It's Official: 'Avatar' sinks 'Titanic' at worldwide box-office

[PatrickDion22]

From The Guardian (UK):

 

In the end, the only man capable of defeating James Cameron was James Cameron. Titanic, the film-maker's epic 1997 romance set on the doomed ocean liner, yesterday lost its crown as the top grossing movie of all time to Avatar, an epic 3D romance set on an Earth-like moon orbiting a distant star.

 

The science-fiction saga almost overtook its predecessor's record of $1.843bn at the weekend, after six weeks topping box-office charts around the globe. Twentieth Century Fox confirmed yesterday that the record had finally been broken.

 

Many pundits had predicted Titanic's record would never be beaten. Yet, early in Avatar's run it was clear it was repeating the pattern of multiple repeat viewings that had been the making of Cameron's previous film.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/26...-titanic-record

 

Here is also a video of the news from CBS's The Early Show:

 

 

I cannot believe this. I would have never thought that Titanic would ever be beaten, at least not worldwide. However, I saw Avatar in theatres, twice, and I absolutely loved it. Nevertheless, Titanic will always be #1 in my book. If you have any comments, please feel free to give your say.

[zuv]

No wonder! When you pay Avatar's ticket 3 times the price of Titanic's ticket!!

 

I paid $16 to see Avatar!!, and if i recall Titanic was like 5 bucks!

[PatrickDion22]

No wonder! When you pay Avatar's ticket 3 times the price of Titanic's ticket!!

 

I paid $16 to see Avatar!!, and if i recall Titanic was like 5 bucks!

 

Yeah, you're right. I think the average ticket price in 1997/98 was like $4.70. Avatar definitely got a boost from 3D ticket sales, but a film cannot make that much money on higher prices, alone. It's funny, Avatar is performing nearly the exact same way as Titanic did; drawing men and women who are both young and old. Only Cameron could do that.

[amyja89]

That's a great point about the ticket prices, it had never crossed my mind before!

 

Personally I really can't understand what was so great about Avatar. It was just Pocahontas with aliens!

 

Admittedly the special effects were stunning, but I got bored of them and of the plot half way through!

Edited January 26, 2010 at 07:48 PM by amyja89

[Scramasboy]

I completely agree about the ticket sales! 211,111,111 people saw Avatar at $9 per ticket, and 380,000,000 people saw Titanic, at $5 per ticket, which I highballed Titanic and lowballed Avatar.

I don't know if people who do offical releases are to stupid to realize this or they just don't care, but they give false information by denying it!

Edited January 26, 2010 at 11:47 PM by Scramasboy

[Bellamy]

In terms of adjusted money value, Gone With The Wind is the winner of all time. $400 million dollars at that time equals $6 billion dollars now. Titanic's $1.84 billion dollars equals $2.5 billion dollars now.

[Koolan]

Avatar's story is predictable and boring.

[Scramasboy]

In terms of adjusted money value, Gone With The Wind is the winner of all time. $400 million dollars at that time equals $6 billion dollars now. Titanic's $1.84 billion dollars equals $2.5 billion dollars now.

how'd you come up with that sum for Titanic? At what price per ticket, average? Im too lazy to do math, haha

[Bellamy]

I read that from some report. Not sure if it's accurate. I guess they used how much per dollar worth comparing with gold to calculate that.

[Prince Whiskers]

True, GWTW is the real all-time champ.

 

Anyway, how is the Leona theme song doing?????????

[Lawna]

Awww... oh well...Titanic will always be my first true love It opened my eyes and ears to Celine

[zuv]

Avatar's story is predictable and boring.

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII know!!!!! Wasn't the most basic plot ever created???? As soon as i knew that there were some humans on other creatures' planete, i knew how it would go and how it would end.

 

But Avatar's phenomenon going one, is due for the picture of the movie. The beauty of this film made some people emotional and some have cried (not me ). It was more candy for the eyes than anything else. Plus the full movie in 3D was a big plus.

I wanted to be an Avatar at the end! LOL

[AllCeline]

Avatar's story is predictable and boring.

Very much so... just goes to show that special effects can sell a movie even if it has a crappy plot.

[Charlie92]

Avatar's story is predictable and boring.

Very much so... just goes to show that special effects can sell a movie even if it has a crappy plot.

I agree!

I can't believe this!!! in my opinion this movie sucked, but usually when I think that people tend to like it very much

[reamary]

No wonder! When you pay Avatar's ticket 3 times the price of Titanic's ticket!!

 

I paid $16 to see Avatar!!, and if i recall Titanic was like 5 bucks!

 

Yup that's the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the news! Ticket prices are so much higher now than 13 years ago!! (Let alone when Gone With The Wind first came out )

 

Awww... oh well...Titanic will always be my first true love It opened my eyes and ears to Celine

 

Mine too!

 

I haven't even seen Avatar yet though. I think I'll eventually be watching it from DVD.

[ThisTime]

Who knew that re-telling pocahontas could be so successful

What's next? Aladdin with purple people eaters?

[PatrickDion22]

True, GWTW is the real all-time champ.

 

Anyway, how is the Leona theme song doing?????????

 

Firstly, that is only domestically. Worldwide, you cannot adjust a film's gross for inflation because of the various currency and monetary differences. It's mathematically impossible to fully calculate. In the United States though, GWTW is the all-time champ. Titanic is #6 when adjusted for inflation. http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

 

Secondly, I have no clue how her song "I See You" is doing. I haven't heard it on the radio, and guess that the sales are small to moderate. Compared to MHWGO, the song is absolutely nothing.

[whineupemily]

Aladdin with purple people eaters?

Ha. I'd so go see that! The theme song would be like.. Barney.

[SlovakClark]

I cant understand your comments about easy plot or predictable story, I mean, c mon wasnt Titanic the same? I think even easier.

dont get me wrong Titanic was entry to my life I cant describe by worlds how i just LOVELOVELOVE Titanic and not only for Celine but mostly for Mr. Cameron who gived us such a beautifull gift and trully amazing people: Celine, Kate, Leo. That Titanic era will be the biggest in my heart forever

 

I quite understand that you cant get over fact that Titanic was beat with Avatar, but at the other side isnt it great that it was created by James Cameron again?

I can say without him we dont have Celine too. He totally deserves it. He works so hard last 4 years with one day pause just because of flu! It was his dreamed project about dreaming, about flying in dreams which i bet all of us love and for me Avatar was like dreaming with eyes wide open.

 

about ticket sales: please wait till the end of that movie in cinemas and we will see, the fact that Avatar (7 weeks in cinemas) is comparing with movie almost a year in release is unfair. Plus going to cinemas isnt something you must do, that people decide to pay 15 dollars in era of internet, free movie downloads and many many other thinks you can just spend that money, so its really interesting that Cameron do it again.

 

and finally, would you dont like that movie if Celine sing I See You? I would die for that:D

 

forgive my english

[zuv]

Eventhough i think the plot was predictable, i can say that I loved this movie!!!

 

I think its in my top 10!!!

 

Titanic was a true story, so both movies can't really be compared!! There was not much to do with Titanic other than putting a love story in it...

 

But you got to agree (well you don't have to) that Avatar's plot was one of the most basic one!

 

I mean, i can't think of how many times i've seen a movie where the poor "environment's world" gets attacked by the evil humans and then finally the "envrionment" wins at the end. Its a classic.

Edited January 29, 2010 at 09:27 PM by pyb

[PatrickDion22]

To the people who say that Avatar is "predictable" and basically "Dances with Smurfs" ,I just want you to know that it's already won the Golden Globe for Best Film-Drama, and Best Director and is one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. To be honest, the same predictability can be said for Titanic. I mean, come on! Everyone knew the ship would sink, but that did't stop it to become one of the biggest films Hollywood ever created. Also, I loved Titanic and Avatar. They are both two incredibly crafted films, made by the brilliant, and Canadian director, James Cameron!

[AllCeline]

Titanic was based on true events so saying that "we knew the ship was going to sink" isn't the strongest argument. And the fact that James Cameron is Canadian (didn't know he is), means absolutely nothing. Avatar is predictable because there were a number of films before it with pretty much identical storylines (Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai). As for the soundtrack, that has no bearing on whether or not the film was any good. Had Celine done the soundtrack for Avatar, it probably would of been one hell of a soundtrack but the films would have still been shallow.

 

Just because the film made tons of money doesn't mean it's any good. It just means it had one hell of a promotions team that did an amazing job at hyping it up. In other words, just because Celine doesn't sell like she use to doesn’t mean the music's bad. It just means she's not being promoted as well as she once was.

 

CGI is nice but it does absolutely nothing for the plot and depth of a film. Titanic was able to accomplish what Avatar did WITHOUT having to use the shiny graphics and the 3D. I’m curious to see the outcome had Avatar just been screened in regular 2D alone. If you can't go beyond the visual surface of a movie, you're not getting the full experience.

[ThisTime]

Just to put it out there, I really liked Avatar and saw it twice actually

 

Aladdin with purple people eaters?

Ha. I'd so go see that! The theme song would be like.. Barney.

LMFAO HAHAHAHA

I can see it now

Jafar singing I LOVE YOU, YOU LOVE ME to the little monkey

then barney pops out steals and steals Jasmine

and we screw aladdin over and send him back to the streets

 

this will be the best movie EVER

Edited February 2, 2010 at 04:55 AM by ThisTime

[PatrickDion22]

Titanic was based on true events so saying that "we knew the ship was going to sink" isn't the strongest argument. And the fact that James Cameron is Canadian (didn't know he is), means absolutely nothing. Avatar is predictable because there were a number of films before it with pretty much identical storylines (Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai). As for the soundtrack, that has no bearing on whether or not the film was any good. Had Celine done the soundtrack for Avatar, it probably would of been one hell of a soundtrack but the films would have still been shallow.

 

Just because the film made tons of money doesn't mean it's any good.It just means it had one hell of a promotions team that did an amazing job at hyping it up.[/b] In other words, just because Celine doesn't sell like she use to doesn’t mean the music's bad. It just means she's not being promoted as well as she once was.

 

CGI is nice but it does absolutely nothing for the plot and depth of a film. Titanic was able to accomplish what Avatar did WITHOUT having to use the shiny graphics and the 3D. I’m curious to see the outcome had Avatar just been screened in regular 2D alone. If you can't go beyond the visual surface of a movie, you're not getting the full experience.

 

Wow, you really must not know me very well, because I am just about the biggest Titanic fan you will ever meet, and up until Avatar, I thought that Titanic was Cameron's single most effective film.

That said, I don't understand your point. People can have different opinions on films. I believe that Avatar was incredible, both effects wise and story wise. It's the front runner at the Oscars right now and has already won a slew on industry awards from critics and audiences. By the way, the Academy Awards just released their nominations today, Avatar has nine, including Best Picture and Best Director. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/82/nominees.html

 

For you to say that it was the hype that made it gross over $2 billion so far, means that you obviously have no clue of how the film industry works. Countless movies have relied on incredibly ambitious marketing campaigns, but have fallen short of making Titanic-like numbers because they weren't good films, and that interest in those films fell after a couple of weeks. Avatar, just like Titanic, continues to gross an incredible amount of money due to the great word of mouth that it has received. It's spent 7 weeks at #1 in North America so far, the most a film has spent at #1 since Titanic. Week by week, the overall percentages lost are miniscule, a trait that only one other film in history has done as well, and guess which one that is? My point is that you can have a different POV than me, but don't attempt to put down my posts just because you didn't enjoy the film. It's ridiculous for a quarrel to ensue, anyways. Besides it's not like we're getting a cut of the money.....

[AllCeline]

Just because the film made tons of money doesn't mean it's any good.

That was my point. Again, just because something sells (like Avatar) doesn't mean it was good. If a film is nominated for such major awards, chances are it's been nominated because it’s become a box office hit (that means lots of money). A film generates a large income because of its popularity and its popularity is attributed to good promotions.

 

That's just pop culture.

Edited February 4, 2010 at 05:04 AM by AllCeline

[Bellamy]

I finally watched Avatar at Imax 3d tonight. The picture is amazing. I feel I can touch the objects sometimes.

[SlovakClark]

Just because the film made tons of money doesn't mean it's any good.

That was my point. Again, just because something sells (like Avatar) doesn't mean it was good. If a film is nominated for such major awards, chances are it's been nominated because it’s become a box office hit (that means lots of money). A film generates a large income because of its popularity and its popularity is attributed to good promotions.

 

That's just pop culture.

 

What u said just means that Titanic is just a piece of pop culture and it isnt a good film.

I know plently of people who never like Titanic and loves Avatar, its just so subjective. I am glad i love both of them. Again we are talking about massive hollywood blockbuster and in that fact Avatar is the best of the best... it is THE MOVIE. It is cultural phenomen- my mother, aunt, brother sister friends everyone love that movie.

 

but i am sad of that fact u dont like it cause i thought that Celine fans loves dreaming and escape from reality, fantastic worlds and so..I think its so celinish

Edited February 14, 2010 at 10:30 PM by SlovakClark

[pepillo90]

C'mon guys...

 

Titanic was what it was because of the song, and the song was and is what it is because of the movie...

 

Avatar is what it is because itself, the story is catching (except the very beggining), has a lot of meaning: souls, friendship, love, the union of people in front of a war, etc.

 

I truly loved it!

[PatrickDion22]

Just because the film made tons of money doesn't mean it's any good.

That was my point. Again, just because something sells (like Avatar) doesn't mean it was good. If a film is nominated for such major awards, chances are it's been nominated because it’s become a box office hit (that means lots of money). A film generates a large income because of its popularity and its popularity is attributed to good promotions.

 

That's just pop culture.

 

I'm sorry, but I wholeheartedly disgree. Avatar, just like Titanic won/got nominated for a slew of industry awards because they were well crafted films, not because they grossed $1.84 billion and 2.26 billion and counting, respectively. Their box office success was either an effect of the film being well made, or because audiences heard of how engrossing it was. Also, I don't think that the critics that have nominated Avatar for 9 Academy Awards did so because of its box office success. If that was the case, then half of all the films that have made over $900 million, worldwide (there have been 13 so far) would have been nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (only two films have won both, and those were Titanic and LOTR 3). FYI, the Oscars are NOT known for even nominating a sci-fi esque film, never mind nominating it nine times. Add that to Avatar being a front-runner in the BP race....

[AllCeline]

What u said just means that Titanic is just a piece of pop culture and it isnt a good film.

Titanic IS indeed a major part of pop culture. I never said it was bad if it was popular. I said just because it was popular, doesn't mean it was good. Those statements mean totally different things.

 

I know plently of people who never like Titanic and loves Avatar, its just so subjective.

That pretty much supports what I said...

 

but i am sad of that fact u dont like it cause i thought that Celine fans loves dreaming and escape from reality, fantastic worlds and so..I think its so celinish

Avatar DOES have nice visuals, which I must admit made for a pretty interesting fantasy world. But it seems like most people were focused on that and not more important aspects of the film. Like I said before, the plot was no different from other films in the past.

 

I'm sorry, but I wholeheartedly disgree.

I can respect that... I just don't think critics always know what's best and I still can't agree with the belief of a film being "good" just because it was a box office hit.

Edited February 15, 2010 at 05:26 AM by AllCeline