James Cameron has officially become the first director to watch two of his films gross over $1 billion worldwide at the box office. Over the weekend, Avatar crossed the billion dollar mark after only 17 days in release. With its $1.02 billion, the film becomes the fourth highest grossing film ever behind movies like Cameron's Titanic (1.8 billion), The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07 billion). Experts say Avatar is poised to pass both Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings before all is said and done, making it so Cameron will earn the top two spots on the list of highest grossing films – a statistic that's pretty darn staggering, don't you think? (Also keep in mind the fact that two of those films eventually went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.)

As such, this has been the most lucrative Christmas season in history (according to Variety), with domestic grosses reaching an estimated $985.4 million in the days between December 18th and January 3rd, which is up 31% from last year. Obviously a lot of that is due to Avatar, though kudos to Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, both of which have grossed $140 million and $157 million respectively so far.
 
What do you think? Were this year's "Christmas" movies (and I say "Christmas" because none of them had anything to do with Christmas) a lot more entertaining than year's past? Which film did you like the most: Avatar, Sherlock Holmes or Alvin and the Chipmunks 2? And do you think Avatar has a chance to beat Titanic? Sound off below…