News: February 3rd, 2010
Yesterday in a post about Rupert Murdoch “pushing for” an Avatar 2, I mentioned James Cameron’s original 3D epic was just shy of topping Titanic at the domestic box office.
It’s official now. The numbers are in and with a $2.7 million Tuesday, Avatar became the undisputed highest-grossing film of all-time in just 47 days, both in the domestic and worldwide rankings. At $601.1 million and counting, the 9-time Oscar nominee topped reigning U.S. champ since 1998, Cameron’s own Titanic.
Of course these numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation and don’t take into account the changing state of the movie business, but it’s difficult to argue with over $2 billion in global sales, no matter how big a Gone with the Wind fan you are.
“Gone with the Wind didn’t have to compete with television. Star Wars didn’t have to compete with DVDs. Titanic didn’t have to compete with Blu-rays and satellite. So I think every film has to compete on its own merits,” Cameron’s producing partner Jon Landau told USA Today when asked about the inflation argument.
The only questions now are how high can Avatar climb and how long will theaters continue to carry it? It doesn’t seem to have any 3D competition until Disney’s early March opening of Alice in Wonderland, but it should continue to get a boost from those waiting to see if the Academy adores it as much as average audiences.
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