Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m a pretty big movie fan. That may be an understatement. Movies and Books are the only forms of pass time I’ve never tired from. Ever since I was 5 years old and watched “The Goonies” for the first time, and picked up my first young adult romance novel (I’ve since broadened my literary horizons) I’ve been hooked to these mediums of entertainment.
I love them all. I have no special genre that I prefer or dislike. So don’t take this rant to mean I didn’t appreciate the movie “Avatar”. I really liked it. I’m just annoyed at the constant update on how close it is to win the top spot as the most successful (financially speaking of course) of all time.
Nowadays, it’s easy for a popular movie to make a lot of money when the ticket prices are not only inflated, but only offered in a 3D format, which is 15.50$ a pop Or 17.50$ for IMAX.
Avatar is not available in regular format. The whole selling point of the movie is how ground breaking the 3D animation is. If the same movie had been made with a bunch of tall actors painted blue, we wouldn’t still be hearing about it. It’s a great story, but hardly original as it has stolen from many stories, ranging from “Pocahontas” to “Fern Gully”. As good as the movie was, take away the special effects, and the movie isn’t so special anymore.
Of course Avatar will beat out Titanic to take the top spot. However, if you adjust for inflation (let’s be honest, money and popularity aren’t the same thing) nothing is going to touch “Gone With The Wind”, which has held the top spot for 70 years. Titanic is #6 on the list.
In case you’re interested, here are the top 10 Domestic grossing movies (adjusted for inflation) of all time.
1. GONE WITH THE WIND
2. STAR WARS
3. THE SOUND OF MUSIC
4. E.T.
5. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
6. TITANIC
7. JAWS
8. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
9. THE EXORCIST
10. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Avatar is currently at number 25 on the list.
Sure it’s ground breaking. Sure it’s cool and the message in it is great. But it hardly compares to other movies out there where not only were they visually stunning, but had characters you could relate to and actors who could, you know, act.