'Avatar' surpasses $1 billion in worldwide revenue

James Cameron's sci-fi movie 'Avatar' continues to dominate the box office, generating more than $1 billion USD in a little over two weeks.

The science-fiction epic is the first blockbuster movie Cameron has made since Titanic which was released 12 years ago. Avatar, the futuristic sci-fic movie released by 20th Century Fox, is still No. 1 at the box office in terms of revenue. For those of you looking for a review, see this article by Digital Journal's David Silverberg. As Silverberg describes:

Avatar takes place in year 2154 and centres on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), an ex-Marine who was wounded and paralysed from the waist down. He's been assigned to the planet Pandora, an Earth-like planet boasting robust rainforests and floating mountains, not to mention a variety of strange and frightening new life forms. Sully must infiltrate the inner circle of the Na'vi, ten-foot-tall blue-skinned aliens whose "home tree" sits on a wealthy deposit of a rare mineral called unobtainium. It sells for millions a kilo back on Earth. The army commander instructs Sully to befriend the Na'vi so the humans can figure out how to displace the natives from their homeland.

Avatar is presented in both regular 2D as well as 3D. According to reports, 75 percent of revenue from film-goers in the U.S. has come from theaters showing Avatar in 3D. Tickets for the 3D version of Avatar typically costing a few dollars more than admission to the 2D version. Cameron's other blockbuster film Titanic garnered 11 Oscars including best picture and director. Avatar is also turning into a critical favorite, with strong Oscar potential. In Avatar, Cameron broke new ground in combining live-action, digitally-enhanced performances, visual effects and 3D presentation to immerse viewers in a futuristic tale of humans and aliens on a distant moon. Cameron is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and inventor. His major works include:The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), and Avatar (2009).

Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley, an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron, an electrical engineer. He grew up in Chippawa, Ontario and attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls. His family moved to Fullerton, California in 1971. Cameron, studied Physics and English at Fullerton College and California State University. He worked as a truck driver after dropping out of school after seeing Star Wars on film. He entered the film industry by making a science fiction script with two friends entitled Xenogenesis. They raised money and invested in camera and equipment to make the script into a 35 mm movie. It was his first experience in movie-making.