\n\tChristmas proved to be a merry time at the box office, with moviegoers heading back to Pandora and also picking up their ping-pong paddles for the holidays.<\/p>\n
\n\tJames Cameron\u2019s \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>\u201d made $24 million on Christmas Day, securing the No. 1 spot and powering it through the end of the year as it hopes to reach the billion-dollar heights of its predecessors. Timothee Chalamet\u2019s ping-pong dramedy \u201cMarty Supreme<\/a>\u201d had a strong $9.5 million opening day to land in second place.<\/p>\n \n\tDisney\u2019s \u201cFire and Ash,\u201d which opened to $88 million last week, is projected to make $75 million to $80 million over the four-day Christmas holiday weekend. In comparison, \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d made $29 million on Christmas Day in 2022, though the holiday fell on a Sunday, and $90 million over its four-day frame. Even though it\u2019s behind Cameron\u2019s previous film, the sci-fi threequel \u201cFire and Ash\u201d should have a strong hold through the end of the year to offset its large budget. It cost a huge $350 million to produce and $150 million to promote. So far, it\u2019s made $153 million domestically and $544 million globally.<\/p>\n \n\tDirected by Josh Safdie, A24\u2019s \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d is expected to open above $20 million in its holiday debut. Last week, it set a record by making $875,000 from just six theaters in its limited release, marking the best per-screen-average of the year and of all-time for A24. Propelled by Chalamet\u2019s star power and promotional antics (like appearing on top of the Las Vegas Sphere and flying a giant orange blimp), \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d could snag A24\u2019s biggest box office opening ever. The current record holder is Alex Garland\u2019s \u201cWarfare,\u201d which debuted to $25.7 million last April. \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d will need to ride its good reviews and word of mouth to make up its $70 million budget.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d narrowly beat Sony\u2019s disaster comedy \u201cAnaconda,\u201d starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black, which had a $9.1 million Christmas opening day for third place. It\u2019s expected to slither to $22 million to $24 million this weekend and has a $45 million budget.<\/p>\n \n\tDisney\u2019s \u201cZootopia 2\u201d made $5.2 million to land in fourth place, while Focus Features\u2019 \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d another Christmas newcomer, made $4.4 million on its opening day. The musical, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in a Neil Diamond cover band, is on track to make $12 million in its opening, and it carries a $30 million budget. Lionsgate\u2019s thriller \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, made $3.5 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christmas proved to be a merry time at the box office, with moviegoers heading back to Pandora and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5960,49,48,75,43424],"class_list":{"0":"post-370561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-marty-supreme"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}