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looks pretty good
Watching "Avatar," I felt sort of the same as when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977. That was another movie I walked into with uncertain expectations. James Cameron's film has been the subject of relentlessly dubious advance buzz, just as his "Titanic" was. Once again, he has silenced the doubters by simply delivering an extraordinary film. There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely.
The advent of Avatar obtained an estimated $73 million on approximately 7,000 screens at 3,452 sites over the weekend, claiming the highest-grossing opening ever for a movie that's neither a sequel, a remake nor a direct adaptation (though others had greater attendance). It was also the second highest-grossing December opening weekend after I Am Legend ($77.2 million). Overall weekend business surged 50 percent over the same weekend last year, but was down considerably from the comparable period in 2007, when I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks debuted.
With its advanced 3D presentation as a key selling point, Avatar handily set a new 3D opening weekend benchmark. Showing on 3,129 3D screens at 2,038 sites, the format accounted for an estimated $52 million of the gross. The previous highs were Up's $35.4 million and Monsters Vs. Aliens' $32.6 million. Included in the 3D total, were 179 IMAX runs, and, while IMAX won't report its cut until Monday, the company did say that all IMAX records were broken. As for the audience breakdown, distributor 20th Century Fox's research indicated that 57 percent was male and 62 percent was aged 25 years and older.
A snow storm on the East Coast supposedly muted grosses for all movies. Fox claims that on Saturday business dropped precipitously for Avatar across the region, including New York City (down 18 percent), Philadelphia (down 57 percent), Washington, D.C. (down 75 percent) and Baltimore (down 86 percent), compared to a five percent slip nationwide from $27 million on Friday to $25.7 million on Saturday. Snow storm or not, Avatar was positioned to hold up well for an event picture due to its pre-Christmas release. While frequently the most bustling time of the year, December is not the month for opening weekend records, because business is spread throughout the week over the holidays. Avatar director James Cameron's last picture, Titanic, was the extreme example of this, opening to a sensational $28.6 million on the same weekend in 1997 and then growing 24 percent over Christmas weekend. Titanic, of course, was a legendarily unique phenomenon that ran at blockbuster levels for months, ultimately becoming the highest-grossing movie ever at $600.8 million.
Despite Mr. Cameron's track record and the massive amount of hype in the years leading up to its release, Avatar was never a slam dunk. It's no small feat to successfully launch a fantasy or science fiction action-adventure that's not based on pre-established material, and it's a challenge to get audiences emotionally vested in computer-generated characters in a serious, partially-live-action setting. Recent history is littered with financial failures among similar movies, including Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Delgo and Battle for Terra. To counter that, not only did Fox carpet bomb the media with ads (including an episode of Fox's Bones dedicated to the characters camping out to see Avatar), but the marketing deftly drew people in on a human level, with a story that has resonated before (Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, etc.) and with a sense of wonder. Then, it delivered the goods with stunning spectacle.
On the foreign front, Avatar rocketed to an estimated $159.18 million in five days from 106 territories (which excluded the key markets of Japan, China and Italy). Of its 14,461 total screens, 3,671 or 25 percent were 3D, and they accounted for 56 percent of the gross. Add in the $73 million domestic haul, and Avatar's worldwide opening was $232.2 million, the ninth highest-grossing of all time and the biggest for a non-sequel.
While Avatar devoured the box office, there was nary a peep from fellow debut, Did You Hear About the Morgans? The romantic comedy featuring genre stalwarts Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker sputtered to an estimated $7 million on around 3,000 screens at 2,718 sites. While the movie's trailer explained the storyline of an estranged Manhattan couple that must live in the country and reconcile after witnessing a murder (and offered fish-out-of-water amusement), it was as if the rest of the marketing campaign gave up, waving the white flag before the more heavily-promoted It's Complicated even opened. The premise was perhaps too convoluted to strike a pronounced chord with audiences, but the ads simply showed the stars in random situations and the poster was nondescript, failing to establish context and creating an even greater disconnect. Distributor Sony Pictures' exit polling suggested that the audience was 60 percent female and 54 percent aged 30 years and older.
Last weekend's top-grossing picture, The Princess and the Frog, shrank by a sizable 50 percent, mustering an estimated $12.2 million, and its total grew to $44.8 million. The Blind Side held its ground again, sporting an estimated $10 million after a 33 percent drop. With $164.7 million in 31 days, the football-themed drama edged out The Proposal to become star Sandra Bullock's highest-grossing movie ever. The Twilight Saga: New Moon rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $4.4 million, down 45 percent for a massive $274.6 million tally in 31 days, while Invictus retreated by an alarming 52 percent, grossing an estimated $4.2 million for a $15.8 million total in ten days.
I swear Moo, every movie you see becomes the best movie you've seen this year.
I swear Moo, every movie you see becomes the best movie you've seen this year.
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The question is no longer whether or not James Cameron's "Avatar" will earn back its production budget, as the film's recent ascension past the $1 billion worldwide threshold addressed that factor rather decisively. Instead, the question has become whether or not Cameron will top himself.
For more than a decade now, "Titanic" has comfortably held the distinction of being the highest grossing feature film of all time, both domestic and worldwide. But in case you haven't noticed, there's a not-so-little iceberg called Pandora, filled with Na'vi and other dangerous indigenous creatures, heading straight for Cameron's previously established "Titanic" — and judging by the box office numbers, it's entirely possible that "Avatar" could sink the boat.
"Titanic" earned its status as the king of the cinematic world over the course of several weeks, having only earned $28.6 million in its first weekend in theaters. That number steadily rose to a cumulative of $88.4 in its second week, then $157.4 in its third, and so on with continued fervor. The movie managed the impressive feat of staying in first place all the way from its December opening to April, totaling $600.8 million domestically and $1.2 billion in foreign theaters for a worldwide total of $1.8 billion.
"Avatar," on the other hand, came into theaters hot. It decisively won its opening weekend with a $77 million finish, dropping by a mere 1.8% in its second weekend for $75.6 million, and finishing out this past weekend with $68.3 million. In just three weeks, "Avatar" has earned $352.1 million domestically and a worldwide total of $1.02 billion.
As strong as "Avatar" is in America, it's even more powerful overseas. The global market has already shown its support for Cameron's latest with $666.7 million in ticket sales. Comparatively, "Titanic" left the box office with an impressive $1.2 billion, but that's not exactly an insurmountable number given the short run that "Avatar" has experienced thus far.
There is also the issue of continuing new releases. When "Avatar" bested "Sherlock Holmes" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" two weeks ago, it was all but guaranteed that the science fiction epic would win again just one week later thanks to a complete lack of new wide releases. While that's no longer the case this coming weekend, the continued support and steady balance of "Avatar" should pave the way for a fourth straight weekend victory over the likes of "Daybreakers," "Youth in Revolt" and "Leap Year."
Another element to consider is how badly the lack of a holiday weekend will effect "Avatar," but considering that the film premiered just fine without the support of Christmas or New Year's, I wouldn't expect the average weekend to slow the movie's progress too dramatically.
Ultimately, whether or not "Avatar" can triumph over "Titanic" will depend on Cameron's latest maintaining its stride. If the film can continue to push past the competition in the number one slot with minor drop offs, "Avatar" should easily claim the title of the highest grossing film of all time.
But if that doesn't happen, it's a virtual certainty that James Cameron will still have the two most successful movies of all time under his belt when "Avatar" settles in at number two. At the end of the day, that's a badge of honor that anyone would be proud to wear.
This movie looks like it's got a chance at breaking Titanic's record. I'd love for that to happen, because I hate that movie and loved this one.
When Avatar hit the 1 billion dollar milestone, we asked you whether you believe it has what it takes to surpass Titanic on the all-time biggest earners list. Most of you thought that it has a very good chance of doing so, and judging by its 4th weekend box office results, you were right.
This weekend, Avatar once again shattered the previous record for the best 4th weekend at the box office, earning 48,500,000 dollars. On its fourth weekend in cinemas, Titanic made 20 million dollars less. If the trend continues, Avatar will not only surpass Titanic; it will set new records far above the popular historic love story.
One detail strikes me as odd, however: I don’t see the movie industry complaining much about Avatar being pirated. According to Torrentfreak, it’s by far the most pirated movie right now, but it still managed to earn over a billion dollars in cinema, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Could it be that all that interest and buzz around the movie, even on torrent sites, actually helped propel Avatar into one of the biggest earners ever?
This movie looks like it's got a chance at breaking Titanic's record. I'd love for that to happen, because I hate that movie and loved this one.
Hahaha.I thought Titanic was the best movie you've ever seen when it first came out?
