Posted by fedge Avatar is the biggest movie of all time world wide, beating Titanic. Cameron's ego will be huger than ever now!

Au contraire! Adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is by far the biggest movie of all time. Avatar is like, 19th.

Amateurs.

Posted by splumer Au contraire! Adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is by far the biggest movie of all time. Avatar is like, 19th. Amateurs.

Apparently it made more in the box office than any movie ever. It was also the most expensive movie ever made.

I hope they make 9 sequels.

Posted by splumer Au contraire! Adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is by far the biggest movie of all time. Avatar is like, 19th. Amateurs.

Its UNadjusted gross is only $198,676,459.

Here's the all-time U.S box office results. These are only the U.S and not the world obviously, but still interesting to see.



1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Avatar (2009) $564,472,387
3. The Dark Knight (2008) $533,316,061
4. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
5. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
6. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
7. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $423,032,628
9. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $402,076,689

Posted by "Big Daddy D" Here's the all-time U.S box office results. These are only the U.S and not the world obviously, but still interesting to see. 1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824 2. Avatar (2009) $564,472,387 3. The Dark Knight (2008) $533,316,061 4. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665 5. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036 6. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459 7. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444 8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $423,032,628 9. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375 10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $402,076,689

Probably by Monday or later in the week it'll have surpassed Titanic.

How Titanic did better than Star Wars is beyond me...

Posted by Oryx How Titanic did better than Star Wars is beyond me...

3D tickets aren't cheap is why Avatar has made so much so fast. While Avatar may have taken in a shitload of cash, likely hundreds of thousands or millions more people have actually paid to see Star Wars (or even Titanic).

Posted by fedge 3D tickets aren't cheap is why Avatar has made so much so fast. While Avatar may have taken in a shitload of cash, likely hundreds of thousands or millions more people have actually paid to see Star Wars (or even Titanic).

Makes sense, I paid 15 bucks for the Imax 3d, which BTW was sold out on a week night at 10 PM 3 weeks after opening weekend.

Posted by Oryx How Titanic did better than Star Wars is beyond me...

At least those are decently watchable movies, unlike Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Posted by metawaffle At least those are decently watchable movies, unlike Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Michael Bay is a hack.

Posted by fedge Michael Bay is a hack.

And a really wealthy one, I'd imagine...

you don't go into a movie like Transformers and expect Oscar-level performances... you go into movies like to that be moderately entertained, suck down popcorn and be visually assaulted for two hours.

there are times when i find Jim Cameron to be pretentious and just a bit preachy.

Posted by earthworm Curse you Joseph Campbell for creating a formula for stories.

Seriously? Are you serious?

I think it's more a matter that he read through the various sources...the really OLD sources...and discovered that they are all generally the same story dressed in different clothes. Or that there are what...maybe seven stories, and that everything else is the same narrative presented in different guises.

Go out and read Otto Rank, if you haven't already.

Posted by KublaKhan Seriously? Are you serious? I think it's more a matter that he read through the various sources...the really OLD sources...and discovered that they are all generally the same story dressed in different clothes. Or that there are what...maybe seven stories, and that everything else is the same narrative presented in different guises. Go out and read Otto Rank, if you haven't already.

He codified it for better or worse, and now Hollywood uses it as a bible. I do have a problem with that.


I'll take a look at Rank.

Well it's finally got a comfortable lead over Titanic.

Here's the top 25 all-time worldwide box office results. (Updated February 7th)

1. Avatar (2009) $2,080,093,323
2. Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $1,129,219,252
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $1,060,332,628
5. The Dark Knight (2008) $1,001,921,825
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $968,657,891
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) $958,404,152
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) $937,000,866
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) $933,956,980
10. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922,379,000
11. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $921,600,000
12. Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000
13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) $892,194,397
14. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) $887,773,705
15. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $885,430,303
16. Shrek 2 (2004) $880,871,036
17. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $866,300,000
18. Finding Nemo (2003) $865,000,000
19. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $860,700,000
20. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) $848,462,555
21. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $835,276,689
22. Independence Day (1996) $811,200,000
23. Spider-Man (2002) $806,700,000
24. Star Wars (1977) $797,900,000
25. Shrek the Third (2007) $791,106,665

Saw it last night. It could have been so much more but still was a very cool way to pass 3 hours. And I always liked super tough villians who just won't fucking die!

I'm sitting here watching this Avatar, crossing off the 12 points to better cinematic heroism a la Joseph Campbell (it's REALLY easy with Avatar), and well...it might look nice, but generally...and I'm only about 53 minutes in...this flick is kinda stupid and predictable.

As I said...

Posted by earthworm That's because they teach this formula in film schools. They teach that this is the most effective way to do a film, especially a big one. Both of those films use this structure and also have Pantheism as a central moral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth Sometimes this works but you could see it all coming in Avatar. Further, the effects will be dated in a few years. When the Lumiere Brothers first showed their short film of a train, people were jumping out of the way because it seemed so "real." There is no better way to ensure that a film eventually seems archaic then to base its primary appeal on effects. It will be forgotten in 10 years.

It seems like they follow a formula for sitcoms too.