'Avatar' Officially Overtakes
'Titanic' For Global Box
Office Record With $1.85
Billion
It's
official - "Avatar" is the new king of the world... or at
least, the worldwide box office.
On Monday, the James Cameron-directed film passed
Cameron's own "Titanic" as the highest grossing film of
all-time, taking in $1.859 billion globally - after only 37
days in theaters.
"Titanic," released in 1997, held the previous record
with $1.843 billion.
"We are deeply gratified that so many millions of people
around the globe have embraced 'Avatar,'" Twentieth Century
Fox - the studio behind the project -- said in a statement
on Tuesday. "Its success results from the efforts of
literally thousands of people, who, over the course of
several years, worked to bring
James Cameron's vision of Pandora to life. The themes of
protecting the environment, respecting life, and yearning
for a peaceful planet have united moviegoers worldwide.
We're very proud of, and grateful to,
James Cameron, his amazing and dedicated team, and all
the many people at Fox, who worked so long and so hard to
achieve this milestone."
"Avatar," which won the Golden Globe for Best Picture,
Drama earlier this month, has been number one at the box
office for six straight weeks since its release on December
18, 2009.
It also received a Best Picture nomination at the Screen
Actors Guild Awards and is expected to do the same when
Oscar nominations are annouced on February 2.
Fans of the film have flocked to theaters since
"Avatar's" release, especially the 3-D showings, which have
brought in $1.35 billion of the film's total gross.
"I never thought I would live to see the day when 'Titanic's'
record would fall, but not even 12 years later, here we are
talking about it - and thanks to
James Cameron, again," Access Hollywood's Scott
"Movie" Mantz said.
However, Mantz did offer one caveat for "Avatar's"
stunning success.
"To be fair, you've got to look at the ticket prices -
these prices are so much more than they were for 'Titanic,'
especially for the 3-D movies - and especially for a 3d
movie in IMAX," he added. "And it's not like 'Up In The Air'
or 'Spider-Man 3' made this much with a regular ticket pirce,
so when all the dust settles, it's only fair to have that in
the back of your mind."
And as for where "Avatar" will end up when its box office
run comes to an end?
"It's going to gross at least $2.2 billion by the time
it's over," Mantz predicted.
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“NuNote Lounge Fest 2009” In Moscow
with Tony Allen
APA-Moscow (Russia) – Tony Allen, one of
Paris-based Africa’s jazz players, is among several foreign
and local musicians participating in a thrilling musical
festivals dubbed “NuNote Lounge Fest 2009” in central Moscow
over this weekend, the organisers told APA on Saturday.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1940, of mixed
Nigerian and Ghanaian parentage, Tony Allen taught himself to
play by listening to records made by the American jazz
drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He began working as a
professional musician in 1960, gigging around Lagos and
variously playing highlife and jazz.
Currently living in Paris, Allen has long
been acknowledged as Africa’s finest kit drummer and one of
it’s most influential musicians, the man who with Fela
Anikulapo Kuti created Afrobeat - the hard driving, James
Brown funk-infused, and politically engaged style which became
a dominant force in African music and whose influence
continues to spread today.
“Music is my mission,” says Allen. “I
never get satisfied and I’m still learning from others. The
musical world is very spiritual, and I don’t think there’s an
end to it. As musicians, it’s our mission to keep going.”
Throughout the 1990s, Allen was a sought
after session drummer and he collaborated with a range of
artists including Randy Weston, Groove Armada, Air, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Manu Dibango and Grace Jones. ‘Black Voices’ was
released in 1999, followed by ‘Home Cooking’, ‘Tony Allen
Live’, ‘Lagos No Shaking’ and now, in 2009, the definitively
tough and rocking ‘Secret Agent’.
“NuNote Lounge Fest 2009” is a summer
open-air jazz festival that takes place in Moscow for the
fourth time. “NuNote Lounge Fest” appeals to
musically-challenged experienced audience sharing a taste for
improvisation, musical pretentiousness, originality and
original playing techniques. NuNote music is bright,
passionate, fresh and lyrical. “Nu” means keen, naked
emotional - very private, very special. KKK/…/APA
