{"id":352220,"date":"2026-01-04T20:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/352220\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:15:11","slug":"avatar-3-leads-in-first-weekend-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/352220\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Avatar 3’ Leads in First Weekend of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>\u201d is towering over the domestic box office during the first weekend of the new year.<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Cameron\u2019s latest Na\u2019vi adventure has collected $40 million from 3,825 North American theaters in its third weekend of release, declining 35% from the busy post-Christmas frame. Those ticket sales are pushing the third \u201cAvatar\u201d to $306 million domestically and $1.08 billion globally after just 18 days in theaters. \u201cFire and Ash\u201d crossed the coveted billion-dollar benchmark<\/a> slower than 2022\u2019s \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d which took 14 days, and the original \u201cAvatar,\u201d which took 17 days. Now it\u2019s a matter of where \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d will top out at the box office \u2014 and whether the third installment has the stamina to surpass $2 billion like its predecessors.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince January is often glacial in terms of movie theater attendance, Hollywood studios barely release anything new around the dawn of the new year. That means a smattering of Thanksgiving and Christmas leftovers, such as \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d \u201cThe Housemaid<\/a>\u201d and \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d were behind \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d on North American charts.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney\u2019s \u201cZootopia 2\u201d remained a force at No. 2 with $19 million from 3,285 venues, marking a minimal 4% drop from the previous weekend. After six weekends of release, the beloved animated sequel has grossed a mighty $363 million domestically and $1.588 billion globally. \u201cZootopia 2\u201d recently outperformed \u201cFrozen 2\u201d ($1.45 billion) to become Walt Disney Animation\u2019s highest-grossing movie of all time<\/a>. That means the announcement of a third trip to the animal-filled metropolis can\u2019t be too far off.<\/p>\n

\n\tLionsgate\u2019s psychological thriller \u201cThe Housemaid\u201d rose to No. 3 with $15.2 million from 3,070 screens, a barely-there 1% dip from the prior weekend. The R-rated film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, has earned an impressive $75.7 million in North America and $133 million worldwide against a $35 million budget.<\/p>\n

\n\tFourth place went to A24\u2019s \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d with $12.5 million from 2,887 locations, declining just 30% from the post-Christmas frame. So far, the Timothee Chalamet-led ping-pong dramedy has generated $56 million in North America, a great result for the original arthouse release. With those ticket sales, \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d has outgrossed the director Josh Safdie\u2019s prior film \u201cUncut Gems\u201d ($50 million globally) and ranks among A24\u2019s biggest movies of all time. However, \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d cost $70 million to produce, making it the most expensive film to date for A24. It\u2019ll need to remain a draw into the new year to justify its budget.<\/p>\n

\n\tSony\u2019s action comedy \u201cAnaconda\u201d remained in fifth place with $10 million from 3,509 theaters, a drop of 31% from the prior weekend. After two weekends of release, the meta reboot of 1997\u2019s \u201cAnaconda, this one starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, has grossed $45.8 million in North America and $88 million globally against a $45 million production budget.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother Christmas release, the Focus Features musical drama \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d slid to the No. 8 spot with $5.87 million from 2,705 venues, a scant 17% drop. So far, the tear-jerker, led by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as performers in a Neil Diamond cover band, has grossed $25 million domestically and $30 million worldwide against a $30 million budget.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the year is very young, 2026 is already pacing ahead of 2025 by 26.5%, according to Comscore. Last year\u2019s revenues hit $8.9 billion across 12 months, a modest 1.5% increase from 2024, though just short of the $9 billion that analysts had expected the industry to generate. As studios prepare to unveil major blockbusters \u2014 including \u201cAvengers: Doomsday,\u201d \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d and \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie\u201d \u2014 will this year\u2019s grosses manage to return to pre-pandemic heights?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith a killer slate on the docket, there\u2019s confidence that 2026 will be the biggest year for theaters since 2020,\u201d predicts Comscore\u2019s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Hollywood just needs audiences to show up at multiplexes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d is towering over the domestic box office during the first weekend of the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10194,96,135699,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-352220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-avatar-fire-and-ash","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-housemaid","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352220","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=352220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}