{"id":216965,"date":"2026-01-04T23:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216965\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T23:00:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:00:06","slug":"avatar-fire-and-ash-crosses-1-billion-stays-no-1-at-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216965\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ crosses $1 billion, stays No. 1 at box office"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Hollywood kicked off 2026 with \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d<\/a> atop the box office for the third straight week and with hopes for a blockbuster-filled year after a disappointing 2025.<\/p>\n

In three weeks of release, \u201cFire and Ash\u201d has cleared $1 billion worldwide. The third chapter in James Cameron\u2019s Pandora epic<\/a> collected $40 million over its third weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFire and Ash\u201d is doing its biggest business overseas; it\u2019s grossed $777.1 million internationally thus far. The Walt Disney Co. on Sunday trumped the $1 billion milestone as \u201ccementing another monumental achievement for James Cameron\u2019s groundbreaking franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

But over the holidays, it wasn\u2019t just about the weekend ticket sales. The whole week was a lucrative one for Hollywood, with most schools still out. What drove ticket sales, beyond \u201cAvatar\u201d? Sydney Sweeney<\/a>, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and \u201cZootopia 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most sustained success over the holiday collider in theaters belonged to a movie that opened all the way back in November. Yet Disney\u2019s \u201cZootopia 2\u201d<\/a> has had remarkable staying power. It landed in second place with $19 million, dipping a mere 4% from the previous weekend.<\/p>\n

The animated sequel has amassed $1.59 billion in six weeks. That makes \u201cZootopia 2\u201d Disney\u2019s second highest grossing animated movie ever, trailing only 2019\u2019s photorealistic \u201cThe Lion King\u201d ($1.66 billion).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d<\/a> the twisty thriller starring Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, also emerged as a holiday-season hit for Lionsgate. It collected $14.9 million over the weekend, giving it $75.7 million domestically over three weeks. It dipped only 3% from last weekend. Internationally, \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d which cost a modest $35 million to make, has added $57.3 million.<\/p>\n

Just as Sweeney\u2019s star power is propelling \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d so is Chalamet\u2019s with \u201cMarty Supreme.\u201d<\/a> The A24 release also held well in its third weekend, grossing an estimated $12.6 million. After two weeks of wide release, Josh Safdie\u2019s frenetic table tennis tale has grossed $56 million in North America, passing the director\u2019s previous film, \u201cUncut Gems\u201d<\/a> ($50 million worldwide).<\/p>\n

Just about everything playing in theaters saw small drops from the previous weekend. Sony\u2019s action comedy \u201cAnaconda,\u201d starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, dipped 31% to collect $10 million in second weekend. Focus Features\u2019 \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d<\/a> dropped only 17% in its second weekend with $5.9 million. The Hugh Jackman-Kate Hudson Neil Diamond cover band movie has earned $25 million domestically.<\/p>\n

With \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d and a wide variety of smaller hits, Hollywood started 2026 strongly. Overall sales were up 26.5% from the same weekend in 2025, according to data firm Comscore.<\/p>\n

The movie industry is coming off a poor 2025<\/a>, where domestic moviegoing continued to slide. U.S. and Canada ticket sales in 2025 amounted to $8.9 billion, a 2% increase from the year earlier, according to Comscore, but about 20% below pre-pandemic levels. That slight improvement was notably less than anticipated and was also boosted by higher ticket prices. Actual tickets sold declined from more than 800 million in 2024 to around 780 million in 2025.<\/p>\n

The industry is now awaiting a potentially seismic shift with Warner Bros., one of the most theatrical-friendly studios, agreeing to sell to Netflix<\/a>. That $83 billion deal awaits regulatory approval.<\/p>\n

Yet studios are cautiously optimistic 2026 could be the best box-office year of the decade. A release slate filled with marquee franchises, including new \u201cToy Story,\u201d \u201cAvengers,\u201d \u201cSpider-Man,\u201d \u201cSuper Mario Bros\u201d and \u201cDune\u201d movies, has raised hopes of a turnaround.<\/p>\n

Top 10 movies by domestic box office<\/p>\n

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d $40 million. <\/p>\n

2. \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d $19 million. <\/p>\n

3. \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d $14.9 million. <\/p>\n

4. \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d $12.6 million.<\/p>\n

5. \u201cAnaconda,\u201d $10 million. <\/p>\n

6. \u201cThe SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,\u201d $8.2 million. <\/p>\n

7. \u201cDavid,\u201d $8 million. <\/p>\n

8. \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d $5.9 million. <\/p>\n

9. \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d $3.3 million. <\/p>\n

10. \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s 2,\u201d $2.7 million. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Hollywood kicked off 2026 with \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d atop the box office for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[18251,138,179,156,3717,4223,17125,26242,47052,89736,96524,56403,409,111,139,69,26243,3486,45005,8041,5021],"class_list":["post-216965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-amanda-seyfried","tag-business","tag-california","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-hollywood","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-jack-black","tag-james-cameron","tag-josh-safdie","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-marty-supreme","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul-rudd","tag-sydney-sweeney","tag-timothee-chalamet","tag-trending-news","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}