AVTAR-FASTEST BILLION

'Avatar' makes fastest billion

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood blockbuster 'Avatar' has surged to a box office haul of more than $1 billion globally, faster than any other movie in history, an industry tracker reported.

“It has made $670 million internationally, for a total of more than $1 billion,” box office analyst Chad Hartigan of Exhibitor Relations said.

Since the Fox-distributed film — the most expensive ever made at up to $500 million — debuted 17 days ago, it has earned $352 million domestically as of Sunday, according to weekend estimates, assuring its reputation as one of the most impressive box office performers of all time.

‘Avatar’ has also already moved past the $1 billion worldwide revenue of ‘The Dark Knight’ to become the fourth-highest grossing film of all-time, and it has just $101 million to go to pass both ‘Return of the King’ and ‘Dead Man’s Chest.’ The only release that ‘Avatar’ is unlikely to cross is ‘Titanic,’ which earned a gaudy $1.8 billion back in 1997-98.

The film tells the story of a paralysed war veteran Jake, who is sent on a mission to the planet Pandora, where he falls in love with a blue humanoid named Neytiri of the alien Na’vi race.

Last weekend, earning $75.6 million from Friday to Sunday, the 3-D science fiction epic helped boost the North American box office to the highest-grossing weekend in movie history.

The Christmas holiday weekend saw movie-goers flock to theaters in droves, sending earnings soaring to nearly $270 million.

The figure smashed the previous best weekend mark of $260.3 million set in July 2008, when Batman blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight’ opened to huge audiences in Canada and the US.

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