Although it had become inevitable following its unbelievable box office run and plenty of people will point out the fact that inflated prices for 3D screenings have helped a lot, $2 billion is a lot of money in anyone’s book. Avatar has now passed that unprecedented milestone, adding another $125 million around the world over the weekend to take its grand total to $2.044 billion.
It’s only a few weeks ago that a single film reaching that sort of level was thought impossible, but Avatar has done it in only seven weeks and is still going strong. For example, in the UK, the film dropped only 7% in its seventh weekend and become one of only a few films to make more than the equivalent of $100 million dollars in Britain.
It’s an astonishing success whichever way you look at it, and the film shows little sign of slowing down anytime soon. It’s leaving Titanic’s $1.8 billon standing it in wake and will soon be a full billion ahead of the film currently standing in third place, Return Of The King, which made $1.1 billion on its release in 2003. Where Avatar will end up is anyone’s guess, although it will inevitably add a few hundred million more before the end of its run and set a box office record that will be incredibly difficult for any film to beat.