The Avatar movies haven’t been around for very long, but they’ve set a uniquely high bar for box office success. The first two films were massive global hits, which means people now expect any new Avatar movie to perform just as well. This creates a lot of pressure, and it’s the biggest question facing James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire And Ash as it begins its theatrical run. It will be interesting to see how well the film continues to perform in the weeks ahead.
While everyone’s talking about Avatar 3, several new movies also came out this weekend, giving the blockbuster some interesting competition. Those include Paul Feig’s The Housemaid and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Here’s a look at the Top 10 films at the box office, followed by a more detailed breakdown.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Avatar: Fire And Ash* | $88,000,000 | $88,000,000 | N/A | 3,800 |
| 2. David* | $22,000,000 | $22,000,000 | N/A | 3,118 |
| 3. The Housemaid* | $19,000,000 | $19,000,000 | N/A | 3,015 |
| 4. The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants* | $16,000,000 | $16,000,000 | N/A | 3,557 |
| 5. Zootopia 2 | $14,500,000 | $282,809,929 | 1 | 3,540 |
| 6. Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 | $7,250,000 | $108,930,000 | 2 | 3,012 |
| 7. Wicked: For Good | $4,300,000 | $320,507,000 | 3 | 2,913 |
| 8. Marty Supreme* | $875,000 | $875,000 | N/A | 6 |
| 9. Hamnet | $850,000 | $8,760,000 | 10 | 617 |
| 10. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t | $600,000 | $61,075,000 | 6 | 718 |
Avatar: Fire And Ash Fails To Make A Domestic Splash As Big As The Way Of Water, But Money Is Rolling In Worldwide
The release of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022 was a major cinematic event. After over a decade since the first Avatar film, excitement had grown enormously, leading to a worldwide box office of $2.3 billion (following the original’s $2.9 billion success). This weekend’s box office results highlighted a key difference: the impact of 13 years of anticipation compared to just three.
Despite a strong opening weekend of $134.1 million, Avatar: The Way of Water ranked fifth among 2022 debuts. Now, Avatar: Fire and Ash is currently tracking as the ninth-biggest blockbuster opening of 2025, earning $88 million domestically since its release on Friday (according to The Numbers). This is a better start than the live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake, which earned $84.6 million, but early figures suggest it’s slightly behind the openings of Captain America: Brave New World ($88.8 million) and Jurassic World Rebirth ($92 million) earlier in the year.
I’ve been following the box office numbers closely, and while the domestic performance isn’t quite matching The Way of Water, it’s important to remember that Avatar films really make their money overseas. Both the original Avatar and the first sequel did incredibly well in the US and Canada – earning $785.2 million and $688.8 million respectively – but that was actually less than 30% of their total worldwide earnings. The real success for these movies is international, and that’s where we’ll see the true numbers come in.
The new film, Fire And Ash, is following a similar pattern in its box office numbers. So far, it’s earned $88 million in the US, but that’s only about a quarter of its total worldwide earnings. International audiences have contributed a much larger $257 million, bringing the film’s current global total to $345 million.
The huge box office numbers for the Avatar films need to be considered alongside their massive production costs. Variety reports that the next Avatar movie, coming in 2025, cost over $400 million to make – and that doesn’t even include the money spent on marketing. These films are made with the expectation of becoming worldwide blockbusters, and the budgets reflect that. Currently, only the Avengers franchise consistently reaches that level of financial scale.
The Avatar films benefit from being released in January. The movie industry typically has a slow start to the year, meaning there’s little competition from other major releases. While Fire And Ash might not always be the top-grossing film for the next five weeks, it’s likely to remain in the top three, and past trends suggest this will result in strong overall box office numbers when its theatrical run is complete.
According to early audience scores from CinemaScore, the new Avatar movie is performing well, earning an “A” grade – just like the previous films. This positive reception is a good sign for the future of the series, and hopefully will lead to continued success for Avatar 4, planned for release in 2029.
David And The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants Magnifies The Strong Trend For Animation In 2025
It wasn’t surprising that Avatar: Fire and Ash topped the box office, but the domestic numbers from the second-to-last weekend of 2025 highlight a trend we’ve seen throughout the year: animated films are performing very strongly. While live-action movies still dominate – nine of the year’s ten biggest hits were live-action – films like The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants and David, from Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham, are proving to be consistently successful.
Over the past three days, the new film from Angel Studios earned $22 million, placing it second at the box office. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants brought in $16 million, finishing fourth. Both films had a strong opening weekend, and with kids on winter break and few new releases planned, they might continue to perform well, similar to Avatar 3.
The Housemaid Is No Match For The Lure Of Pandora, But The Adaptation Has A Strong Debut
Finally, let’s talk about The Housemaid, a new movie based on the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden. Starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, it opened this weekend with $19 million, landing it in third place behind the two animated films we already discussed.
The opening weekend numbers for the film are encouraging, especially considering it wasn’t expected to be a blockbuster. Reviews for The Housemaid have been generally good, which should keep people interested in seeing it over the next few weeks. Interestingly, it actually earned more on its opening weekend than director Paul Feig’s previous thriller, A Simple Favor, which debuted with $16 million in September 2018.
While this weekend’s box office numbers were noteworthy, next Sunday promises to be even more exciting. Several new films will be hitting theaters, including the comedy Anaconda starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, the musical biopic Song Sung Blue, and the expanded release of the sports drama Marty Supreme. I’ll be back next week with a full analysis of the results, and in the meantime, you can get a head start on planning your moviegoing year by looking at our 2026 Movie Release Calendar.
Read More
- Ashes of Creation Rogue Guide for Beginners
- ARC Raiders – All NEW Quest Locations & How to Complete Them in Cold Snap
- Best Controller Settings for ARC Raiders
- Where Winds Meet: How To Defeat Shadow Puppeteer (Boss Guide)
- Ashes of Creation Mage Guide for Beginners
- Where Winds Meet: Best Weapon Combinations
- Bitcoin’s Wild Ride: Yen’s Surprise Twist 🌪️💰
- Fishing Guide in Where Winds Meet
- Berserk Writer Discuss New Manga Inspired by Brutal Series
- Netflix’s One Piece Season 2 Will Likely Follow the First Season’s Most Controversial Plot
2025-12-21 22:42