On Saturday, James Cameron’s Avatar overtook Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight at the domestic box office. On Monday, it overtook Cameron’s own Titanic at the worldwide (including the US) box office.
Avatar has been out for about six weeks. It has grossed $1.292 billion overseas and $551.7 million domestically (US/Canada). Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, grossed $1.242 billion overseas and $600.8 million domestically. Avatar’s worldwide total currently stands at $1.843.7 billion; Titanic’s take (after a number of months) was $1.842.8 billion.
Impressive? Sure. Even so, Avatar still has quite some ways to go before it matches the number of tickets sold for The Dark Knight domestically ($533.7m in revenues), and a long, long, long way to go before it matches the number of tickets sold for Titanic on a global scale.
What many reports opt to ignore — or to have buried somewhere near the end of the article — is that Avatar made most of its money at 3D and/or IMAX screenings that charge a sizable premium. The vast majority of blockbusters that came before Avatar didn’t have that box-office plus.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, at least 65% of the film’s overseas box office and almost 80% of its domestic take have been generated at 3D venues, which can double (or more) the cost of an "average" movie ticket price. For comparison’s sake: The Dark Knight earned a mere 6.5% of its worldwide revenues from IMAX screenings. That’s why when it comes to the number of tickets sold, Avatar still lags behind a whole bunch of other movies both domestically and internationally.
The Reporter adds that Avatar is now the biggest-grossing film (if you ignore inflation) of all time in China, Spain, Russia, Hong Kong (actually part of China, but never mind), and Chile, and the biggest Hollywood hit ever in India. Other top markets include France* ($124.8 million total), Germany ($95.8 million), the U.K. and Ireland ($93.2 million), South Korea ($79.7 million), Japan ($77.7 million), Australia ($77 million) and Spain ($76 million). (See Box Office Mojo chart.)
The fact that the US currency remains in the dumps helps as well, for the money generated overseas buys many more dollars, thus inflating Avatar’s foreign revenues. On the other hand, back in 1998, when Titanic was earning millions abroad, the dollar was remarkably strong.
According to the Reporter, the actual #1 box-office hit the world over remains a 71-year-old movie, Gone with the Wind. The article claims the Clark Gable-Vivien Leigh Civil War drama grossed $400 million worldwide in 1939, the equivalent of $6 billion today.
Although I have no doubt that Gone with the Wind was a much bigger sensation upon its release than Avatar is or ever will be, I’m pretty positive that the Reporter’s figures for the original GWTW receipts include rereleases as well. (See Box Office Mojo’s all-time figures adjusted for inflation; note that this chart only covers domestic revenues.)
* Includes Monaco, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
Source: www.altfg.com/blog/box-office/
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