Avatar passes $1bn at the box office

Avatar has become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time, as it passed a $1bn worldwide gross over the New Year period.

The film, directed by James Cameron and largely hyped because of its technical achievements in 3D, has now become the fastest-ever release to garner the enormous box office take, which puts it behind Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Return Of The King, and Titanic, which tops the list and was also directed by Cameron.

“This is like a freight train out of control,” said Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston to the BBC. “It just keeps on going.” The film has also scored consistently well with most critics, achieving 84% on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Part of the reason for the film’s huge take, however, has been the increased price of tickets due to the three-dimensional nature of the feature, which has meant that many cinemas have had to outfit screens in order to show it. Despite this, the popular hype and the lack of competitive high-profile releases over Christmas, with the exception perhaps of Sherlock Holmes, has meant that the film had a clear run at the audience share.

You can read SciFiNow’s review of Avatar here.