If you haven’t seen Avatar, you haven’t seen 3D. And you may soon find yourself in the minority, judging by the number of people who have seen the film around the world. Since its Dec. 18 debut, when it opened in 103 territories on more than 13,000 screens, James Cameron’s epic had earned $1.6 billion worldwide (at press time) and is poised to surpass Cameron’s own Titanic as the highest-grossing international film. The film is making money faster than the media can keep pace.

‘Everything has changed,’ says Paul Hanneman, co-president of 20th Century Fox International, on the phone from Los Angeles. Needless to say, Hanneman is pleased to see a Fox picture become the third highest-grossing international title of all time. But he is talking about Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which earned $690 million last year outside of North America. ‘We started the release on 2,700 3D screens [in July] and ended up on 5,000 3D screens.’ It was an infrastructure explosion.

History may judge Avatar a paradigm shift: if so, Avatar the Phenomenon was as critical to that shift as the film itself. Not only has Cameron’s artful application of 3D technology set a new standard for live-action immersive experiences, but the anticipation of Avatar stimulated the construction of a 3D infrastructure that allowed Ice Age 3 to piggyback on the film before it was even released.

Make no mistake: 3D is driving Avatar’s box-office results. As of Jan. 4, the film was playing on 14,388 screens outside North America; 30% of those, 4,327 screens, were 3D. That 30% delivered 64% of the $677.5 million international box office. One week later, the film’s international tally was $906.2 million. Of course, those box-office numbers were goosed by the premium ticket prices attached to 3D screenings. In Canada, Cineplex charges $15.50 for the 3D version versus $12.50 for the standard-format version of the film.

‘We have turned a corner in terms of 3D screens around the world, but we’ve also turned a corner in terms of how cool movies can be in 3D,’ says Hanneman. ‘There were a lot of people who thought, ‘OK. 3D is good for animation, but it’s all about things shooting out at you.’ It’s clearly not a gimmick.’

Cameron has proved that 3D can draw viewers into a story by reaching out past the fourth wall. Several scenes stand out not for the wow factor of 3D but for their subtle emotional texturing that is akin to a film score. Indeed, Cameron’s technique is so good, Hanneman predicts a wave of 3D films as other bankable directors try their hand in the format. While the production costs will keep it out of the reach of art-house budgets, there can be no doubt that filmmakers who may have toyed with the idea of 3D will have upgraded their curiosity once they’ve seen Avatar.

As Canadian director Vincenzo Natali said in an interview with a fan site, ‘3D is a tempting proposition for studios and filmmakers because it makes the theatrical experience necessary. It differentiates it from home-viewing and it also makes it difficult to pirate.’

As to what happens after the juggernaut has rolled through, the film industry is hoping there will be a continuing appetite not just for 3D films but films in general. People who have forsaken moviegoing are being lured back into cinema by Avatar’s allure – people like Hanneman’s parents.

Hanneman says he recently had a call from his 78-year-old mother and his father. ‘I was shocked that they had both gone. And they said, ‘It was like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It was like a new life experience.” Hanneman found himself speechless.

After 30 years in the dream factory, he says, he has seen some incredible shifts in technology. ‘Filmmaking has gotten incredibly impressive over the years, but this is so different. It’s something else.’