Avatar surpasses 1 Billion dollars, so what

I have never been a believer of measuring the greatness of a movie in terms of gross box office sales. One billion US dollars in gross box office ticket sales in 2009 has an entirely different meaning compared to a decade back. For instance, “Gone with the Wind”, a movie shown in 1939 grossed 390 million dollars. Do you know how much that’s worth in 1939? Titanic, another James Cameroon movie, grossed 1.8 billion USD a decade back when ticket prices cost 4.59 USD.

So, what makes Avatar so great as a movie? It’s definitely not the 1 Billion dollar 17-day gross sales. There are two things that makes Avatar such a great movie in my opinion. The first thing is the technology that has developed thru the years that these days when you watch a movie, you’d find it hard to distinctly separate what is real from what is computer generated. Computer graphics and 3D animation in movie-making has reached a whole new level.

The other thing that makes Avatar different is the fact that today, a lot of us will be watching movies on the big screen in 3D more often. Thanks in part to the efforts of James Cameroon, global adoption of 3D projection in theaters has reached tipping point. These days, most often than not, I’d rather watch movies at the comfort of my own home. 3D has given me another reason to enjoy the big screen once more — well maybe until the day when big screen 3D at home becomes an economic reality.