It’s official! James Cameron has done it again. Avatar has become the #1 Grossing Movie Of All Time!
There must be a great atmosphere in the Cameron household just now since the only thing standing between Avatar and the #1 spot was his last film, Titanic. Both films have beaten classics such as the Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and more recently The Dark Knight. One of the things that seems to have helped Avatar (just like it did for Titanic) is repeat viewings of the movie, with many people going to see the film several times to get lost in the world of Pandora.
The awards, records, and money keep rolling in, with the film recently picking up 2 Golden Globes, and has just been nominated for 8 of the British Bafta awards. Avatar is the quickest film ever to gross a billion dollars, achieving this astonishing take in just 17 days. It broke Titanic’s worldwide record total of $1.843 billion in just 39 days, thanks mostly to its international gross (Titanic still leads in domestic gross, though even that record doesn’t seem safe).
It would seem that Avatar can do no wrong, and Cameron must be happy that his 12 year wait has paid off. It goes to show that patience is a virtue, and by developing and maturing the technology first, Cameron was able to bring us the most convincing special effects ever seen on the cinema screen.
It looks like the next stop on the Avatar journey is the Academy Awards. Titanic, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King, and Ben Hur hold the record for most Oscars accrued, with each film winning 11 Oscars at the ceremony. The world and James Cameron will find out on February 2nd how many nominations Avatar will receive, so until then we can only speculate. But, if you’re the betting type, the safest bet of the year is Avatar to win the Special Effects award, if not the biggie, Best Picture.
How many times have you seen the movie and how do you think it will do at the Oscars? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.