Avatar madness continues

Like a monster, Avatar continues to consume everything in its path. Like Jim Cameron's terminator, it absolutely will not stop until we are all dead!

As Monday was MLK Jr Day in the US, Avatar was able to rake in another $11.6m at the box office, pushing it through the $500m barrier; only The Dark Knight ($533.3m) and Titanic ($600.8m) remain ahead of it. In the UK, its three-day weekend take was £5.5m - higher than its second weekend and only slightly lower than its third weekend, and up 16% on the fourth weeked; it currently stands at £49.3m.

With the Golden Globe wins putting extra wind in its sales (like it needed it!), Avatar could gain further from BAFTA and Oscar noms (and wins) in the next six weeks. Boxofficeguru puts it at $1.62bn worldwide as of 18 January, while Boxofficemojo puts it at $1.64bn as of the same date. Titanic's record of $1.83bn should be obliterated by Sunday night.

Its performance, especially the legs its displaying, is simply unprecedented. If it doesn't beat all Titanic's key records, I'll be very surprised. $2bn must be well within its reach - and higher realms are still possible...