If you’re just waking up this morning then you must not have heard. James Cameron’s “Avatar” has once again tops box office for the sixth-straight week. It’s on a collision course to ironically sink another James Cameron movie, “Titanic.”
No. 1 for the sixth-straight weekend with $36 million, the 20th Century Fox sci-fi spectacle lifted its domestic total to $552.8 million. According to studio estimates “Avatar” raised its worldwide total to $1.841 billion. Marking it just $2 million shy of first place behind Cameron’s last movie, the 1997 shipwreck epic “Titanic,” at $1.843 billion.
“It defies all superlatives,” said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for Fox.
With $1.29 billion in international ticket sales, “Avatar” has already passed the $1.24 billion mark set by “Titanic.” The saga set on the alien world of Pandora is also en route to overtake “Titanic” in domestic sales.
After 37 days in theaters, “Avatar” trounced past “The Dark Knight” on Saturday to become the second highest grossing film, a feat no one thought would happen so soon.
“We’re witnessing box office history,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. “We’re watching all of these big records fall, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. ‘Avatar’ is dominating at a time where it has no big summer blockbusters to compete with it. It’s perfectly poised to keep breaking all these records.”
While “Avatar” didn’t win any honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on last weekend, it did capture the best drama and director trophies at the Golden Globes. Additionally, it’s considered a likely best-picture front runner when Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 2.