Avatar breaks billion dollar record

Told you.

They said lightning never strikes twice. They said it was destined to be a huge flop. They said Avatar was just 'Dances With Smurfs' and was going to crash, burn and ruin James Cameron. Well guess what?

A million douchebag bloggers are being suspiciously quiet right about now. The reason? Avatar just cruised to a billion dollars at the box-office in just 17 days, making it the fastest ever movie to do so - quicker even than Titanic and The Dark Knight.

As I write, it's the fourth highest grossing movie of all time and number one in America for the third weekend running. What is truly impressive is Avatar's staying power: after a stunning opening weekend take of $75m, it held on to the top spot with a follow-up weekend score of $73m and a third winning weekend of $68m. Maybe if Sherlock Holmes had painted himself blue, he'd have been a contender.

Of course, Avatar's IMAX takings will account for a decent chunk of this chump-change, given that they're around 50% more expensive than your average ticket. But then, The Dark Knight was also released in IMAX and Avatar is currently making Batman look like a gaywad wearing a fruity little cape.