Ka-ching!

Yes, film fans, "Avatar" has just hurtled past "Titanic" as the highest grossing movie of all time. (It must feel good to be James Cameron, who directed both of these flicks.)

The sci-fi epic just hit the $1.8 billion mark in worldwide ticket sales. Not bad, since it only debuted six weeks ago.

Everyone is hailing "Avatar" as a towering success, and it is.

But the whole highest-grossing-movie thing is a bit misleading. It's technically true, but there's also a bit of fuzzy math involved.

First, regular ticket prices have skyrocketed in the 12 years since "Titanic" hit the big screen.

Second, many movie fans are seeing "Avatar" in 3-D. Theaters charge more for seeing a film in 3-D.

But we Americans love news about breaking records, and we especially love it if you can quantify it all in cold, hard dollar figures.

In inflation-adjusted terms, though, "Gone with the Wind" remains the box-office champ. It made $400 million in 1939, which translates to $6 billion today.

Another consideration: Rumor had it that the budget to make "Avatar" was almost a half-billion bucks. So the profit margin might not be as impressive as the whole take.

Personally, I think "Titanic" is the better movie. It fares so well artistically in part because of the charismatic, multifaceted performances of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

But I love that, in both cases, Cameron really swung for the proverbial fences. He made big movies with the potential for big failure. In fact, naysayers were trash-talking both films and their bloated budgets — but then the movies were released, and the public had the final say.

What do you think of "Avatar's" box-office bonanza?