Would you back Avatar (the movie) or Modern Warfare 2 (the game) to win a fight for the biggest grossing entertainment blockbuster of the last six months?

Given that Avatar has already stormed up the biggest movie blockbuster list to sit comfortably near the top as the second biggest grossing movie of all time according to The Internet Movie Database with worldwide box office takings of $1.3 billion, you might think that all bets would be off. You might be wrong.

Selling around 15 million copies so far, Modern Warfare 2 actually took an astonishing $550 million in its first five days on sale and has now gone on to break the $1 billion barrier. Although I am having trouble tracking down hard numbers Infinity Ward, the developers of Modern Warfare 2, reckons that in terms of those first week sales the game beat the movie. Indeed, in just a single day (launch day, naturally) Modern Warfare 2 took $310 million. Certainly it eclipses previous record breaking game claims such as that made by Microsoft for Halo 3.

But which is best, in terms of cold sales figures? Sorry Modern Warfare 2 fanboys (of which I am one) but it is not good news. Bear in mind that the cost of a cinema ticket is much less than the cost of the game on any format, and given that Avatar has already grossed more than Modern Warfare 2 in global sales by some $300 million, there really can only be one winner.