{"id":390170,"date":"2026-01-25T19:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390170\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T19:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:48:14","slug":"fire-and-ash-box-office-reign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390170\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire and Ash’ Box Office Reign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChris Pratt\u2019s sci-fi thriller \u201cMercy<\/a>\u201d collected $11.2 million in its North American debut, enough to end the five-weekend reign of James Cameron\u2019s behemoth \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough not a blockbuster result for \u201cMercy,\u201d it\u2019s an impressive tally considering the massive winter storm that\u2019s currently blanketing a large portion of the U.S. with snow. Warnings of frigid temperatures, high winds and blizzards have been issued across 37 states, from Texas to Maine, resulting in major theater closures across the country. Unsurprisingly, this ranks as the lowest collective weekend of the year with roughly $60 million across all films, down roughly 9% from the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMercy\u201d was anticipated to earn $12 million over the weekend, but projections were ever-so-slightly revised down as the storm started to spread. The film didn\u2019t perform well at the international box office (where, of course, severe weather conditions weren\u2019t an excuse) with $11.6 million from 80 markets, bringing the global tally to $22.8 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tDomestic moviegoers who braved the cold (or those in the lucky states who were spared from the sleet, ice and power outages) weren\u2019t impressed by \u201cMercy,\u201d which was saddled with a \u201cB-\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls. Ditto critics, as evidenced by the bleak 20% Rotten Tomatoes average. That could spell trouble for staying power for \u201cMercy,\u201d which carries a $60 million production budget before factoring in global marketing expenses. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, \u201cMercy\u201d takes place in the near future as a detective (Pratt) stands trial for allegedly murdering his wife. An advanced AI judge (Rebecca Ferguson) will determine his fate.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe weekend start is also good considering the soft reception,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMercy\u201d is the first big release of the year for Amazon MGM, which didn\u2019t unveil much theatrically in 2025 but plans to remedy that over the next 11 months with offerings such as the Ryan Gosling-led \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d toy-inspired \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d and Colleen Hoover adaptation \u201cVerity.\u201d That\u2019s good news for exhibitors, who have complained about the decrease in the number of new films since the pandemic and two Hollywood labor strikes. With the decrease in volume, overall domestic revenues in 2025 fell short of the $9 billion that analysts had expected the industry to generate over 12 months.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAvatar 3,\u201d which had spent all of January at the No. 1 spot on domestic charts, slid to second place with $7 million over the weekend. After six weekends of release, \u201cFire and Ash\u201d has earned $378 million in North America and $1.378 billion globally. Though a huge result, of course, \u201cAvatar 3\u201d isn\u2019t close to reaching the box office heights of its predecessors, 2009\u2019s \u201cAvatar\u201d and 2022\u2019s \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water.\u201d Those films each remained in first place for seven consecutive weekends and ended up with $2.9 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney\u2019s animated juggernaut \u201cZootopia 2\u201d remained at No. 3 with $5.7 million in its ninth (!) weekend of release. The animated sequel has remained a box office force since Thanksgiving with $401 million domestically and $1.744 billion globally. It remains the\u00a0highest-grossing animated Hollywood film<\/a>\u00a0of all time, ahead of \u201cInside Out 2\u201d ($1.69 billion).<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother new release, \u201cReturn to Silent Hill,\u201d couldn\u2019t crack the top five and debuted in the No. 7 slot with $3.2 million from 1,850 locations. That\u2019s dramatically behind the first two films in the psychological horror series, 2006\u2019s \u201cSilent Hill\u201d ($20 million debut) and 2012\u2019s sequel \u201cSilent Hill: Revelation\u201d ($8 million debut). Sony released the initial film, which ended up grossing $100 million worldwide, while the now-defunct Open Road backed the follow-up, which tapped out with just $55 million.\u00a0Iconic Events, the distributor of thrillers like the \u201cTerrifier\u201d series and \u201cSteamboat,\u201d are behind the third installment, which currently holds a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe film has a total investment of only $3.5 million,\u201d Cineverse chairman and CEO Chris McGurk said in a statement. \u201cLove it or hate it, the video game fans want to see the film and talk about it, and that will continue to make it a great title for us in home entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that \u201cweather clearly was a big factor this weekend and impacted the box office significantly for everyone, hopefully the industry will get some of this missed demand back during this week and next weekend if the weather improves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, some Oscar contenders got a boost after nominations were announced on Thursday. A24\u2019s \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d which landed 9 nominations, added $3.5 million from 2,021 venues over the weekend. Those ticket sales mark a 32% decline from the prior frame, the smallest drop in the top five. The film, starring Timothee Chalamet and directed by Josh Safdie, has grossed $86.2 million in North America and more than $105 million globally.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the No. 8 spot, Chloe Zhao\u2019s \u201cHamnet\u201d generated $2 million from 1,996 theaters in its first weekend of nationwide release. The Shakespearean drama, which scored 13 Academy Award nods, has earned $17.6 million domestically and $42 million globally after several weekends in limited release.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHistorically, films in the sweet spot of their runs in theaters have the most potential to get a coveted Oscar bounce at the box office,\u201d says Comscore\u2019s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Pratt\u2019s sci-fi thriller \u201cMercy\u201d collected $11.2 million in its North American debut, enough to end the five-weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10194,96,59,52324,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-390170","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-entertainment","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-mercy","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390170","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=390170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}