He’s done it again. The true cinematic “king of the world” has made another movie that has earned over $1 billion worldwide at the box office, only the fifth movie in history to ever do so. Early reports are indicating (via Variety) that James Cameron’s Avatar will pass $352.1 million domestically this weekend pushing it just over the $1 billion mark worldwide in only 17 days. I don’t think Titanic was even this successful, this fast, which makes me wonder. It only needs $800 million more worldwide to pass Titanic, could it happen? It took The Dark Knight 33 weeks (and a re-release) to pass the $1 billion mark in 2008. This is incredible!

Even at a local theater in Colorado (where I was for my holiday break), Avatar had sold out in IMAX some 58 consecutive times. And it will probably only start to die down tomorrow, once people start going back to work after the holidays. For reference, the only other movies in cinematic history to pass $1 billion are (in order from smallest to largest via Box Office Mojo) The Dark Knight ($1.001B), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07B), Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ($1.1B), and Titanic ($1.8B). Avatar continues to break all kinds of other records, too, like “the best gross ever for a film in its third weekend.”

I don’t want to dig up any dirt or start any fights, but I can’t help thinking of all those people who thought Avatar was going to bomb just a few weeks ago. In fact, I think there’s very few people who actually thought it was going to be this successful. Even I will admit that I was concerned about how well it would do and I thought there was no way it would pass $1 billion, but it did, and much quicker than I ever imagined. I guess we all need to have more faith in James Cameron next time? Despite all the skepticism before Avatar hit theaters, James Cameron has proven once again that he is truly one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time!

Yes its Scarlet day…and why not. Good on the eyes, good on the soul!

Here’s a brand spanking new promotional photo of Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow from the upcoming Iron Man 2, and as you can tell by the shwingtastic superhero poses and skin-tight leather costume, this movie is going to rock. Not only will Iron Man 2 most likely be the best (i.e. most entertaining) movie of 2010, but we’ll also be seeing the sexy Scarlett Johansson, which is a rarity these days. Iron Man 2 hits theaters May 7th, 2010.

NEW YORK – A home movie showing a relaxed Marilyn Monroe apparently smoking marijuana has surfaced, retrieved from an attic some 50 years after it was filmed.

The reel-to-reel silent, color film taken at a private home in New Jersey was recently purchased by collector Keya Morgan for $275,000 from the person who took the film, who has asked to remain anonymous.

Morgan and the person who shot the film gave Reuters permission to use it in digital form. The copyright of the image will be put up for sale on eBay later this week, Morgan said.

I say good riddance. Although she did a fantastic job and tackled some great topics, I felt that at the end of her career she held too much sway with her audience and started promoting too many books, videos etc that if it wasn’t for her wouldnt have succeeded as much as they did.
-Ed

A helpful reader directed us to a rather interesting listing, Donald Trump’s personal jet. Trump’s flashy Boeing 727-100 has shown up on the Controller website. Lest you have any doubt that it is his, the plane has the Trump T on the tail and a 30-foot Trump logo on the side done in gold leaf. A plane like this usually has 134 seats but this plane was reconfigured to hold just 24 passengers in the lap of luxury.

The 1968 vintage plane was originally operated by American Airlines according to Aviation.com. It has been refurbished with soft beige leather armchairs around a conference table. A separate dining area has seating for five around a wood table and additional seating on an adjacent upholstered sofa. A master bedroom offers a posh place for mid-flight nap.

The listing says it has new paint and is current with all avionics. It has logged a total of 41,833 hours with 29,664 total landings. Why is Trump selling? Is a new, even more lavish plane in the works, or is Trump, like the rest of us, feeling the pinch of a struggling economy?

London – Tycoon Alan Sugar, famous for his putdown “you’re fired” on hit TV show The Apprentice, said he was considering firing himself from his government job after a backlash at comments he made about struggling small businesses.

Blunt-speaking Sugar was recruited by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in June to take on a business advisory role, specialising in small and medium-sized companies – a sector particularly badly hit by the worst economic downturn in decades.

But he provoked controversy last week by dismissing businessmen who complain they cannot get loans to keep their companies afloat as “moaners” he would not lend money to.

“Too much negative stuff is really unhelpful,” Sugar told the Sunday Times newspaper, admitting that following the row he had second thoughts about his appointment as “enterprise czar”.

“I may decide that this is simply not worth it, when you are giving your time free of charge for no agenda.”

Sugar, 62, became a household name chairing a British version of the US show The Apprentice which brought Donald Trump into the homes of millions of Americans.

The UK series puts candidates through 12 weeks of business-related tasks in order to win a job with Sugar. Sugar left school at 16 and sold car aerials before going on to create a business empire which made him one of the country’s 100 wealthiest men.

Despite his doubts over continuing with the government job, he said he was still the best man for the role.

“The small to medium-sized businesses need people like me,” he said. “I am the man.”

- Reuters