New Year's Eve is always a slow day at the box office, but Avatar: Fire and Ash reigned supreme with $8.1 million yesterday. Now, James Cameron's threequel has surpassed $250 million at the North American box office and it should reach $1 billion worldwide in a matter of days.
Another Disney movie, Zootopia 2, is still performing well, grossing an additional $4.6 million on Wednesday for a $337.9 million total. A24's Marty Supreme has overperformed, nabbing third place with $2.4 million for a $39 million domestic cume. A massive marketing budget could prove problematic for profitability.
The Timothée Chalamet-led movie was followed by David ($2.4 million/$58.5 million), Anaconda ($2.2 million/$31.7 million), and The Housemaid ($2.1 million/$56.2 million).
Netflix's Stranger Things Season 5 finale also screened in theaters yesterday. However, despite claims from the Duffer Brothers that 1.1 million seats had been sold across 620 locations, the streaming platform hasn't announced any grosses (at least not yet).
2025 was a year to forget for movie theaters. $8.87 billion worth of tickets were sold last year, a mere 1.5% increase from 2024. However, as Variety explains, "That’s also short of the $9 billion that many analysts expected the industry to generate."
"Prior to the pandemic, ticket sales were on an upward trajectory, routinely nearing or topping $11 million, but attendance has yet to return to the same levels even as the cost of going to the movies has increased," the trade adds. "The popularity of premium formats like Imax, which have higher ticket prices, has bolstered grosses even as fewer consumers have opted to hit up the multiplex."
Avatar: Fire and Ash found its legs over the holidays, but whether it can reach the same heights as Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water—by grossing over $2 billion worldwide—is still very much "TBD" right now.
"This can be the last one. There’s only one [unanswered question] in the story," he recently said. "We may find that the release of Avatar 3 proves how diminished the cinematic experience is these days, or we may find it proves the case that it’s as strong as it ever was — but only for certain types of films. It’s a coin toss right now. We won’t know until the middle of January."
"I feel I’m at a bit of a crossroads. Do I want it to be a wild success — which almost compels me to continue and make two more Avatar movies? Or do I want it to fail just enough that I can justify doing something else?" Cameron added.
With Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family.
The movie also stars Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, David Thewlis, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, Britain Dalton, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Brendan Cowell, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans, Jr., and Kate Winslet.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is now playing in theaters.