Avatar.

[Alex]

Since that's the Box Office Mojo list (here it is in current form, Wikipedia's appears to not have been updated in a bit) it includes re-releases (which is a lot for popular movies made before the '70s. For example the numbers for Star Wars includes the initial 1977 release, a re-release in 1982, and the Special Edition release in 1997).

While inflation adjusted lists are good at keeping a general sense of relative financial success of movies across time, they aren't nearly so precise as the numbers tend to imply. Especially since they rest on the faulty (and those who do it admit it's faulty) assumption that dividing gross by average ticket price gives a reasonably accurate total number of tickets sold. As an example, in 2008 both Horton Hears a Who! and Gran Torino had similar domestic grosses. But Horton Hears a Who! probably sold at least 20% more (and possibly quite a bit more than that) because a huge percentage of its tickets were cheaper kids tickets and it played a lot better in suburban and rural areas where tickets are cheaper. But they'll forever be viewed as equally popular.

And then there are the intangibles such as what success means in 1939 for Gone with the Wind when people knew that once it left their local theater town they might possibly never get another chance to see it again vs. now where everybody knows that they can watch the movie on their couch in six months and if they really wanted to pirate it a week early. Or that in 2009 there'll be four times as many movies released as in 1939.

But yeah, relative to society as a whole Avatar will be nowhere near the all time top, but it will be in the top 25 which isn't all that bad.

[Jazzman]

Looks like some people are buying into the Greenpeace message a bit too much.

[flippyshark]

Wow, people are depressed because the film's idyllic world is not real or attainable. Personally, I'm relieved, as the Na'vi society seems to spend an awful lot of time sitting cross-legged and swaying back and forth in front of a tree, arms flailing about in the air. Not my idea of paradise. (And the whole hive mind thing just creeps me out, no matter how pretty a world you put it in.)

I do know at least one person who experiences similar disappointment that she cannot ever be at Hogwart's.

[RStar]

And some people are contemplating suicide so they can leave this world to go to that one. And they are considering building an Avatar commune also. WTF? Are people that out of it? No wonder the government covers up all the UFO landings, the were right- the public can't handle it!

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by RStar

And some people are contemplating suicide so they can leave this world to go to that one. And they are considering building an Avatar commune also. WTF? Are people that out of it? No wonder the government covers up all the UFO landings, the were right- the public can't handle it!

Meh. There are always outliers in any set. Sex, Drugs, Booze, D&D, Elections, TV Shows, Pop Stars, Religions, Sports franchises, Video Games, Relationships, take your pick.

Pretty much anything that gets some national attention will get at least a few extremist. Then the press steps in and further mucks things up. Hell if CNN ran across this site the headline might read "Disney Nerds plan hedonist commune for bacon worship"

For the few individuals truly in trouble, I say take the focus off the movie and look for the true underlying cause of their distress.

[Capt Jack]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

"Disney Nerds plan hedonist commune for bacon worship"

Film @ 11

visible Moonie mojo

[alphabassettgrrl]

Yeah, the movie is just a symptom, not the actual cause.

While I understand the desire to withdraw, to live what seems like a simpler life, real life is never as smooth as the fantasy is. Fantasy is perfect because it's a fantasy. It can be.

A bacon commune? Awesome! Where do I sign up?

[Jazzman]

I guess one of the things that I find most laughable, or perhaps maddening, about that whole thing is that their depression is based on the belief that Earth sucks and can never be the utopia in the film. Well, yeah, Earth will never have glowing neon trees, disco ferns or six foot Smurfs, but come on, the Earth is not bad at all. It's pretty kick ass, in fact. Visit Yosemite, or Yellowstone, or the Caribbean, or Hawai'i, or the Maldives, or the Alps, or any number of Earth's beautiful wonders. You'll see that this planet still has it going on, so pull your mopey asses together and get out of the house!

[Gemini Cricket]

I don't want to live on Pandora. I'd hate to live somewhere where I could be eaten at any moment by huge monsters. F*ck that.

Then again, I said a couple of times in passing that I'd love to live at Disneyland. So, I guess that's just as cuckoo as those people wanting to live in Avatarland.

I wouldn't want to live in Harry Potter's world either. I'd lose my temper and then Aveda Kedavra every dinglecheese that cut me off in traffic. Heck, I might even say it in my sleep and then what, how could I manage to keep a long term relationship with anyone then?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Paula Poundstone, in response to a joke that included the word "ablutions":

"I thought ablutions were the people in Avatar."