Chris Aronson admits he was being bullish when he told his colleagues at 20th Century Fox that “Avatar” would gross $500 million at the domestic box office. This was back in 2009, before Marvel mania and Disney dominance made half-a-million-dollar earners commonplace. Up until that point, only “Titanic” and “The Dark Knight” had surpassed that gargantuan milestone. Eleven more films have since joined the club.
“People thought we were out of our minds,” recalls Aronson, who was responsible for overseeing the film’s theatrical rollout at Fox. “We always marvel at that.”
Of course, “Avatar” went on to smash that benchmark, ending its unprecedented box office run with $760 million in North America. James Cameron’s dazzling sci-fi epic was the first film to cross $2 billion worldwide and spent a decade as the highest-grossing movie of all time ($2.74 billion) until “Avengers: Endgame” defeated its historic run this July.
For all the hype around Cameron’s piece de resistance,...
“People thought we were out of our minds,” recalls Aronson, who was responsible for overseeing the film’s theatrical rollout at Fox. “We always marvel at that.”
Of course, “Avatar” went on to smash that benchmark, ending its unprecedented box office run with $760 million in North America. James Cameron’s dazzling sci-fi epic was the first film to cross $2 billion worldwide and spent a decade as the highest-grossing movie of all time ($2.74 billion) until “Avengers: Endgame” defeated its historic run this July.
For all the hype around Cameron’s piece de resistance,...
- 12/13/2019
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
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