New York—Global box office hit Avatar continues to reign as the number one film in the United States after bringing in an estimated $73 million this past weekend.
Speculation surrounding the outcome of Avatar’s release has been suspect based upon the film’s record breaking budget and that Academy Award winning director James Cameron had peaked with his 1997 hit Titanic.
Avatar may not have reset the industry standard but it has managed to be the king of the hill since it‘s release.
Moviegoers across the U.S. spent over $278 million this holiday weekend, which broke the previous record of $260.8 million from July 2008 as, reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Avatar came out on top, however, while Sherlock Holmes, staring Robert Downey Jr., made a solid contribution with $65.4 million giving it the number two spot in sales.
Cameron began the creation of Avatar in 1994 and could have put the movie in theaters by 1999 but he felt that the technology at that time was not adequate.
Due to the entire visual presentation being done with computer graphics Cameron felt that the technology need to progress before he could capture the idea adequately.
The delay in the film’s production added to the industry talk about it’s potential demise with the likes of another big budget box office bomb, Waterworld.
The name “Avatar” is taken from Hinduism and in Sanskrit Avatara refers to a being that has descended from Heaven to Earth.
The film set on a distant planet in the year 2154 stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and Zoe Saldana.
Avatar is being shown in 2D and 3D IMAX versions. The total cost for the film was $237 million.
