While inflation, the price of 3-d tickets are not factored into the equation, Avatar has surpassed Titanic as the top grossing film of all time.

Now before you get on a soapbox to praise or condemn the movie  (nobody cares) realize that highest grossing doesn’t mean “best” nor does it mean that the general movie going is wholly  comprised of mouth breathing neanderthals who are dazzled by any shiny object placed before them. (Though the latter point is debatable) It just means it made more money than Titanic.

One thing I do hope Hollywood learns from this is that action/adventure movies do indeed benefit from story as much as they do from spectacle.  While Cameron’s vision of Pandora and it’s inhabitants was beautifully rendered, I think you’d be a fool to call them “original” as if that word has any meaning in artistic venues anymore, even less original was the story itself but the fact that he clearly paid equal attention to the visuals and the story on a technical level is why the movie went over as well as it did in my opinion.  See Jurassic Park 2 in IMAX 3-D and it will suck in IMAX 3-D.

News like this encourages me in a world where you can watch a movie nearly anytime or anyplace, proper movie theaters are doing quite well and I hope they continue to do so.

For more info, check out BBC News.