UPDATE: It's official. On Wednesday, January 6, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" officially passed "Avatar" at the box office to become the top-grossing movie in North America. Ever. As Variety reported, "...the seventh film in the space opera saga surpassed 'Avatar's' $760.5 million lifetime gross in just 20 days of release." Congratulations! Now on to the global title...

Original post (1/4/16):

Spare a thought for James Cameron this week. He's probably giving in to The Dark Side right about now, plotting revenge against director J.J. Abrams.

Abrams's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has already played the role of iceberg to Cameron's "Titanic" as the second highest-grossing movie in domestic box office history (that's what Jack gets for letting go), and Variety estimates that Episode VII will dethrone the real king of the world, "Avatar," within a week.

As Variety put it:

"Avatar" earned $760.5 million during its stateside run, and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has generated $740.4 million domestically after picking up $88.3 million over New Year's weekend. It should take the crown from "Avatar" early next week.

That's just the domestic haul, though. Worldwide, "The Force Awakens" is currently still No. 6 in history, but it's quickly on its way to passing "Furious 7" and "Marvel's The Avengers," and there's expectation that it may pass "Avatar" at the global box office, especially if China gets behind it.
It's OK, man. You had a good run.

Collider recently offered some domestic and global box office comparisons, so we know the milestones ahead:

Rank Title Domestic Gross
1. Avatar $760,507.625
2. Titanic $658,672,302
3. Jurassic World $652,270,625
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $651,965,583* (this was as of 3 days ago; it's now 2nd & closing in on 1st)
5. Marvel's The Avengers $623,357,910
6. The Dark Knight $534,858,444
7. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace $474,544,677
8. Star Wars $460,998,007
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron $459,005,868
10. The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099

Rank Title Worldwide Gross (in Millions)
1. Avatar $2,788.0
2. Titanic $2,186.8
3. Jurassic World $1,669.0
4. Marvel's The Avengers $1,519.6
5. Furious 7 $1,515.0
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron $1,405.0
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 $1,341.5
8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $1,331.2* (this was as of 3 days ago; it's currently 6th & climbing)
9. Frozen $1,276.5
10. Iron Man 3 $1,215.4

Will you be glad to see "The Force Awakens" dethrone "Avatar"?

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