`Avatar` beats `The Dark Knight` to set Blu-ray record

London: Acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron`s oscar winning 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar" has beaten "The Dark Knight" to set up a Blu-ray record as consumers snatched 1.5 million copies of the movie on the day of the home video release. A total of 4 million copies (including Blu-ray) of the movie were sold on the first day itself, reports contactmusic.com.

The previous Blu-ray record was held by "The Dark Knight" with 600,000 copies. While some analysts had wondered whether home video sales of the movie would take off without a 3-D element, reviewers Thursday praised the overall look of the film on the small screen, several using the term "gorgeous" to describe it. In Britain`s Guardian newspaper, critic Gordon Mackie wrote that the DVD release "still feels like an event without that third dimension. It`s very much a James Cameron movie, for better and worse." "Its visual splendors are many. But Cameron movies come with his own dialogue so it`s only the visuals that stay with you, and you sometimes feel bludgeoned with his none-too-original green, antiwar message writ large," he added. IANS