It's official: 'Avatar' is king of the world

By Russ Britt, MarketWatch

Last Update: 5:47 PM ET Jan 26, 2010

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- "Avatar" has made it official; it now is the No. 1 worldwide hit of all time, box-office watchers said Tuesday.

The feature from director James Cameron beat the old box-office mark, set by Cameron's "Titanic" in 1998, on Monday, by raking in $1.859 billion in global receipts. "Titanic's" mark was $1.843 billion, according to Hollywood.com and BoxOfficeMojo.com.

"Avatar" came close to beating the mark over the weekend, falling about $4 million short. Avatar is distributed by Twentieth-Century Fox, a division of News Corp. NWS News Corp. also is parent of MarketWatch.com, publisher of this report.

"It was just a smidgen behind on Sunday," said Brandon Gray, president of BoxOfficeMojo.

Now the film is trudging toward uncharted territory, and could reach the $2 billion mark as early as this weekend, Gray said.

"Avatar" beat "Titanic's" mark in just 39 days, a mark achieved over a period of several months. "Titanic" stood atop the box office for more than three months on its way to setting the record. "Titanic" was jointly distributed by Fox and Viacom Inc.'s VIA Paramount Pictures.

But "Avatar" has sold little more than half the tickets that "Titanic" sold, thanks to inflation and higher admissions for "Avatar's" 3D screenings.

Despite the price inflation, Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office analysis for Hollywood.com., says setting the mark was "unthinkable six weeks ago."

"For James Cameron to break his own longstanding record in just 39 days is unprecedented," Dergarabedian said. "Cameron's rewriting the record books."

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId={F75B6947-451B-48F5-B1F2-6644AFAE5AE3}&src=NLEN.