Why Avatar isn't as successful as you think

Jan 27, 2010, 11:23

Ruth Jackson

Posted byRuth Jackson

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According to various news stories today, Avatar, James Cameron's 3-D film about blue people, is now the highest-grossing film of all time, having taken $1,842,981,692 at box offices worldwide.

In fact, Titanic is still the most popular film of all time. Approximately 59m people have seen Avatar in the US, compared to 138m who sat through the bum-numbingly dull Titanic.

The reason Avatar has overtaken Titanic in box-office revenue is because, being a 3-D film, tickets are sold at a premium. 72% of Avatar's box office revenue comes from the sale of tickets to see the 3-D version of the film. These tickets are around $3 more expensive in America, and around £1.50 more in the UK, than standard cinema tickets.

Even without deducting Avatar's extra 3-D revenue, it isn't the highest-grossing film of all time. If you take the films of the last 100 years and adjust their box-office revenue to take into account inflation, Gone with the Wind is the highest-grossing film of all time. Its US box office gross of $1.485bn compares to Avatar's US gross of $552.8m.

But it is still early days for Avatar…

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  • 1. Bob Roberts

    (27 January 2010, 01:03PM)  Complain about this comment

    Waterworld, which was a box office flop, went on to make shedloads of money in VHS and DVD sales.

    Some say it was because people wanted to see if it was as bad as they had been told, others simply because when you are bored on a Friday night and wish to rent a DVD then eventually you get around to renting out Waterworld.

    In short, a film can be a box-office disaster but can go on to be very lucrative in the DVD rental/sales market.

    Anyhow, accounting in Hollywood has long been a dark art that makes the banking industry look transparent.

  • 2. Alex

    (27 January 2010, 03:17PM)  Complain about this comment

    One consideration with avatar and todays internet savvy kids ( and kidults ) is that if you want to enjoy the full 3D effects of the film you have to pay to go and see it at the cinema ( unless you can afford a 3D TV which have just been launched in the US ).

    This means that avatar has an inbuilt box office edge over non 3D films......which probably means more and more films will be released in this format.

    Oh I thought Waterworld was quite good by the way. A lone American mutant battling to save a flooded planet, I always wonderd where Al Gore got his ideas from.

  • 3. johndouglas

    (28 January 2010, 07:12AM)  Complain about this comment

    I think that Avatar, James Cameron's 3-D film is not be liked by people because there is nothing new as hollywood movies, so many peoples dislike this, but i'll say that it's not too good but not too bad because it's is an animated movie who, likes by childrens.

    I also dislike this movie but In fact, Titanic is still the most popular film of all time, peoples loved TITANIC still because he is full of the emotions and romans.

  • 4. RyanBentham

    (28 January 2010, 12:52PM)  Complain about this comment

    re: Comment 3 (above):

    What?..

  • 5. Alex

    (28 January 2010, 01:40PM)  Complain about this comment

    I've seen Titanic....... must have slept through the bit with the 'Romans'.

  • 6. Billy Boy

    (30 January 2010, 10:27AM)  Complain about this comment

    That'll be "romance" -- use your imagination.

    Avatar is amazing, except for the usual Hollywood numbskull philosophy behind it . I didn't quite catch the symbolism -- would the forest dwelling blue nature guys by any chance represent the peaceable tree-huggers of Saddam Hussein's gang of mass murdering Nazis in the Baath Party?

  • 7. Andy Shaw

    (30 January 2010, 11:46AM)  Complain about this comment

    I think the philosophy is more about human greed and colonialism, particularly the conquest of North America. The plot is almost identical to Pocahontas.

    The scene dialogue 'if someone is sitting on top of something you want, just make them an enemy and attack', that probably was a reference to Iraq......

  • 8. Phil Chave

    (30 January 2010, 12:16PM)  Complain about this comment

    I did enjoy Avatar as 'escapist' entertainment, but apart from the CGI I didn't see anything new.
    I found myself thinking, he knicked that from Aliens, they had those in Matrix, or this is from StarWars, and riding the beasties was classic Skyback riding from Dinotopia. You could say the only original thing was they were blue, but if you've seen Mel's Apocalypto, then you will know that's not true either.
    Sorry, I obviously spend far too much time at the movies!!

  • 9. Jamie

    (30 January 2010, 04:46PM)  Complain about this comment

    My kids are watching Blu-ray 3D movies on our standard HD TV but have to wear the "3D Specs". This sort of adds to the occasion. Shares in Dominos not doing so bad with this stay at home culture, anyone for home delivery popcorn? A company I consult to (Penridge Multi-Media) copy Blu-ray 3D movies so it's not tomorrow's technology. The disks and the popcorn that is.

  • 10. Kieran

    (30 January 2010, 04:59PM)  Complain about this comment

    I think one measure of success which is never used, but would be a useful gauge would be, what % of the population went to see it?

    I know one sad individual who went to see Titanic at the cinema 7 times! .......

  • 11. LERENARD

    (30 January 2010, 05:13PM)  Complain about this comment


    I have long since stopped going to the movies particularly Hollwood movies, because there is nothing worth watching.
    And why is that ? Some truly great films were made in Hollywood but that was before it became totally dominated by business where with very few directors having real artistic control. The same applies to the music industry. Once lawyers and businessmen get involved, you can say goodbye to any artisitc merit.

  • 12. dave

    (31 January 2010, 08:15AM)  Complain about this comment

    Wow, such symbolism, I missed all that. I just thought that Avatar was the new Smurfs movie. I also know someone who saw Titanic three times, he fell asleep half way through the 1300 showing and didn't wake up until 2100. Loved the comment about the Romans ......

  • 13. Bluesbreaker

    (06 February 2010, 04:19PM)  Complain about this comment

    With all this box-office record-breaking activity , and people having to go to the cinema to see 3D, why aren't Cineworld's shares rated higher. Does last years Mamma Mia offer a tough comparative ?

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