James Cameron will shortly be responsible for the two highest grossing films of all time. After just 17 days Avatar has gathered over $1 billion in gross ticket sales, placing it fourth all time after Titanic ($1.8 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07 billion). At $1.02 billion through Sunday, Avatar will shortly jump from no. 4 to no. 2.

The box office amount is fueled by 3D and IMAX ticket sales, which are more expensive than regular movies. It has brought in $352.1 million domestically and $670.2 million internationally. $66.4 million has come in from IMAX theaters.

We are unabashed fans of the movie – see my review of Avatar here. I’ve now seen it three times in 3D, but haven’t seen it in IMAX yet.