Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, Mercy is projected to conclude its opening weekend with a 3-day total of $11.2 million at the domestic box office. This will be more than enough for it to take No. 1 over Avatar: Fire and Ash (which is dropping more than 50% with a projected haul of roughly $7 million), preventing it from continuing its streak atop the chart into a sixth consecutive week.<\/p>\n
2025’s Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/a> debuted at No. 1 over the weekend of December 19 and held that position through the New Year. Although early projections suggested that 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple would be the first movie to knock it from No. 1, the horror sequel capsized after a strong Friday and ultimately fell below the James Cameron sci-fi movie.<\/p>\n Now that Mercy has stepped into its place, Fire and Ash is officially unable to match the records of the original two Avatar movies<\/a>, both of which held No. 1 for seven consecutive weeks during their respective runs in 2009 and 2022.<\/p>\n While Fire and Ash has long been showing signs of diminishing returns compared to the previous two installments, it has still grossed more than $1.3 billion, allowing it to become the 24th highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide shortly before its sixth weekend in theaters, during which it could potentially break into the all-time Top 20.<\/p>\n Although Mercy is on track to become the first 2026 release to debut at No. 1, this does not necessarily mean that it is a hit in and of itself.<\/p>\n In fact, this weekend’s overall domestic box office projections of $58.4 million show that it is set to be the lowest-grossing weekend of the year, largely thanks to the dangerous winter storms taking place across much of the United States. Additionally, Mercy reportedly cost $60 million, which could place its estimated break-even point as high as $150 million.<\/p>\n Even though Mercy was able to best Avatar: Fire and Ash, it does not currently seem to be on a trajectory to turn a profit in theaters. If it follows in the footsteps of the recent original sci-fi movie The Creator (which opened with $14.1 million and earned $104.3 million worldwide), it may only be able to climb to about $95 million.<\/p>\n This Weekend’s Domestic Box Office Top 5<\/p>\n Below, see the full domestic Top 5 chart for the holiday weekend:<\/p>\n #<\/p>\n Title<\/p>\n 3-Day Total<\/p>\n Cumulative (Domestic)<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n Mercy<\/p>\n $11.2 million<\/p>\n $11.2 million (weekend 1)<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/p>\n $7 million<\/p>\n $378 million (weekend 6)<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n Zootopia 2<\/p>\n $5.7 million<\/p>\n $401 million (weekend 9)<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n The Housemaid<\/p>\n $4.2 million<\/p>\n $115.4 million (weekend 6)<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/p>\n $3.6 million<\/p>\n $20.7 million (weekend 2)<\/p>\n Outside of the Top 2, the only other movement on the chart is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple falling from No. 2 straight to No. 5 with a brutal 71% drop. While drops of more than 60% aren’t uncommon for the horror genre, which tends to be frontloaded, this puts the movie in a tough position, because its reported $63 million budget could mean that it needs to earn as much as $157.5 million in order to break even in theaters.<\/p>\n The only other movement is the Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet ping pong movie Marty Supreme<\/a> being knocked back down from the Top 5 after re-entering the chart during its fifth weekend. It has fallen from No. 5 to No. 6, but it dropped a meager 32%, possibly thanks to the fact that its sixth weekend took place immediately after it earned nine Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.<\/p>\n![\"Oona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/oona-chaplin-as-varang-in-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpg\"\/)
\n Oona Chaplin as Varang flying on a creature in Avatar Fire and Ash<\/p>\n