The third entry in James Cameron’s sci-fi franchise has once against secured the No. 1 spot.

Avatar: Fire and Ash ignites the Christmas weekend box office, soaring to $760 million globally

The third entry in James Cameron's sci-fi franchise has once against secured the No. 1 spot.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

EW's editorial guidelines

December 28, 2025 5:40 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Oona Chaplin in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'. Credit:

courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Never bet against James Cameron at the box office.

For the third time in a quarter century, moviegoers are flocking to theaters worldwide for a trip to Pandora, this time courtesy of *Avatar: Fire and Ash*. The latest entry in Cameron's sci-fi saga has not only remained comfortably ahead of the competition during the holiday stretch, but added $64 million to its already sizable domestic tally for a total of $217 million, per Comscore.

This marks a 28 percent drop over its second weekend in theaters, meaning *Fire and Ash* is holding even stronger than its predecessor, 2022’s *Avatar: The Way of Water*, which saw a steep 52 percent decline in its second weekend.

The threequel enjoyed even more success abroad, where it earned an additional $181 million overseas for an estimated global gross of $760 million. If *Avatar: Fire and Ash* is to follow in the footsteps of the prior entries, it will need to hold strong to the top spot well into the new year. After all, the first two *Avatar* films remained at No. 1 for seven consecutive weekends and eventually earned well over $2 billion each.

The highly anticipated continuation of Cameron's *Avatar* series finds the Sully family still grieving the events of* Way of Water *as the conflict in Pandora escalates. This time around, their journey sees them cross paths with a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe that worships fire.

Judy Hopps and NIck Wilde in 'Zootopia 2'.

While *Fire and Ash* is certainly enjoying a notable lead, there's room for more than one success story at the weekend box office. Disney's juggernaut sequel *Zootopia 2* managed to outpace the competition — including several buzzy debuts — by snagging an additional $20 million domestically, bringing its tally to $321 million.

Having passed the billion dollar mark last weekend, just three weeks into its run, the animated adventure is already the highest-grossing Hollywood release of the year. Now, its gross sits at a comfortable $1.4 billion globally.

'It always starts with the face': Building the 'Marty Supreme' ensemble cast, from pros to newbies

If 'Avatar 4' doesn't happen, James Cameron will 'hold a press conference' to reveal plot details

Coming in at third, the Timothée Chalamet-fronted ping-pong drama *Marty Supreme *isn't just dreaming big, it's achieving. After Chalamet went to great heights as a marketing machine, the film is off to an impressive start, earning $27 million over the holiday weekend (including $9.7 million on Christmas Day and $17.4 million over the traditional weekend). Add in the film's strong performance in limited early screenings, and* Marty Supreme* now marks the second-highest opening for A24, after last year's *Civil War*, which grossed $25.5 million in April 2024.

Chalamet has not only gone out of his way with viral campaigning tactics, but has made it abundantly clear that he's determined to see the film through to financial success.

"This is in the spirit of Marty, and I feel like this is ultimately an original film at a time when original movies aren’t really put out," Chalamet told IndieWire earlier this month. "It’s a movie about the pursuit of a dream. I’m leaving it on the field. Whether it’s the merch or the Zoom or the media appearances, I’m trying to get this out in the biggest way possible. In the spirit of Marty Mauser."

Timothée Chalamet in 'Marty Supreme' and Sydney Sweeney in 'The Housemaid'.

A24;Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate

For now, *Marty Supreme* has earned $30 million globally. Elsewhere, Lionsgate’s psychological thriller* The Housemaid *secured the No. 4 spot with $15.4 million over the weekend, bringing its tally to $46 million domestically. To date, the thriller pitting Sydney Sweeney against Amanda Seyfried has grossed an estimated $64.9 million worldwide.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Rounding out the top 5 is *Anaconda*, a meta-comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black as two best friends going through a midlife crisis. The film debuted to $23.6 million domestically over the Christmas weekend, for a global tally of $43.6 million. Another notable domestic debut, *Song Sung Blue* — starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson — arrived to just $7.6 million domestically this weekend, for a gross of just over $12 million.

With the final box office weekend of the year down, the overall domestic box office is sitting at $8.76 billion, just 1.5 percent ahead of last year and roughly 22 percent behind 2019, according to Comscore. Annual revenues through Dec. 31 are projected to hit $8.87 billion, a step up from 2024's $8.7 billion but just below the $9 billion benchmark previously estimated for the year.

- Movie Reviews & Recommendations

- Movie Industry

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Box”