"Avatar" Breaks Opening Weekend Record

12/20/2009 Posted by Admin

By our guest blogger, Jonathan Wu

James Cameron can now sit back and relax a bit with the knowledge that all his hard work spanning over more than a decade on his sci-fi-tech-epic, "Avatar," has paid off--at least in its opening weekend. According to Bloomberg, "Avatar" led the box office grossing $73 million in tickets in the United States and Canada, which broke the record for a 3-D opening previously held by Disney's "Up."

"Avatar," which is Cameron's first film since his 1997 blockbuster, "Titanic," had a $270 million budget. If Cameron plans on staying on the good side of film execs, his film can't lose steam quite yet as a $73 million opening weekend may sound impressive, but doesn't equal a profit. But with such strong interest from the public and favorable reviews from critics, "Avatar" should be on the easy road to making film execs happy--and to let Cameron put another successful film on his resume.

"Avatar" is a 3-D film about an epic conflict in the world of Pandora between humans and Pandora's inhabitants, the Na'vi people. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang.

Cameron expressed in an interview that he hoped the film will convince studios and theater owners that 3-D movies will help improve attendance.

“It seems like with DVD sales down there’s a renewed emphasis on the actual cinematic experience,” Cameron said. “‘Avatar’ was absolutely intended to be that kind of movie and maybe demonstrate how 3-D can be an enabler of that.”

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2 comments:

  1. Edward29 said...

    Great movie!
    I saw it in IMAX 3D and was amazing.
    Going to see it again Christmas weekend.
    Glad it did well.
    Hope it will inspire studios,and other film makers to make more films of this quality.
    Maybe more people will actually go out to the theaters again instead of waiting for the DVD\BLURAY or worst pirate.

  2. Admin said...

    Never seen anything quite like it...

    Chris