The sci-fi epic “Avatar” has rolled right over that other James Cameron mega-hit, “Titanic” to become the highest grossing movie of all time. ”Titanic” held that record with $1.843 billion. No more. That record has been shattered by the alien adventure film. After 45 days, the worldwide gross for ”Avatar” stands at an incredible $2.039 billion, according to Box Office Mojo. 

 Amazingly, “Avatar” is still going strong in theaters. This weekend, “Avatar” nabbed around $30 million at the domestic Box Office, holding onto the number one spot for the seventh straight week. Mel Gibson’s new drama, “Edge of Darkness,” grabbed second place with an estimated $17 million. After an eight year hiatus from acting which included some, uh, personal drama, Gibson stars on the big screen as a homicide detective who uncovers secrets while searching for the killer of his activist daughter.

A new romantic comedy, “When In Rome” came in third with about $12 million.  Kristen Bell stars in this light-hearted story of a single art curator who scoops up some coins from a “love fountain” in Italy and soon finds herself pursued by the aggressive suitors who tossed in those coins. Josh Duhamel stars as well.

The family comedy, “Tooth Fairy” scored $9.5 million in its second week to land in fourth. Rounding out the top five, “The Book of Eli” with $8 million, bringing the three week domestic total for that action sci-fi drama to $74.3 million.   

Photo from http://www.dga.org

Director James Cameron is king of the Box Office right now, but the Directors Guild of America picked filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow as the best feature film director of 2009. The winner was announced last night at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards dinner in Los Angeles.   

The 58-year-old Bigelow won for the highly acclaimed Iraq-war drama, “The Hurt Locker.” She is the first woman to ever win the prestigious award, considered a reliable predictor of who will walk away with the best director Oscar. Bigelow is quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying: “This is amazing. I’m so deeply stunned, honored and awed.”

Bigelow and the film have won numerous awards, including the Darryl F. Zanuck producer of the year award from the Producers Guild of America, last Sunday in Hollywood. The Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, and the big money is on Bigelow’s name being mentioned for best director.

For a list full list of the 2009 DGA award winners click here.