets.

Williams’s family has expressed frustration with the process, claiming it has caused more harm than good and questioning how her finances and well-being are managed. Despite these concerns, the case remains ongoing, with no clear resolution in sight as debates over her guardianship continue.

$250 Million Lawsuit

This frustration was expressed recently by Williams’ ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, who filed a federal lawsuit in June 2025 on behalf of Williams, seeking $250 million in damages from financial loss, emotional distress, and reputational harm. This lawsuit is rather complex, as 48 defendants have been named in the suit, including Williams’ financial guardian, advisor, and former manager. In the suit, Hunter claims that Wendy has lost “approximately $20 million per year in earnings, her $80 million estate, her $4 million condominium, personal goods above $10 million, and severe reputational harm.”

Williams, on the other hand, has distanced herself from the legal battle, claiming she had “no idea” that Hunter was filing the lawsuit. She also alleged that her ex-husband was a “money-grabber” and doesn’t have the authority to file lawsuits on her behalf. 

Highlights 

Here are some of the best highlights of Wendy Williams’ career: 

• Martin (Television, 1992) 
• The Wendy Williams Experience (Television, 2006) 
• The Wendy Williams Show (Reality Show, 2008-present) 
• The Cookout (Movie, 2011) 
• Surviving R Kelly (Television, 2019) 
• The Masked Singer (Television, 2020)