James Cameron effects. The film was originally scheduled to be released in May 2009 but was pushed back to December 2009 to allow more time for post-production on the complex CGI and to give more time for theatres worldwide to install 3D projectors. Cameron originally intended "Avatar" to be 3D-only. "Avatar" broke several box office records during its initial theatrical run. It grossed $749.7 million in the United States and Canada and more than $2.74 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in the United States and Canada, surpassing Cameron's "Titanic". "Avatar" also became the first movie to ever earn
Titanic (1997 film) wreck. The modern scenes on the research vessel" "were shot on board the "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh", which Cameron had used as a base when filming the wreck. Scale models, computer-generated imagery, and a reconstruction of the "Titanic" built at Baja Studios, at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California were used to re-create the sinking. The film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox; the former handled distribution in North America while Fox released the film internationally. It was the most expensive film ever made at the time, with a production budget of $200 million. Upon its release