Regardless of whether you fell asleep during Avatar or had your eyeballs explode out of their sockets, the film is an event. More so than many releases of this decade, a lot was riding on its opening weekend revenue. Here's more information on just how well James Cameron's opus did: Worldwide, it made $242.5 million, which is the best opening ever for a "nonsequel."

Even though there was that "blizzard" on the east coast, Avatar saw a drop of revenue of only 3 percent when comparing Saturday to Sunday.

In America, 178 Imax theaters earned a record-breaking $9.5 million. This amount "accounted for 13 percent of the film's total opening number, although Imax locations repped just 3 percent of the total screen count."

Avatar opened in 65 major markets around the world - and was top dog at every single one of them.

"With its estimated international total of $165.5 million, Cameron's pic scored the fifth best opening of all time internationally, narrowly beating the $165.4 million opening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Russia was the highest earning country with $20.8 million, second was $20.3 in France, and third was the $14.1 million from the United Kingdom.

It earned Fox it's best openings ever in a few countries: South Korea ($11.4 million), Spain ($10.9 million), and India ($4.7 million).

Variety could not have said it better, however: "Fox needs "Avatar" to have a long and lucrative run: Pic cost $310 million to produce, although tax credits bring that number down to $280 million. Studio likely spent $100 million-$150 million to market the tentpole."

Source: Variety