Avatar fastest to crack $1 billion

CRAIG SIMCOX/ The Dominion Post

QUITE A SPECTACLE: From right, Timothy Gray, Simon Gray and Reece Haines and a full theatre watch Avatar at Reading Cinemas in Wellington.

Relevant offers

Film

Lawrence is 'super talented actress' The Artist triumphs at Baftas Plug pulled on Paradise Lost Uggie takes top honour Bret McKenzie in Oscar buzz Naomi Watts to play Princess Diana Entertainment Quiz 10/2 Arnie teams up with Sly for movie Connolly to play Hobbit great dwarf DVD review: Jane Eyre

Giant blue aliens and out-of-this-world landscapes created in Wellington have helped make Avatar the fastest film to take US$1 billion in global ticket sales.

The 17-day record also makes James Cameron's 3D blockbuster the fourth-biggest earner in film history.

An earlier Cameron movie, Titanic, tops the list of big earners, but another Wellington film is in second spot, though it could yet be toppled by Avatar. Sir Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, took US$1.12b (NZ$1.55b) at the box office.

Up to 850 people at Wellington's Weta Digital studios worked on Avatar's visual effects for four years, while Sir Peter's Miramar studios were used for much of the film.

Wellington movie-goers have, like those around the rest of the world, been flocking to cinemas to don their 3D glasses and watch the action unfold.

Wellington couple Gina Van Berlo, 23, and Jesse Thwaites, 24, saw the film for the second time yesterday and said that, after a few scenes, they had forgotten they were wearing the glasses.

For Miss Van Berlo, the special effects made a second visit essential. "We do go to the movies quite often, but not normally twice for the same film."

Mr Thwaites said watching the film on the big screen was an awesome experience, which he doubted could be replicated on a television.

Reading Courtenay cinema supervisor Gabrielle Podvoiska said that, since Avatar opened, tickets for the show had been selling out days in advance. "There are more people out there that want to see it than there are sessions on."

People who had been unable to get tickets for a screening of their choice in 3D had watched the film in 2D and then returned to watch it in 3D, she said.

"People are coming back. They're not just watching it once."

Fox Distribution executive Bert Livingston said the film was attracting people who did not normally go to the movies, as well as those who were seeing it multiple times.

"It's like a runaway freight train. It just keeps doing business."

- © Fairfax NZ News