Variety is reporting that after a strong debut in Japan, The Return of the King is poised to vault over the $1 billion mark in worldwide box office earnings, making it the second highest grossing film in world box office history.  James Cameron's Titanic, which earned an amazing $1.83 billion, is far and away the all-time champ, but the third installment in Peter Jackson's LOTR saga has now reached $975.5 million and is a sure bet to go over the $1 billion mark during the next few weeks. 

Interestingly, The Return of the King's domestic total is $357.2 million, good for only the number six spot on the all time domestic list, but foreign audiences are pushing the fantasy epic to second place all time in worldwide box office earnings.  By way of comparison, Spider-Man earned some $404 million domestically in 2002, but totaled only $418 million internationally for a worldwide sum of $822 million, while The Return of the King has already almost 50% more overseas with a total of $618.3 million so far. 

The first two installments in Peter Jackson's trilogy also did very well worldwide with The Fellowship of the Ring earning $871 million and The Two Towers bringing in $926 million in box office earnings.