{"id":336933,"date":"2025-12-26T17:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/336933\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T17:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:55:11","slug":"box-office-christmas-best-post-covid-led-by-avatar-fire-and-ash-24m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/336933\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: Christmas Best Post Covid, Led By ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ $24M"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDec. 26 Update on Christmas Day business: Yes, Virginia, it was a great Christmas with all titles raking in an estimated $68.4M, the best the post-Covid period has ever seen for the holiday. <\/p>\n

\n\tChristmas Day outstripped that of 2023\u2019s, the previous high, which fell on a Monday and minted $62.3M. That\u2019s when the holiday was led by Warner Bros\u2019 The Color Purple ($18.1M which was bolstered by preview cash). The post-Covid Christmas Days in 2022\u2019s (Sunday) and 2021 (Saturday) fell on weekends, hence the reason why their daily grosses were lower. Last Christmas made $62M, this year\u2019s being +10% form that figure. <\/p>\n

\n\t20th Century Studios\u2019 Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/a> led Christmas Day with $24M, which though -18% off from Avatar: Way of Water\u2018s Christmas ($29.1M), does rank as the threequel\u2019s fourth highest grossing day to date in its run after its Friday\/previews of $36.4M, Saturday of $28.4M and Sunday of $24.2M. Running cume for the James Cameron directed movie is $153.6M. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Timoth\u00e9e<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTimoth\u00e9e Chalamet in \u2018Marty Supreme<\/a>\u2018<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA24 \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tNo. 2 for the day at 2,668 theaters was A24\u2019s Marty Supreme with an amazing $9.5M (besting the first Christmas Day take of Timothee Chalamet\u2019s A Complete Unknown last year which did $7.2M). Running cume is $10.7M. It would not be shocking if the 4-day on this Josh Safdie directed and co-written movie with frequent collaborator Ronald Bronstein clears $20M+ over 4-days. It\u2019s gotta. Marty Supreme gets a B+ CinemaScore; A Complete Unknown notched an A. The movie cost around $65M before P&A. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tSony\u2019s Christmas Day gross for Anaconda<\/a>, landed at $9.1M at 3,509 sites. B CinemaScore here. The comedy cost net $45M. The last Sony Christmas comedy in memory was 2018\u2019s Holmes & Watson starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. That posted a Christmas Day of $6.4M (Tuesday) and six-day gross of $19.6M and was considered a dud at the time ending its run at $30.5M off a $42M production cost before P&A and a D+ CinemaScore. This Anaconda is significantly better, and complete 180 from that, with a 4-day outlook of $22M-$24M. That will be the best opening for a comedy (not counting Deadpool & Wolverine) in quite some time, higher than summer\u2019s Naked Gun bow ($16.8M). The original movie, a Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz and Jon Voight adventure thriller, opened to $16.6M (unadjusted for inflation) back in April 1997.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney\u2019s Zootopia 2 was fourth for the day with $5.3M at 3,540 which got it past the three-century mark with $301.4M. The sequel has another $40M to go before it overtakes the original domestic take of the 2016 movie ($341.2M). <\/p>\n

\n\tAngel Studios\u2019 David ranked fifth with $4.56M at 3,118 theaters and a running cume of $37M. Pic\u2019s first week is 32% ahead of Angel Studios\u2019 previous family animated title King of Kings ($28M) which ended its run at $60.2M. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversal Pictures International \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tFocus Features\u2019 Craig Brewer directed Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman Neil Diamond tribute band movie, Song Sung Blue landed an A CinemaScore and a $4.425M first day at 2,578, that number includes previews. The four-day outlook is $12M. <\/p>\n

\n\tLionsgate\u2019s The Housemaid was 7th at 3,042 sites with a $3.5M Christmas Day and a running cume of $31M. Because the movie was stronger out of the gate than the previous Sydney Sweeney Christmas movie, Anyone But You, the running cume here in its first week is +94% higher versus that romcom which co-starred Glen Powell; that pic finaling at $88.3M domestic. <\/p>\n

\n\tParamount\u2019s SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants at 3,557 sites made an estimated $3.2M for a first week of $26.9M. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpots nine and ten belonged to Universal respectively with Wicked: For Good ($1.4M, total $326.3M) and Five Nights at Freddy\u2019s 2 ($1M, $114.5M). <\/p>\n

\n\tChristmas Day with Christmas Eve business: Today and onward is what truly counts for exhibition \u2014 for by tonight, after dinner tables are cleared, moviegoing commences. Despite the rains in L.A.<\/a>, multiplexes aren\u2019t cutting back their showtimes, and there\u2019s a way that water actually will drive business.<\/p>\n

\n\tChristmas Eve, as always \u2014 except for when there\u2019s a FOMO movie like Spider-Man: No Way Home on the marquee \u2014 was down as expected with an estimated $27.6M for all movies. That includes the $2M previews cash from A24\u2019s Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet period dramedy Marty Supreme (higher than the actor\u2019s Christmas Eve previews for A Complete Unknown last year at $1.4M, which did a 5-day of $23.2M) and the $2.1M previews from Sony\u2019s Jack Black-Paul Rudd comedy Anaconda. Previews began at noon for Anaconda and Marty Supreme. The six-theater NYC and LA portion of the Chalamet film raked in an estimated $88K Wednesday for a running total of $1.2M.<\/p>\n

\n\tFocus Features didn\u2019t report previews for its Hugh Jackman-Kate Hudson musical Song Sung Blue, and well, boo on that. <\/p>\n

\n\tYesterday\u2019s business for all titles was down 31% from Tuesday\u2019s near-$40M haul. The best Christmas Eve post-Covid belongs to 2021, when moviegoers threw their pandemic worries aside and headed to Spider-Man: No Way Home, driving a $31.1M day. This Christmas Eve was up 24% from 2022, when Avatar: The Way of Water was on the marquee, however, it fell on a Saturday. Way of Water made $14.8M on Christmas Eve, and Avatar: Fire and Ash led yesterday with $10.7M at 3,800 theaters and a running cume of $129.7M.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney\u2019s Zootopia 2 for the third weekday in a row towered over the new stuff, Lionsgate\u2019s The Housemaid and Angel Studios\u2019 David, with a fourth Wednesday of $3.2M at 3,540 theaters, running cume of $296.1M. Of course, $300M is in the animals\u2019 eyesight by today, maybe Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: The 25 Highest-Grossing Animated Films Of All Time At The Global Box Office<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tDavid at 3,118 locations did an estimated $2.5M in third place for the day for a running total of $32.4M, while Housemaid was booked at 3,042 and did $1.45M in fifth for a running total of $27.5M. Paramount\u2019s The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants was fourth yesterday with an estimated $1.78M at 3,557 sites, and a running cume of $23.7M.<\/p>\n

\n\tAvatar 3 is expected to do around $75M for the 4-day box office (Dec. 25-Sunday), while Anaconda is hoping to clear $20M, Song Sung Blue is forecast at $10M-$14M and all the other titles \u2014 Housemaid, David, Marty Supreme, and SpongeBob \u2014 landing in the teens.<\/p>\n

\n\tRotten Tomatoes audience score on Marty Supreme is 86% to its critical score of 95% certified fresh. No audience score on Anaconda, but critics are meh on it at 49% rotten. Song Sung Blue also has no audience score, but critics enjoy it at 76% certified fresh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dec. 26 Update on Christmas Day business: Yes, Virginia, it was a great Christmas with all titles raking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[65669,10194,131036,96,106692,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-336933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-anaconda","9":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","10":"tag-christmas-box-office","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-marty-supreme","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}