‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Tops Domestic Box Office Again

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is a sci-fi fantasy from filmmaker James Cameron. (Courtesy Disney)

Key Points

• “Avatar: Fire and Ash” earned an estimated $64 million domestically this weekend, totaling $217.7 million since its December 19 debut.
• The domestic box office reached $8.76 billion, a 1.6% increase from 2024, with a projected annual total of $8.874 billion.
• Christmas 2025 releases grossed nearly $68 million from ten films, falling short of the $69.9 million from seven films in 2024.

Walt Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash stayed No. 1 at the domestic box office for a second straight weekend. Ticket sales for Christmas releases, though, fell short of last year’s total.

Avatar: Fire and Ash raked in another estimated $64 million through Sunday, bringing its domestic ticket sales to an estimated $217.7 million since its Dec. 19 debut, according to media analytics company Comscore.

The film resonated with global audiences, too, selling another $542.7 million internationally. Its total worldwide take: $760.4 million.

James Cameron’s sci-fi fantasy was also the biggest cinema draw on Christmas, with $24 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada—35.3% of the day’s totals.

Ten films opened in the U.S. on Christmas this year, collectively contributing to nearly $68 million in domestic ticket sales. On Christmas 2024, seven films opened, grossing $69.9 million in total ticket sales, Comscore reported.

The weekend’s estimated $177.2 million in ticket sales brings this year’s domestic box office total to $8.76 billion, up 1.6% from this point in 2024.

Comscore is projecting a final annual domestic box office of $8.874 billion, Paul Dergarabedian, the company’s head of marketplace trends, told Barron’s.

“The $9 billion benchmark has been on everyone’s radar as the box office target to hit in ’25,” he said.

Dergarabedian still characterizes the final full week of the year as a solid way to round out a tumultuous year at the box office and proof that people love going to the movie theater.

Only two films that opened on Christmas ranked in the domestic top 10: Anaconda, from Sony Pictures, and Song Sung Blue, from Focus Features.

Anaconda, a PG-13-rated comedy adventure about midlife, raked in an estimated $14.6 million this weekend and $23.7 million through Sunday to open in fifth place.

Song Sung Blue, a PG-13-rated musical biography of a Neil Diamond tribute band, sold $7.6 million this weekend and $12.0 million through Sunday to open in eighth place.

The rest of the domestic top 10 were holdovers. In second place was Disney’s Zootopia 2, which opened on Nov. 26. It sold another $20 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its total domestic box office to an estimated $321.4 million, according to Comscore. International ticket sales brought in another $1.1 billion. The worldwide total now stands at $1.4 billion.

In third place, A24’s sports drama Marty Supreme sold a record per-screen average of $145,833, the highest since 2016’s La La Land, when it opened in six theaters on Dec. 19. On Christmas, it opened on 2,668 screens and sold $17.5 million this weekend. It has sold $28.3 million through Sunday.

In fourth place, Lionsgate’s The Housemaid sold another $15.4 million this weekend, bringing its domestic year-to-date total to $46.5 million.

And in ninth place, Universal’s Wicked: For Good, which opened Nov. 17, sold $5.3 million in its sixth weekend. It has sold an estimated $331.6 million.

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com