While it may still be chasing his sinking ship in worldwide grosses and sitting at number 7 in the US all-time top 10, James Cameron’s Avatar has officially passed his own Titanic to become the highest grossing film ever at the Australian box office.
In just four weeks of release the sci-fi epic has taken $63 million in Australia, sailing past Titanic‘s overall total of $57 million to become the biggest movie of all-time Down Under. Avatar leads Titanic, Shrek 2 ($50 million), The Return of the King ($49 million) and Crocodile Dundee ($47 million) in non-inflation adjusted earnings.
Can it repeat the feat elsewhere? With only minimal drop-off and a sustained box-office momentum through the New Year it’s not unfeasible. Avatar is currently trailing Titanic in worldwide grosses ($1.3 billion to $1.8 billion) and has racked up just over $429 million domestically in the US to Titanic‘s $600 million; while it should comfortably pass The Phantom Menace, E.T. , Shrek 2 and Star Wars within a couple of weeks. If it manages to surpass The Dark Knight ($533 million US), things could get interesting indeed.
