I bet all those naysayers and doubters about how well Avatar would do at the box office have little to say now. James Cameron's Avatar has surpassed Titanic as the number one all time grossing film worldwide. A fact that differs widely from the opinion of those who said it couldn't beat The Twilight Saga: New Moon...

Yesterday, Monday January 25th, Avatar hit the $1.843 billion mark, finally passing the director's other success story about that sinking ship. No one can doubt James Cameron ever again when it comes to what he can do with any property and Fox Studios has smiles all around. I'm waiting for Cameron to come out and say he's "King of the World" (of Pandora this time?).

While sitting high as the #1 worldwide, Avatar still has a bit to go in terms of domestic gross with a little under $50 million needed at the U.S. box office until it passes Titanic, which sits around the $600 million mark.

Despite this movie being what I would say is one of the biggest word-of-mouth successes for a film for all audiences - especially considering that it's not based on any book, TV show and not a remake, etc - there are some who question the dollar success due to the nature of the film being a 3D event, meaning higher ticket prices for the 3D glasses and the IMAX experience. Although Avatar hit it big and became the "game changer" it was touted to be for the industry's push into the 3D genre, no other 3D film has hit anywhere close to Avatar's success. In fact, no other 3D film has even gotten close to HALF of what Avatar has made, which is very telling.

So far, the film has earned itself a massive fanbase, surprisingly fantastic critical reception and even some major awards including Best Director and Best Drama at the Golden Globes last week. The question going forward, is how well it will do at the Oscars with films like The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds getting some well-deserved attention recently on the award circuit.

There will no doubt be a sequel to Avatar, but the questions of when will it come out, what it will be about, who will be involved and will Cameron again take the reins is still up in the air. I doubt it can make as much as the first Avatar as it won't be new anymore, nor will the technology employed or the world of Pandora. Perhaps that's why there's been hints of exploring other moons or the interior of the lively planet for the planned Avatar trilogy.

As Avatar continues to break records, it will soon break the $2 billion mark, something no one ever dreamed was possible for an original flick based on overly-tall blue aliens in the future.

My only fear is seeing films that shouldn't be in 3D, getting the basic 3D treatment for the sake of allowing for higher ticket prices (I'm looking at you Clash of the Titans). With more and more studios pushing for their movies to be in 3D, the 3D effect and experience is quickly becoming something not special and something of an annoyance for the gimmicks employed in a lot of these movies and especially the higher ticket costs which I believe will start deterring some moviegoers.

What do you expect of Avatar 2 in terms of story and box office success? And how do you feel about so many movies talking about 3D?