‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ leads North American box office with $88m debut

Avatar: Fire And Ash led the pre-holiday period with an estimated $88m North American debut from 3,800 sites that was well behind the $134.1m bow of Avatar: The Way Of Water in 2022, which opened in the same weekend as the World Cup final in Qatar.

While this was a little below projections in the $90m range, Disney sources were nonetheless encouraged by the start for James Cameron’s third Pandora instalment as schools break up. The North American tally played its part in a strong $345m global debut that comprised $257m from international territories - in line with projections – and propelled the running total for the three sci-fi fantasy features from 20th Century Studios past $5.6bn.

It should be noted that the franchise builds strongly over time and this third instalment had a slightly shorter run-in, opening a little later in December than The Way Of Water (December 16, 2022) and Avatar (December 18, 2009).

Does the slighter debut suggest an over-familiarity with the franchise? That remains to be seen. Disney executives are confident the film will build momentum over the holidays and will hope Fire And Ash can cross $2bn globally and rub shoulders with its two predecessors. Avatar and Avatar: The Way Of Water rank as the number one and number three films in the all-time global box office pantheon on $785.2m in North America and $2.9bn worldwide, and $684.1m in North America and $2.3bn worldwide, respectively.

Avatar: Fire And Ash stars franchise regulars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang, as well as newcomers Kate Winslet and Oona Chaplin. The film scored 4.5/5 on PostTrak and an A CinemaScore. Premium formats accounted for 66% of the opening weekend, with 3D shows contributing 56% to box office. Imax accounted for $13m or 14.8% of the North America gross, which is the fourth-highest indexing for a domestic bow above $85m.

Box office analyst EntTelligence reported approximately 5.2m cinema-goers turned out and there was a 53%-47% male-female audience split. The Avatar films have now delivered three of the top 10 December openings of all time and The Walt Disney Studios releases occupy five of the top 10 domestic opening weekends of 2025.

The three-day weekend produced an estimated $178.7m overall, which means that year-to-date box office is tracking 1% ahead of 2024 by the same stage. 

’Marty Supreme’ wows specialty box office

A24 said Marty Supreme starring awards contender Timothée Chalamet delivered the biggest limited opening of the year and the highest per-screen-average since La La Land in 2016. It arrived on $875,000 from six screens for A24’s biggest per-screen average of $145,933.

Josh Safdie’s epic drama, based loosely on the life of American table tennis player Marty Reisman, sold out its 92 shows in New York and Los Angeles and arrived in ninth place.

The surprise world premiere at New York Film Festival in late autumn earned $384,438 on Friday, $265,145 on Saturday, and $225,417 on Sunday and will expand wide on December 25. The cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher.

’David’ delivers for Angel Studios

Animated Biblical musical David opened in second place through Angel Studios on $22m from 3,118 sites. This was a mighty debut that reflects strong demand for faith-based fare across North America and particularly in the heartlands of the US MidWest and Bible Belt.

Angel began promoting its David and Goliath story at CinemaCon in 2024 and the work paid off as the studio recorded its biggest three-day opening weekend, overtaking the $19.7m debut of Sound Of Freedom in July 2023.

The feature co-directed by Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham also ranks as the highest-grossing faith-based animated theatrical opening of all-time, surpassing Angel’s The King Of Kings on $19.4m earlier this year and well ahead of DreamWorks Animation’s 1998 release Prince Of Egypt on an unadjusted $14.5m. 

Lionsgate’s erotic thriller The Housemaid starring Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar and directed by Paul Feig opened at number three on an estimated $19m from 3,015 sites. PostTrak reported a 70%-30% female-male audience split.

Based on the first book in the trilogy by Freida McFadden, the film follows a young woman trying to escape her past (Sweeney) who takes a job as a live-in housemaid for a wealthy woman and her husband who have secrets of their own.

Paramount’s The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants opened at number four on $16m from 3,557 and the latest entry in the children’s property earned an A CinemaScore rating and is expected to play well throughout the holidays. The highest-earning film in four features so far has been The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water in 2025 on $162.9m.

Disney’s Zootopia 2 in fifth place reached $282.2m in North America in its fourth weekend after a $14.5m haul from 3,450 sites. 

In number six, Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 added $7.3m for $108.9m in its third session and studio executives have their eyes on the $137.3m final total of the breakout 2023 original. One place behind in seventh is Universal’s Wicked: For Good, which added $4.3m in its fifth weekend for a $320.5m running total.

Chloe Zhao’s awards heavyweight Hamnet rounded out the top 10 on $850,000 in 617 sites through Focus Features for an $8.8m cumulative tally after five sessions.

Searchlight Pictures’ comedy drama Is This Thing On? starring Will Arnett as a man going through a divorce who tries his hand at stand-up comedy arrived in six cinemas in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto and grossed $145,000 for a $24,200 per-site average. Laura Dern also stars alongside director Bradley Cooper and Andra Day, and Is This Thing On? will mostly open internationally in February 2026.

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