Sitting high on the hog is Wes Craven. To date his films in the world of horror have grossed 600+ million dollars. This has a lot to do with the Scream franchise, but he will always be remembered as the man who created Freddy.
Coming in second is John Carpenter. He has a little over 210 million in earnings at the box office. With (of course) Halloween being the biggest chunk of that take.
Our third big hitter is Tobe Hopper – he has over 150 million reported earnings (there is another 50 million that isn’t recorded, thanks to producing deals with the mob) . But still the creator of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre shows he’s no slouch when it comes to the box office.
Last, but not least – George Romero. The man who has made a career off the Living Dead has brought in over a 140 million dollars in just this genre. Now if there wasn’t that damn copyright debacle then his earning would be around 175 million.