NEW YORK \u2014 Hollywood wrapped up a turbulent year with big ticket sales for\u00a0\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d\u00a0and a box-office hit for\u00a0Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet with \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d\u00a0over a busy holiday weekend in movie theaters.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
As expected,\u00a0James Cameron\u2019s latest trip to Pandora\u00a0dominated ticket sales, collecting $88 million over the four-day Christmas-to-Sunday period and $64 million on the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday
\n
In two weeks, \u201cFire and Ash\u201d has quickly amassed $217.7 million in North America, but the $400 million-budgeted film has been a massive draw internationally, grossing $542.7 million thus far overseas
\n
But much of the heat in theaters over Christmas and on the weekend belonged to \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d A24\u2019s biggest budget release, Josh Safdie\u2019s 1950s-set table tennis drama collected $27.1 million over the four-day weekend, a smash success for the indie studio
\n
Hollywood is ending the year with its best Christmas Day box office since before the COVID-19 pandemic, a celebratory final note in what\u2019s been a rough year for the film industry<\/p>\n
As expected,\u00a0James Cameron\u2019s latest trip to Pandora\u00a0dominated ticket sales, collecting $88 million over the four-day Christmas-to-Sunday period and $64 million on the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Though \u201cFire and Ash\u201d initially opened notably softer domestically than its 2022 predecessor,\u00a0\u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d\u00a0it held better in its second weekend. It dipped just 28%, whereas \u201cWay of Water\u201d fell 53%.<\/p>\n
In two weeks, \u201cFire and Ash\u201d has quickly amassed $217.7 million in North America for The Walt Disney Company. But the $400 million-budgeted film has been a massive draw internationally, grossing $542.7 million thus far overseas. To reach the box-office heights of the previous films, both of which rank among the biggest blockbusters ever, \u201cFire and Ash\u201d will need to sustain business through New Year\u2019s and early January. If it does, \u201cAvatar\u201d could become the first franchise with three $2 billion movies.<\/p>\n
But much of the heat in theaters over Christmas and on the weekend belonged to \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d A24\u2019s biggest budget release, Josh Safdie\u2019s 1950s-set table tennis drama collected $27.1 million over the four-day weekend, a smash success for the indie studio.<\/p>\n
Chalamet went to great lengths to promote the acclaimed release, including appearing atop the Sphere in Las Vegas. The strong opening proved that the 30-year-old star has drawing power beyond most of his contemporaries, and it marked a rare box-office win for a wholly original film. Safdie\u2019s film carries a price tag of about $70 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d even bested the film most analysts expected to rank number two: Sony Pictures\u2019 \u201cAnaconda.\u201d The big-screen comedy, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, collected $23.7 million over the four-day holiday weekend. That\u2019s still good for comedy, a genre most studios have abandoned in recent years. But \u201cAnaconda\u201d (50% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) was surely dinged by poor reviews.<\/p>\n
Hollywood is ending the year with its best Christmas Day box office since before the COVID-19 pandemic, a celebratory final note in what\u2019s been a rough year for the film industry. Going into the year, expectations were high for the industry\u2019s first year this decade not marred by pandemic or strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really solid end to a tumultuous year,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. \u201cIt’s been a roller-coaster ride. I think the best news for the industry \u2014 I know we kind of say this every year \u2014 but if you look at the lineup for 2026, it’s pretty incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
But domestic ticket sales on the year are ending roughly on par with the disappointing $8.75 billion in 2024. With three days left in 2025, the box-office total is $8.76 billion, according to Comscore. By comparison, in 2019, that total was $11.4 billion.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a worrying development for theaters, which are now nervously watching\u00a0Netflix attempt to buy\u00a0one of Hollywood\u2019s most storied studios in Warner Bros. The highest grossing film of the year was a Chinese production, the $2 billion-generating\u00a0\u201cNe Zha 2.\u201d\u00a0The most-watched movie of 2025 was\u00a0\u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d\u00a0a movie Sony Pictures sold to Netflix. Even the Oscars\u00a0are headed to YouTube.<\/p>\n
What worked in 2025? PG-rated movies. For the second year in a row, PG-rated movies outperformed PG-13 ones. Domestically, PG films generated $2.87 billion, according to Comscore, while PG-13 movies collected $2.78 billion.<\/p>\n
The three biggest Hollywood blockbusters were all PG-rated: \u201cZootopia 2\u201d ($1.42 billion globally), \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d ($1.04 billion) and “A Minecraft Movie\u201d ($958.2 million).<\/p>\n
\u201cZootopia 2\u201d\u00a0even outranked the newcomers over the traditional weekend. In its fifth weekend, it earned another $20 million. Propelled by \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d and \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d Disney became the first studio since 2019 to cross $6 billion worldwide in the year.<\/p>\n
Yet expectations are already growing for a rebound year at the box office in 2026. Among the major titles upcoming are \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie,\u201d \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d the live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d \u201cToy Story 5\u201d and \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coming week, when schools are out and many people are off work, should be one of the busiest weeks of the year in theaters. Aside from the top films, a number of other releases will hope to capitalize.<\/p>\n
That includes Lionsgate’s\u00a0\u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d\u00a0the Paul Feig thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried ($46.7 million in two weeks); \u201cDavid,\u201d the animated David and Goliath film from Angel Studios ($49.8 million in two weeks); Paramount Pictures\u2019 \u201cThe SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants\u201d ($38.2 million in two weeks); and Focus Features\u2019\u00a0\u201cSong Sung Blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d may be particularly well-positioned for strong legs. The Craig Brewer-directed film, starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman as members of a Neil Diamond cover band, debuted over the holiday weekend with a four-day haul of $12 million. Audience scores (an \u201cA\u201d CinemaScore) have been excellent.<\/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 $64 million.<\/p>\n
2. \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d $20 million.<\/p>\n
3. \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d $17.5 million.<\/p>\n
4. \u201cThe Housemaid,\u201d $15.4 million.<\/p>\n
5. \u201cAnaconda,\u201d $14.6 million.<\/p>\n
6. \u201cDavid,\u201d $12.7 million.<\/p>\n
7. \u201cThe SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,\u201d $11.2 million.<\/p>\n
8. \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d $7.6 million.<\/p>\n
9. \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d $5.3 million.<\/p>\n
10. \u201cFive Nights at Freddy’s 2,\u201d $4.4 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Hollywood wrapped up a turbulent year with big ticket sales for\u00a0\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d\u00a0and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[13354,14438,13359,60067,60068,5167,7,967,48,52,51,47,50,49,100],"class_list":{"0":"post-111851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-all-markets-rank-everywhere","9":"tag-app-arts-entertainment","10":"tag-app-for-your-consideration","11":"tag-app-latest-arts-entertainment-stories","12":"tag-app-latest-entertainment-stories","13":"tag-associated-press","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}