Avatar replaces Titanic as biggest film ever
Avatar passes Titanic to become biggest film ever
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 27, Jan 2010 06:01
By Lewis Bazley.
James Cameron's Avatar has now outstripped the box office takings of his own film Titanic to become the highest grossing film of all time at the international box office.
The 20th Century Fox film had been expected to take the title after topping the US box office charts and the studio has now confirmed that Avatar's box office takings stand at $1.859 billion (£1.15 billion), compared to Titanic's $1.843 billion (£1.14 billion).
"We are deeply gratified that so many millions of people around the globe have embraced Avatar," said a Fox spokesperson.
"Its success results from the efforts of literally thousands of people, who, over the course of several years, worked to bring James Cameron's vision of Pandora to life."
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office division of Hollywood.com, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying: "The breaking by Avatar of this worldwide record is an amazing achievement by any measure and literally confirms that James Cameron is the box-office 'king of the world.'"
Mr Dergarabedian's reference to Titanic notwithstanding, Avatar is yet to pass the $600.8 million US box office gross of the Leonardo DiCaprio film.
However, with Avatar having topped the US charts for six consecutive weeks, and with its takings expected to be boosted through awards season success, it is expected that the 3D blockbuster will also claim the US all-time top spot.
As with the US and Canada, Avatar has now topped the UK box office charts for six consecutive weeks, with its weekend takings of £5.1 million increasing its overall takings to £57.4 million.
Its nearest challenger in this week's UK charts, Sherlock Holmes, was a distant second with £1.6 million this weekend.