Historians of the Oscars will remember the 2010 celebrations as the year that a possible scenario for a screwball Hollywood comedy became actual when a former husband and wife – James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow – went head to head for the big prize.
However, what will be remembered forever as the cinematic milestone of 2009 is that a week before Christmas an American film called Avatar opened in cinemas from Chicago to China and by the end of January had taken billions of dollars at the box office, becoming the most profitable movie ever made. Moreover, its commercial success established beyond doubt that audiences throughout the world are in thrall to special effects, that they're as ready to accept computer-generated creatures as they are human beings, and that these fantasy figures don't need to speak any known language.
And contrary to the views of superior critics and the advice of concerned oculists, these moviegoers are prepared to wear special glasses for more than two hours to experience the movie in 3-D.
This is what will put Avatar on the same historical page as the epochal The Great Train Robbery, Birth of a Nation, The Jazz Singer and Gone With The Wind, which all made a fortune, and Citizen Kane, which didn't.
