Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time

Although many outlets declared Avatar the highest grossing movie ever back when it hit #1 in the list of all-time highest worldwide unadjusted grosses, I’ve been holding out for the film to reach first in the US unadjusted gross list, because that’s the list people really get worked up and talk about.

Well, the film has done it. Sometime on the second of February 2010, Avatar surpassed what seemed to be the untouchable Titanic, and reached the epic status of highest grossing movie with over $600 million taken in.

If you find this news disheartening, and refuse to believe giant blue cats hold such a powerful position in American popular consciousness, don’t worry. The truth is, Avatar has cheated to reach this position; it not only has the immense benefit of ticket price inflation, but actually the additional cost of 3D movie tickets as well. The film also has built-in theatre draw because of the 3D, which lessens the tendency of people to pirate it or wait for home release. In other words, not as many people are ultimately seeing it as its $600 million draw might suggest.

If you have a look at the top films in the US according to their number of tickets sold, Avatar only ranks 21st. That’s well below blockbuster classics like Star Wars, which sold over twice as many tickets as Avatar has so far. Cameron’s adventures in glow-land even ranks below the classic, but very un-blockbuster, The Graduate.

Sources: Box Office Mojo, The-Numbers