10. Avatar (2009)
Twelve years after Titanic had smashed box office records on its way to becoming the biggest movie of all time, James Cameron made his return to filmmaking to... do the same all over again. Given that no other movies have even come close to the two-billion dollar mark at the box office, it is all the more impressive when you remember that Cameron has done it twice. During his time away from the silver screen, the director had been perfecting the technology required to bring his epic vision to life. Designing the world of Pandora entirely from the ground up, the photo-realistic performance capture work was filmed on a set known as 'The Volume', six times larger than any other of its kind, using equipment he had helped develop. Ironically, seeing as it was the movie started the recent 3D boom, Avatar's characters are decidedly two dimensional. The formulaic narrative and on-the-nose socio-political message are undoubtedly heavy-handed, but as a visual experience there is nothing quite like it. Seen on the big screen in fully-immersive 3D, audiences across the globe lost themselves in the world of the movie while Cameron showed he had not lost the knack to stage spectacular action set-pieces. I saw it twice in theaters (the second time in 2D), and it was definitely a lot better first time with the glasses on. After a solid yet unspectacular $77m domestic opening, Avatar showed unprecedented staying power by dropping only 1.8% in its sophomore frame, ultimately topping the US box office for 7 weeks on its way to becoming the first (and so far only) movie to gross over $700m at the domestic box office, also becoming the only movie to cross $2bn in overseas receipts. The highest-grossing movie of all time by almost $600m, it seems unlikely that Avatar's incredible box office success will be replicated anytime soon. Funnily enough, the only movie that might stand a chance is Avatar 2...