One of the most talked about films of the past year, James Cameron’s technologically groundbreaking Avatar, has taken more than a billion dollars at the global box office in just seventeen days.
Sales estimates up to Sunday night put the film, which cost in the region of half a billion dollars to make, on 352 million in the US and 670 million across the rest of the world.
The figures show that Avatar is already the fourth biggest grossing film of all time, behind Cameron’s last movie, Titanic. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest are second and third on the all-time chart.
Being shown in 3D on many screens has helped Avatar race ahead in the box office takings, because cinemas charge a premium for tickets to 3D films, and with few big films getting released between the start of the year and the Oscars, Avatar is set to dominate screens across the world for some time to come.