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'Avatar' ends 'Titanic's reign as highest grossing movie ever

By Olivia Smith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Tuesday, January 26th 2010, 11:14 AM
Updated: Tuesday, January 26th 2010, 3:02 PM

It's official: "Avatar" has sunk "Titanic" as the all-time box-office champ.

The tale of conflict between an indigenous tribe of 9-foot-tall blue people and the humans who want their planet's resources became the highest grossing movie ever over the weekend, thanks to six weeks of booming box-office receipts internationally, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

As of Sunday, "Avatar" had raked in $1.292 billion worldwide, beating by $50.1 million the previous record held by "Titanic." Both movies were directed by James Cameron.

His earlier epic tale of love aboard the most famous sinking ship of all time had held the record for 13 years, having taken in $1.242 billion at the box office when it — as Leonardo DiCaprio's character so memorably says in the movie — was "king of the world."

"Avatar" still has a ways to go before it overtakes "Titanic" in the U.S. As it stands, it has taken in $551.7 million, still $49 million short of "Titanic's" $600.8 million.

The record-breaking weekend was the sixth in a row that "Avatar" had grossed at least $100 million internationally, the Hollywood Reporter noted.

China and Russia, countries that were not significant in "Titanic's" box-office dominance, were big contributors to "Avatar's" success.

Even without factoring in inflation, "Avatar" and "Titanic" aren't competing on an even playing field in terms of monetary intake. Because "Avatar" was shot and is being shown widely in 3D, theaters are charging at least several dollars more per ticket than they would for a conventional film, to say nothing of the change in ticket prices in the 13 years since "Titanic" was released, in 1997.

At least 65% of "Avatar's" earnings abroad come from 3D theaters. For the U.S., that number is 80%, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

When adjusted for inflation, "Titanic" would still come out on top, with its gross worth at least $2.5 billion in today's numbers.

By that measure, though, both of Cameron's films would fall to yet another sweeping romance with political and social dimensions: "Gone With the Wind," which in 1939 grossed $400 million. That would be equal to at least $6 billion today.