Now it's a matter of time.  Titanic had legs because of the word of mouth and subject matter.  Not sure this will do it. 

does this mean we have to worship hanso now?

This movie may prove to have the same word of mouth-legs as Titanic.  I think the genre may be the only thing standing in the way of it moving into first place.  Titanic had "historical fiction" and "romance" on it's side.  Both genre's carry much more universal appeal.  Even though Titanic's storyline was fictional, the events were not, so I think people got their rocks off watching something that they knew took place even though no one truly saw it happen.  Kind of like slowing down on the freeway to look over an accident.

Titanic gave us a window to watch one of the world's tragic events, and Cameron put his genius on display by not making the movie about the sinking rather is was about muliple human elements.

I think he's done the same thing with Avatar by making a movie about various elements of the human condition wrapped in an amazing shell of special effects, but the genre is Science Fiction, and there are many people who do not enjoy Sci Fi that much or they have to be convinced to go see it.  I don't think 1st place worldwide is out of the question, but I do think it's unlikely. 

Worship The Emperor, James Cameron

Btw, 20 days to climb to the #2 spot. Even if it doesn't break any other records it's already in very exclusive territory. But it still has legs and at least 2 more months in most I-Max so expect a couple of more milestones

Also, let's not forget or overlook, the only non-sequel, not based  on actual material film to ever pull this feat

I feel this will push Titanic but not topple. I feel that the sci fi elements may not play well in "Burma" for example. Where Titanic was a story you didn’t need to speak English to understand. Titanic was number 1 at first then dropped then months latter it was still plugging along. Then it shot back to number 1 again and stayed thru Christmas. Avatar has the ability to do that but in the end its just not as easy a story to wrap your head around.

Wise, that's an excellent reminder about the non-sequel-non-franchise component.  Makes you really wonder what the sequel will pull years from now.

I have always felt number of ticket sales is a far more telling tale.

That being said, Avatar is pretty darn good.  

I think the Titanic will sink to Avatar by the end of this month or the beginning of the next.  Just thinking out loud:)

Jarrod why didn't you name it Number 2 All Time, Number 1 in Your Hearts?  When it gets to first place I want you to name it "Number 1 All Time and Number 1 In Your Hearts".

And now an ode to Avatar

When the night drops it lights up like aurora

You know what i'm talking about, the moon Pandora

the place where blue is the new black

dont mess with the Na'vi cause those cats fight back

with the dynamic duo better than Mulder & Scully

That's right bitches, it's Neytiri and Jake Sully!

Hanso...

um...

maybe stick to articles...

nah, love the prose!