This is something I’ve wanted to weigh in on for a long time. This year’s Oscar nominees were announced today, and to no one’s surprise, Avatar was nominated in 9 categories including Best Picture. Now I’m not here to project my opinion on whether or not Avatar is the best picture of the year (it’s not), but rather to draw attention to the misinformation surrounding it’s record-smashing run at the Box Office. Avatar is set to topple James Cameron’s own Titanic as all-time leader in domestic earnings within the week. The numbers, however, are a little skewed. It’s difficult to compare apples to apples in this scenario, as the following 4 films have all been released in different eras under completely different circumstances. The process of promoting a film has undergone dramatic changes with the progression of mass-media campaigns and a smaller global community over the past 70 years. The competition has increased dramatically as well, with the saturation of movies at an all-time high. So for the time being, let’s shed a little light on these films and understand the numbers for what they are.
