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That Peter Jackson Oscar-winning epic was the second film in history to cross $1 billion worldwide. and Fox's Titanic or even The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. And even though Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith were arguably better (or at least more crowd-pleasing) films than the first prequel, they too didn't come anywhere near Paramount/Viacom Inc. That was good for third place in America (behind Titanic and the original Star Wars with $460m including the $137m-grossing 1997 Special Edition release) and second place behind Titanic worldwide, but not good enough to come anywhere near James Cameron's Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet masterpiece. But it didn't break any long term records. The 20th Century Fox film was a massive hit, earning $105 million in its Wednesday to Sunday debut and eventually making $431m domestic and $916m worldwide in 2D in 1999. Most importantly, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace couldn't do it. Remember that one? Trailers that made fans go nuts, a mostly uncontested early summer release, and pundits explaining on high that the hype was big, and the advanced ticket sales were so strong that you absolutely had no shot in hell of getting a decent seat over opening weekend. Shrek 2 couldn't do it, Spider-Man couldn't do it, The Dark Knight couldn't do it, and The Avengers couldn't do it. Over the last 16 years, we've seen huge movie after huge movie rack up massive business while still not quite approaching the $1.8 billion mark set by Titanic back in 1997, let alone the combined $2.2b earned by Titanic as of today or the $2.7b made by Avatar in 2009. Well, “pessimistic” in the sense that it might only be one of the biggest movies ever as opposed to the uncontested champion here and abroad.
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While I am starting to be convinced that we're about to see a new opening weekend record, I remain pessimistic about the long term "biggest movie ever" predictions.