By Our Correspondent:

Mumbai (31st December, 2009): Surpasses Titanic collections of Rs 55 crores in India. Becomes biggest ever film for 20th Century Fox in India. Becomes one of all-time top 3 Hollywood films in India.

James Cameron’s Avatar has not only brought in extraordinary business for cinema houses in India, but has also turned out to be a record breaker for producers Fox Star Studios India!

Released on Dec 18 in English, Hindi, Tamil & Telugu in 3D & 2D, Avatar has grossed an exceptional collection of Rs 56 crores in India in less than 2 weeks, and has thereby broken Titanic’s record as the highest grosser for 20th Century Fox in India!

Titanic, again a James Cameron’s film; released in India in 1997 and with a total collection of Rs 55 crores was till date the biggest film for Fox in India.

It was also one of the all time Top 3 Hollywood films in India along with ‘Spiderman 3’ & ‘2012’.

This record is now broken by ‘Avatar’ as the epic action adventure is recording extraordinary collections in its second week of release across India.

Mr. Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, India commented, “Avatar has broken all major records in India and across the globe and is now the biggest film ever for Twentieth Century Fox in India. Despite being in the second week, the collections are only getting stronger and the number of prints is actually increasing in several parts of the country. We are thankful to the audiences and our partners for their support & enthusiasm towards Avatar.”

While the 3D screens are still running houseful despite the release of 3 Idiots, the collections from the dubbed versions is also increasing steadily from all parts of the country.

AVATAR COLLECTIONS SUMMARY:

India:

ü Recorded earnings of Rs 1 crore through its paid previews across India; the highest for any Hollywood film in India

ü Grossed Rs. 6.7 crores on the opening day itself making it the biggest ever Friday opening for any Hollywood film in India

ü It then became the highest grosser among Hollywood films in India in terms of weekend collections of Rs 22 crores. Not only did Avatar break box office records of Hollywood films like of 2012, Titanic & Spiderman 3, but also ranks #7 amongst the big Bollywood films in India surpassing the opening week collections of top Hindi films like ‘All The Best’, ‘Kaminey’, ‘Delhi 6’ and ‘New York’. The film also beat the openings of recent high profile Hindi films like Rocket Singh & Paa as well.

ü Avatar continued to dominate the Indian Box Office with an opening week collections of Rs 40 crores in India.

ü Recorded a10-day collection of a whopping Rs 50 crores

ü 3D collections amount to 33% of the total figures.

Worldwide:

Total worldwide collection of USD 620 million (Rs 3000 crores) in 10 days with a cumulative drop of just 10% from last week.

Gross collections from major markets in 10 days:

US – $ 213 m (Rs. 1000 Crores)

UK – US$ 30 m (Rs 140 Crores)

Australia - US$ 26M (Rs 122 Crores)