‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ crosses $1.2bn at global box office; ‘The Raja Saab’, ‘Primate’, ‘Greenland 2’ roll out

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Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

Fire burns brightly

Disney’s Avatar: Fire And Ash continues to keep cinemas warm at the start of 2026, crossing $1.2bn at the global box office on its fourth weekend on release in most territories.

According to latest estimates, the sci-fi tentpole added $86.9m on its latest session – a 49% drop on its previous weekend.

The film made $65.6m in international territories – also down 49% - and now has $888m from international markets.

It opened on top spot in Hong Kong this past weekend with $900,000. The film saw upticks in the Philippines (+61%), Uruguay (+15%) and Argentina (+4%), while other key holdover markets were Brazil (-24%), Australia (-31%), Spain (-41%) and UK-Ireland (-41%).

Fire And Ash is the number two MPA release of 2025 behind Zootopia 2; with Disney releasing the only three 2025 titles to cross $1bn, with those two films plus Lilo & Stitch.

James Cameron’s Avatar franchise has now made a combined $6.5bn at the global box office, putting it 12^th on the list of highest-grossing franchises ahead of the combined Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies ($6bn). Fire And Ash is tracking behind 2022’s Avatar: The Way Of Water, which had $1.7bn at the same stage of its release after a $178m weekend.

Fire And Ash also became the seventh-highest-grossing Imax film of all time this weekend, with a $12.2m session on the format taking it to $159m total from Imax - $12.9m of the global total.

$7m of this $12.2m came from international markets, where it has $74.7m in total in Imax.

Animal kingdom

Fire And Ash’s Disney stablemate Zootopia 2 stayed in second place on the global chart, with a lower session of $40.9m but higher global total of $1.7bn, according to latest estimates.

It is the highest-grossing MPA release of all time in China with $611m; which contributes almost half of a $1.3bn international footprint.

Uruguay (+46%), Argentina (+39%) and Brazil (+9%) all saw increases on the previous session, with decent holds also in Australia (-2%), Japan (-41%), Mexico (-41%) and UK-Ireland (-45%).

The film is also the highest-grossing MPA animated release ever internationally, and sixth-highest-grossing of all MPA releases.

Currently the 12^th-highest-grossing film of all time, it should overtake at least the next three titles above it – two of which are Disney animated titles (The Lion King and Inside Out 2, both with slightly higher $1.7bn totals).

Sharing the love

After the previous weekend saw all of the top 10 titles at the global box office make over $10m, this weekend was not far behind with nine of the 10 crossing that mark, according to latest estimates.

Providing overall box office remains strong, this is a good sign for cinemas, indicating a broad spread of audience interest across a range of genres, and both new and holdover films.

New releases this weekend included Maruthi Dasari’s Bollywood fantasy The Raja Saab, which started in fourth place worldwide with a strong $19.8m. The film made $17.5m from international markets including UK-Ireland, New Zealand, Fiji and its home territory India.

Indian icon Prabhas stars as a young heir who embraces both his royal heritage and rebellious spirit, while on a search for his missing grandfather.

Johannes Roberts’ horror Primate started in fifth place with a $13.4m global weekend. That included $2.1m from its first 26 international markets, with only 20% of the international rollout on the board so far.

Most of its 26 international territories were in South and Central America. Mexico led the international markets with a $925,000 weekend, followed by Peru with $220,000, Colombia with $110,000 and Argentina with $106,000.

It will land in France on January 21, followed by Australia on 22, Germany, Italy, Brazil and South Korea on 29, UK-Ireland on 30, and Spain on February 6.

The film sees a group of friends’ tropical vacation turn into a primal tale of horror and survival.

Paramount also has The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants on the global chart, adding $12.2m on its latest session to hit a $132.2m total; with a $8.4m international weekend for a $68.6m international total.

Also starting above the $10m mark this weekend was post-apocalyptic action survival sequel Greenland 2: Migration. The film started with $12.8m from 33 territories, including $4.3m from international markets. Ric Roman Waugh’s sequel sees the surviving Garrity family leave the safety of their Greenland bunker and embark on a dangerous journey across the frozen wasteland of Europe to find a new home.

Holdovers

This weekend’s chart saw those new titles mixing with previous releases, including Paul Feig’s thriller The Housemaid.

The film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, added $36.7m on its latest session – a drop of just 13% compared to the previous weekend, far better than most other holdover titles.

It took $25.5m from 66 international markets and is now up to $192.5m worldwide, of which $98.3m comes from international territories.

Josh Safdie’s table tennis coming-of-age tale Marty Supreme added $10.7m including $3.1m internationally; and remains on course to top $100m across its run, with $84.2m to date.

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