There wasn’t even any doubt that it could.
James Cameron’s CGI movie Avatar has officially surpassed his own movie Titanic as the highest grossing movie of all time.
In the US domestic market Avatar reached a record $601,141,551 47 days after it was released in theaters. The take easily surpassed the $600,788,188 that Titanic earned for its whole run in the theaters.
The money shoveling also continued in the international market. Avatar has already surpassed Titanic’s worldwide take of $1,242,413,080. Avatar has earned an astonishing $1,446,989,293. It even achieved the record in far less time than Titanic, which, anyway you look at it, is just phenomenal. The total worldwide take Avatar is now pegged at $2,048,130,844, which leaves Titanic’s total take of $1,843,201,268 in the dust. Amazing, really.
I guess this means we’ll be treated to more of Cameron’s “I’m the king of the world!” arrogance this year.
Avatar continues to shatter box office records
If there’s one thing Hollywood movie junkies love as much as big-budget blockbusters it’s the numbers porn associated with these multi-million dollar earners.
And the numbers are finally out for the highly successful Avatar.
Avatar has continued its phenomenal performance and it’s now being proclaimed as the box-office superstar of the decade, much like how Titanic was in the previous decade. Avatar raked in $350 million in just 17 days and over one billion dollars worldwide. The James Cameron flick also set a New Year’s Day weekend box office records with $68.3 million, a drop of just 10 percent from the figures it posted during Christmas weekend. This makes Avatar the highest third weekend grossing movie ever, surpassing Spider-Man.
Expect next weekend to become another round of record setting as the movie hits the $400 million mark, which will push it past Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen as the highest grossing movie of 2009 and also making it part of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time.
What’s quite impressive about these figures is that Avatar is not even a sequel so there’s no prepackaged audience here. Secondly, most of the money is being made on 3D and IMAX screens, which could herald the start of a shift towards more “high tech” presentations for future Hollywood movies. Third, this is a movie that has been released in the holiday season, not in the summer where movies enjoy more audiences because people are on vacation. Avatar now has to contend with students returning to school and people going back to work after the holidays.
Whatever happens though, Avatar has made a mark financially. Artistically, the verdict’s still up.