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The elephant in the living room

Kim Hollis: *takes deep breath* This weekend, Avatar became the most successful domestic release of 2009, the second-biggest film of all-time globally, the best fourth weekend performer ever, and the biggest January weekend ever while becoming the first release to record four (!) consecutive $50+ million box office weekends. Do you have anything new to say about Avatar given these latest in what seems like a series of box office achievements?

Josh Spiegel: What else is there to say? James Cameron has directed the two highest-grossing movies of all time. Avatar is probably going to surpass The Dark Knight as the fastest-grossing movie ever in the next week or two. It's got a good shot at being the highest-grossing movie ever. Seriously. Should anyone doubt Cameron ever again? I just hope he doesn't spend the next decade making more documentaries.

Shane Jenkins: I liked Avatar, but didn't love it... until now! Because any movie that knocks Michael Bay and his godawful film to second place for the year is aces with me! Thank you, James.

Matthew Huntley: Avatar's success is all but solidified at this point, and there's really not much else to say about it. Although I don't think the film is perfect, I'm glad it's invigorating the box-office as much as it is.





Jim Van Nest: What this film is doing is amazing. I finally saw it this weekend and it was fantastic. Lived up to the hype, in my opinion. However, I took my family of four to see the rush hour show and tickets were still $43. Normally the rush hour show is like $25. Where are the BOP numbers guys to break down exactly what the 3D price increase means to Avatar? I know for most 3D films, it's negligible. But word-of-mouth on this film is very much, "You have to see it on the big screen and you HAVE to see it in 3D." I'm wondering if anyone can come up with a breakdown on how the 3D sales have affected Avatar.

Reagen Sulewski: I just hope Cameron's rule is benevolent.

I think it might be appropriate at this point to address some of the concerns of its detractors as far as box office goes. The most common thing I'm hearing is that you have to knock off some of the achievement because Avatar's average ticket price is higher. Let me flip that around a little - how much less do you think Transformers would gross if you made people pay 50% more to see it in theatres?

Michael Lynderey: I know Avatar is all everyone seems to be talking about, but to me, it's one of the less interesting entries on this weekend's box office chart. It's already been thoroughly established that this is a massive super-blockbuster that will redefine moviegoing as we know it, and that, as such, it is making a whole lot of money (in what could be seen as one last bout of 2009-style box office grandstanding). There is still an element of mystery as to whether Avatar will give Titanic a good whooping, but that's a plotline not likely to be resolved for a month or so more. So for now, it's just a waiting game.

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