Los Angeles, CA, United States (CNS) -- The prospect of seeing gold has Fandango users wanting to see more blue.

Movie ticket vendor Web site Fandango has received a boost of more than 45 percent in daily sales for "Avatar" following the February 2 announcement of the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards. The nominations were announced at about 5 a.m. PT, and the early morning sales for the blockbuster exploded between the hours of 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The day's sales for "Avatar" only add to the running total for the movie, which recently surpassed "Titanic" to become the highest-grossing film of all time. The movie was a favorite for Oscar, leading the way with a total nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for James Cameron. The movie is tied with the Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" for nominations. The latter has also received nods for Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, Cameron's ex-wife. "The Hurt Locker" also received nominations for Best Original Screenplay for screenwriter Mark Boal and Best Actor for star Jeremy Renner.

With the Oscar nominations now official, Fandango also has been keeping track of users' opinions on the awards, which take place on March 7. Among the site's topics of conversation is the widening of the Best Picture category to 10 entries rather than five. The move was intended to allow more popular fare to be recognized along with more artistic cinema. Among these is "Avatar," along with fellow nominees "The Blind Side," "District 9" and the Pixar film "Up," which is the first cartoon to be nominated for Best Picture since "Beauty and the Beast" and the only one to also be nominated Best Animated Feature.

Fandango also provides users a sounding board for users to voice their views on snubs through polls. As of 3 p.m. PT February 2, the top five snubs as ranked by Fandango users were "Invictus," with 29 percent; "(500) Days of Summer," with 17 percent; "Star Trek," with 14 percent; "The Hangover," with 9 percent; and "The Road," with 6 percent.

Site users can vote for 2009's Movie of the Year. The winning film will receive the Fandango Fan Choice Award at ShoWest, the world's largest theater convention, on March 18.

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Additional Local James Cameron News Archives

• James Cameron's "Avatar" To Hit Blu-Ray And DVD In April
• Sandra Bullock Wins Oscar For Best Actress, "The Hurt Locker" Crushes "Avatar"
• "Precious" Wins Best Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay Oscars; Ben Stiller Gets Laughs
• Christoph Waltz Wins First Award Of Oscar Night
• "Avatar" Parody Sketch Canned By Oscars

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