It's Official! "Avatar" has overtaken "Titanic" to become the new box office king.
Discounting inflation and fatter 3D ticket prices, it became official today as "Avatar" closed the gap and became the highest grossing film of all time worldwide.
"Avatar" entered Monday needing only $2 million to eclipse the $1.842 billion mark set by director James Cameron's previous film "Titanic" in 1998. Averaging nearly $4 million a day in week-day performances of late just in North America, the 3D film has already broken the record, even though no official tabulation has been announced.
On Sunday, Fox announced that "Avatar" had reached $1.29 billion in foreign receipts, making it the top international grosser ever. With $551.7 million in domestic ticket sales, the film should also surpass "Titanic's" $600.8 million North American record by the end of the upcoming weekend.
"Avatar" passed "The Dark Knight" ($533.3 million) for second place on the domestic list this past weekend.
Of course, adjusting for inflation, the revenue picture looks quite a bit different.
According to tracking firm Box Office Mojo, with inflation factored in, "Avatar" ranks only 26th all time in North American gross. The all-time leader on this list is "Gone With the Wind," which has an adjusted domestic total of $1.48 billion. "Star Wars" is in second place with $1.3 billion.
Also not factored in are "Avatar's" premium 3D ticket prices, which are, on average, about $3 per unit more than standards 2D admissions.
For its part, Fox will profit handsomely from "Avatar," regardless one analyst predicts the film will net the studio $918 million in profits before Cameron gets his cut.
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I saw this coming the moment i walked out of the movies. It was an Epic movie no doubt but I still say that price changes since titanic is the only reason for this exceeding expectations in the box office. What do you guys think?