The list was released in the Guardian's Film & Music supplement as part of a month-long season in the Guardian and Observer celebrating film.
A panel of leading representatives from the global film industry selected Cameron as the person who holds the most influence over films the British cinema-going public choose to watch.
Andrew Pulver, the panel's chair and Guardian Film Editor, said: "The people that made it onto the list are all vital figures in determining what ends up on British cinema screens. At one end of the scale are Hollywood giants like James Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio, and at the other are bloggers, festival programmers and cinema owners who all play a part in influencing our cinematic cultural map."
Those on the advisory panel included: Hannah McGill, former Artistic Director, Edinburgh Film Festival; Mike Goodridge, Editor, Screen International; Colin Vaines, Producer, Madonna's W. E; Peter Buckingham, Head of Distribution & Exhibition, UK Film Council; Kate Gerova, Head of Distribution, Soda Films and Kate Lee, Head of Film, Freud Communications.
The Film Power 100 launches a month-long, multimedia marketing campaign that celebrates all things cinematic and puts the readers at the heart of film making.
Key elements of the campaign will include:
• A film that challenges viewers to name as many titles as they can will be live online
• A free DIY guide to making films
• A DVD from the British Film Institute archive featuring early films from the finest British directors, including Shane Meadows and Ridley Scott
• Guardian.co.uk will be asking readers to submit their dream film concepts via twitter as part of the Guardian Twitpitch Challenge. The favourite pitch, selected by our panel Jonathan Meades, Richard Eyre and Frank Cotrall Boyce, will have a poster drawn by a professional illustrator and published in The Guide
• Free DVDs of Airplane! and Mulholland Drive
• Seven day series in The Guardian and The Observer: The Greatest Films Of All Time
• For one week their critics will be liveblogging films showing on TV asking readers to tell them which films and to join in the conversation
• "Tell our writers where to go" - as part of the Commission Us week they’re asking readers to let them know what they should be covering, and how
From Friday 24 September visit: www.guardian.co.uk/filmseason for all film related content and for a chance to win an iPad.
GUARDIAN FILM POWER 100 LIST
1 James Cameron
Director: Avatar, Titanic
2 Steven Spielberg
Director: Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, ET: The Extra Terrestrial
Producer: Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers
3 Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor: Inception, Shutter Island, Titanic
4 John Lasseter
Director: Toy Story, Toy Story 2
Chief creative officer: Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
5 Brad Pitt
Actor: Inglourious Basterds, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Producer: Kick-Ass, A Mighty Heart, The Departed
6 Christopher Nolan
Director: Inception, The Dark Knight
7 Scott Rudin
Producer: No Country for Old Men, The Queen, The Truman Show
8 Quentin Tarantino
Director: Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction
9 George Clooney
Actor: Michael Clayton, Ocean's Eleven
Director: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night, and Good Luck
10 Ed Vaizey
Politician: Minister for culture, communications and creative industries
11 Johnny Depp
Actor: Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleepy Hollow
Producer: Hugo Cabret, The Rum Diary
12 Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Producers: Pride & Prejudice, United 93, Love Actually; co-chairmen of Working Title
13 JJ Abrams
Creator: Lost
Director: Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek
Producer: Cloverfield
14 Alan F Horn and Jeff Robinov
Studio executives: President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros, and President of Warner Bros Pictures
15 Ridley Scott
Director: Robin Hood, Gladiator, Blade Runner
16 Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos
Studio executives: Co-chairmen of Fox Filmed Entertainment
17 Tim Burton
Director: Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow
18 Angelina Jolie
Actor: Salt, Changeling, A Mighty Heart
19 Brad Grey
Studio executive: chief executive of Paramount Pictures
20 Martin Scorsese
Director: Shutter Island, The Departed, Gangs of New York
21 Aaron Sorkin
Creator: The West Wing
Writer: The Social Network
22 Amy Pascal and Jeff Blake
Studio executives: Co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and vice-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
23 Jeffrey Katzenberg,
Studio executive: Chief executive of Dreamworks Animation
24 Peter Jackson,
Director: King Kong, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Producer: District 9, The Adventures of Tintin
25 Bob Iger and Richard Ross
Studio executives: Chief executive of Walt Disney Co, and chairman of Walt Disney Studios
26 Sacha Baron Cohen
Actor: Borat, Brüno, Hugo Cabret
27 David Heyman
Producer: Harry Potter, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Yes Man
28 Adam Fogelson
Studio executive: Chairman of Universal Pictures
29 Kate Winslet
Actor: The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Titanic
30 Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson
Producers: Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace
31 Danny Boyle
Director: Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting
32 Graham King
Producer: Hugo Cabret, The Departed, Traffic
33 Tessa Ross
Commissioning executive: Controller of film and drama, Channel 4
34 Ryan Kavanaugh
CEO: Relativity Media
35 Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Director-Writer-Producers: No Country for Old Men, Fargo, The Big Lebowski
36 Christine Langan
Commissioning executive: Creative director, BBC Films
37 Guillermo del Toro
Director: Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth
Producer: The Orphanage
38 Keira Knightley
Actor: Never Let Me Go, Atonement, Pride & Prejudice
39 Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein
Distributors: Co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company
40 Patrick Wachsberger
Studio executive: President, Summit Entertainment
41 Richard Curtis
Director: The Boat That Rocked, Love Actually
Writer: Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral
42 Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell,
Co-CEO: William Morris Entertainment
43 Paul Greengrass
Director: United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone
44 Richard Lovett, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane
Agents: President and managing-partners of Creative Artists Agency
45 Jerry Bruckheimer
Producer: Prince of Persia, Pirates of the Caribbean, Armageddon
46 Col Needham
Web Entrepreneur: Co-founder and general manager, Internet Movie Database
47 Jeff Berg
Agent: Chairman and Chief Executive, ICM
48 Andrew Macdonald
Producer: Never Let Me Go, Sunshine, Trainspotting
49 Stuart Ford
Sales Agent: Chief Executive, IM Global
50 Judd Apatow
Director: Funny People, Knocked Up
Producer: Superbad, Get Him to the Greek
51 Rupert Murdoch
Media owner: Chairman and Chief Executive News Corporation
52 Colin Firth
Actor: A Single Man, Mamma Mia!, Bridget Jones's Diary
53 Harry Knowles
Web Entrepreneur: Founder, Ain't It Cool News
54 Peter Morgan
Writer: The Queen, The Damned United, Frost/Nixon
55 Nigel Green
Distributor: Managing Director of Entertainment Film Distributors
56 Guy Ritchie
Director: Sherlock Holmes, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
57 Olivier Courson
Studio Executive: Chief Executive of Studio Canal
58 Tracey Jacobs
Agent: Co-head of Talent, United Talent Agency
59 Thierry Frémaux
Film Festival Director: General delegate, Cannes film festival
60 Michael Cera
Actor: Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, Youth in Revolt, Juno
61 Sam Mendes
Director: Revolutionary Road, American Beauty
62 Claudia Winkelman
TV personality: Presenter of Film 2010
63 Danny Perkins
Distributor: Chief Executive of Optimum Releasing
64 Sofia Coppola
Director: Somewhere, Lost in Translation
65 Peter Bradshaw
Journalist: Film critic, the Guardian
66 Tilda Swinton
Actor: We Need to Talk About Kevin, I Am Love, Michael Clayton
67 Duncan Heath
Agent: Co-chairman, Independent Talent Group
68 Armando Iannucci
Producer-writer: The Day Today and I'm Alan Partridge
Director-writer: The Thick of It, In the Loop
69 John Cooper
Film Festival Director: Director of the Sundance Film Festival
70 Clare Binns
Film Programmer: Programming-Director of City Screen
71 Edgar Wright
Director: Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, Shaun of the Dead
72 Stewart Till
Distributor: Chief Executive of Icon UK
73 Tim Smith and Paul Brett
Film financiers: Co-owners of Prescience and Director of Prescience
74 Kristin Scott Thomas
Actor: I've Loved You So Long, Leaving, Nowhere Boy, The English Patient
75 Mark Kermode
Journalist: freelance film critic for Radio 5 Live and The Observer
76 Philip Knatchbull
Distributor: Chief Executive of Curzon Artificial Eye
77 St John Donald
Agent: Managing Director of United Agents
78 Piers Handling
Film Festival Director: Director of the Toronto film festival
79 Steve Wiener
Exhibitor: Chief Executive of Cineworld
80 Steve Jenkins
TV buyer: Head of Films for BBC Programme Acquisition
81 Roger Ebert
Journalist: Film critic of the Chicago Sun - Times
82 Tim Highsted,
TV Programmer: Senior Editor of feature films, Channel 4
83 Kathryn Bigelow
Director: The Hurt Locker, Point Break
84 Pedro Almodóvar
Director: Volver, Talk to Her, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
85 Eddie Ibrahim
Festival Director: Film programmer at Comic Con
86 Andy Whittaker
Distributor: Chairman, Dogwoof
87 Robbie Collin
Journalist: Film critic, News of the World
88 Graydon Carter
Journalist: Editor, Vanity Fair
89 Mike Leigh
Director: Another Year, Vera Drake, Secrets & Lies
90 Nikki Finke
Web Entrepreneur: Editor in chief of Deadline.com
91 Shane Meadows
Director: Le Donk, Somers Town, This Is England
92 Geoff Andrew
Programmer: Head of Film programming, BFI Southbank
93 Janet Pierson
Programmer: Head of Film programming, SXSW
94 James King
Journalist: Film reviewer, Radio 1
95 Charlie Kaufman
Writer: Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Director: Synecdoche, New York
96 Jane Goldman
Writer: Stardust, Kick-Ass
97 Allan Niblo and Rupert Preston
Producers-distributors: Co-founders of Vertigo Films
98 Fabien Riggall
Exhibitor: Founder of Secret Cinema and Future Shots
99 Catharine des Forges
Distributor: Director of the Independent Cinema Office
100 You — via Facebook & other networking sites
