Avatar has made more than the GDP of Greenland

Star Wars is down. The Dark Knight is toast. All that now stands between Avatar and the crown of all-time box office champ is Cameron's own Titanic. It will probably pass her sometime this week. As of this weekend, Avatar's domestic gross totaled $552,797,418 —catching up fast on Titanic's 600.8 million domestic record — while its global haul stands at $1.841 billion world-wide, just inches behind Titanic’s $1.842 billion.

1. Titanic — $1,842m
2. Avatar — $1,836m
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King — $1,119m
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest — $1,066m
5. The Dark Knight — $1,001m

That's unadjusted for inflation, of course. That's a big asterisk. It's a different picture if you level the playing field by adjusting for inflation. Then the list looks more like this:—

1. Gone With The Wind — $1,485m
2. Star Wars — $1,309m
3. The Sound of Music — $1,046m
4. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial — $1,042m
5. The Ten Commandments — $962m

With Avatar at number #26 with $559m. That's how it looks if we give the past a fair shake. But these figures (from Box Office Mojo) need their own asterisk: they are a record only of North American revenues. The rest of the world isn't getting its vote counted. Nobody seems to have devised a list that is both adjusted for inflation and which includes global revenues. But approximately, GWTW's box office doubles if you include overseas revenues. Star Wars multiplies by 1.68. There are no records of The Sound of Music's overseas earnings. E.T. multiples by 1.8. No records for The Ten Commandments. Titanic nearly triples its grosses. Avatar's multiply by 3.32. That tells you a lot about the way Hollywood has changed in the last two decades: it's now the world's TV station. The real all-time box office list, adjusted for inflation and including overseas revenues, would probably look more like this:—

1. Gone with the Wind — $2,984m.
2 Titanic — $2,896m
3. Star Wars — $2,199m
4. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial — $1,897m
5. Avatar — $1,857m

Either way, Cameron's film has, as of this weekend, made more than the gross domestic product of Greenland.