The Mo and The Ro

Yes. Although unbelievable, Avatar has crossed the threshold that no-one thought possible.

Over $700- million domestically and over $2.5 billion worldwide………….

Thoughts?

Movie goers are experiencing feelings of depression and in some cases even suicidal tendencies after seeing Avatar.

Fans are upset at not being able to visit Pandora, the make believe planet that is nirvana for the Na’vi, the blue native humanoids that habitat Pandora.

Forums on the internet have been swamped with posts by fans not being able to cope after seeing the movie and experiencing feelings of depression that they can’t visit the magical world of Pandora.

Avatar fan site, ‘Avatar Forums’ contains a thread titled ‘Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible’, which in itself contains nearly 1,000 posts.

Forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian said: ‘I wasn’t depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy.

‘But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don’t have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed.’

OK. We know that this is just a film right?…………..LOL

Final figures released Monday show Avatar actually broke $50 million over the weekend. The movie’s overall domestic take stands at $430.8 million., and counting.

So where is this going to end?

No one really knows…….what we do know is that  there is now a REAL chance it may top Titanic as the #1 film of all time………….

It took director James Cameron’s Titanic 44 days to reach the $300 million mark. Twelve years later, Cameron’s Avatar has reached that same milestone nearly three times faster, in just its 15th day of release.

The 3-D epic grossed an estimated $25 million on New Years Day, pushing the film’s domestic total to $308.8 million. If that pace holds, expect the film to shatter Spider-Man’s $45 million record for the biggest ever third weekend in theaters.

It’s international total is standing around the $480 million area so after this weekend it should be pushing $900- million globally. Which should put it on track to become only the 5th film in history to cross the $1 billion line!

Performing far better than expected on Sunday, 20th Century Fox and James Cameron’s “Avatar” finished the weekend with an opening gross of $77 million, instead of $73 million.

“Avatar” dropped a mere 3% from Saturday to Sunday, an unheard of feat, and a sign that the 3D sci-fi fantasy is already benefiting from tremendous word-of-mouth. The film also did better than initially projected overseas, grossing $165.5 million in its foreign debut, versus the $159.2 projected on Sunday. Worldwide total is $242.5 million.

“Avatar” scored the fifth best opening of all time internationally, narrowly beating the $165.4 opening of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

Domestically, “Avatar” came in just behind Warner Bros.’ Will Smith starrer “I Am Legend,” the record-holder of best December opening at $77.2 million.

“Avatar,” the widest 3D release to date, opened in 3,452 theaters, of which 2,023 were 3D runs.

Twentieth Century Fox’s “Avatar” grossed $3.5 million in midnight runs from approximately 2,000 locations in a strong start for James Cameron’s sweeping 3D sci-fi fantasy.

Friday matinees are also selling out.

Many of the midnight runs were in 3D locations.

“Avatar” has a strong shot at securing the best December bow of all time. Current record holder is Will Smith starrer “I Am Legend,” which posted an opening weekend gross of $77.2 million. That film grossed roughly $30.6 million on its first Friday, including $1.7 million in midnight grosses from roughly 1,100 theaters.

Last night, James Cameron premiered his new film Avatar in London and the good news is apparently we are all in for a treat!

The crowd was cheering and clapping when the film ended (in the good way!), and apparently the most used word was the film left me “breathless”! Though Avatar doesn’t premiere until next week, early reviews have been leaking out, and some indicate that the word “breathless” might not be so overblown after all!

Variety’s  Todd McCarthy writes that it’s “…a film of universal appeal that just about everyone who ever goes to the movies will need to see.”

The Hollywood Reporter writes, “…movie magic is back!”

Empire magazine calls it “…a hugely rewarding experience: rich, soulful and exciting in the way that only comes from seeing a master artist at work.”

The Times UK calls it “…an overwhelming, immersive spectacle.”

And Screen International writes “It’s an unprecedented marriage of technology and storytelling which is on the whole remarkably successful.”

On the negative side though, the Guardian calls the movie “…baggy, longwinded and, for all the light-speed imagery, just not quick on its feet.”

If you’re like me, you’re still coming to terms with all this “James Cameron’s” this and that. Yes it his, but come on now. You also made Titanic and we still have to have words over that one buddy.

In a smart move on his part however, it seems he realized the importance of the video game spin off and wanted one that in his words “didn’t suck”, so while development of the film was taking place, the game itself was being worked on by video game developing Ubisoft out of their Montreal office.

Head on over to the official launch site for the game here, to see if you’d like to pre-order this baby. It is set to come out just before the movie release, so this will allow a good look at what we’re about to see on the big screen in regards to visuals. Word is however that this is not a retelling of the story, but that it is an offshoot of the film’s storyline.

The game will be on all major platforms – bonus with having it built concurrent with the film itself, plenty of time for mass market saturation. Turns out this James Cameron is on to something and putting his name all over this one might not be a bad idea.