‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ passes $1bn as global box office leader; ‘The Housemaid’ expands with $42.3m session

Worldwide box office: January 2-4

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

’Avatar: Fire And Ash’ stays strong in third weekend

Topping the worldwide box office chart for a third time, Avatar: Fire And Ash passed the billion dollar mark over the first weekend of 2026, with an estimated global take of $169.6m, for a total to date of $1.08bn. 

The Disney franchise entry was down a modest 30% for its third weekend on global release, taking $129.6m (down just 29%) from 51 international territories and $40m (down 37%) from North America. 

Fire And Ash is now the second biggest Hollywood release of 2025 on a global basis, having overtaken Jurassic World: Rebirth, The Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch. 

The epic adventure was actually up 26% in Japan and stayed strong in a number of major territories: China was down 32% for a total so far of $137.9m; France was off 23%, for $81m to date; Germany declined 27%, for a $64.1m total; and Korea slid 38%, for $44.1m. 

The film took another $22.5m this weekend from Imax screens around the globe, entering the format’s all-time top ten with a cumulative $140m. 

Fire And Ash is still running a bit behind its predecessors, however, passing the billion dollar mark a few days later than both 2022’s Avatar: The Way Of Water and the original Avatar. 

Also holding up well for Disney over the weekend was Zootopia 2 (aka Zootropolis 2), which remained in second place on the global chart with an estimated take of $81.7m for its sixth weekend. 

The family blockbuster has now grossed $1.59bn to date, making it Hollywood’s second biggest animated hit ever. Early this week the film is expected to overtake Avengers: Endgame as the most successful Hollywood release of all time in China. 

The sequel was down just 10% across the international marketplace, with weekend takes increasing in the UK (up 34%), Australia (up 20%) and China (up 13%) and showing single digit percentage drops in Japan, Brazil and Germany. 

The film’s biggest totals so far are China’s $601.4m, Japan’s $68.9m, France’s $66.3m and Korea’s $53m.

’The Housemaid’ cleans up with 40-market expansion

Lionsgate’s The Housemaid had another successful international expansion this weekend, taking an estimated $42.3m from 62 markets worldwide to pass $100m and bring its total after three weekends to $133m. The expansion pushed the thriller up to third place on the weekend’s global chart. 

The film dropped only 3% in North America with an estimated $14.9m, and internationally it entered 40 new territories (through various distributors), opening second only to Fire And Ash in Spain, Brazil and Portugal. 

Also in its third weekend, Paramount’s The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants passed $100m globally, taking an estimated $31m for a total of $112.3m. 

The animated sequel opened in China with $4.1m, in Italy with $2.3m, and in Brazil with $1.8m. 

’Anaconda’ slips, ‘Marty’ edges into international

Columbia Pictures’ Anaconda dropped down to fifth place on the chart after its solid opening last weekend, taking an estimated $23.4m worldwide, for a cumulative tally of $88.4m. 

Among its handful of new markets, the live-action comedy took $1.1m in France. Among holdover markets, Australia produced $1.9m over the weekend, for a total to date of $5.8m; the UK delivered $1.4m (down only 20%), for a total of $5.3m; and Mexico yielded $1.1m, for a $4m total. 

Sony will soon launch the comedy in Italy, China, Japan and South Korea. 

A24’s awards contender Marty Supreme has already proved a strong draw in North America and this weekend added two more international territories to its release for an estimated global take of $16.7m from five markets. The Josh Safdie-directed drama starring Timothee Chalamet, which took fourth place in the weekend’s North American chart with an estimated $12.6m, is set to open in most major international territories through local distributors over the next two or three weeks.

Local films get New Year’s boost

A trio of local films found significant audiences over the new year’s first weekend and did well enough to get into the global top ten. 

Back To The Past, a Chinese sci-fi action tale based on a Hong Kong TV series, took an estimated $16.1m from six markets over the weekend, bringing its total since a December 31 launch to $29.3m. 

Prostokvashino (aka Fredonia: The Movie), a Russian live action/animated comedy based on a soviet-era cartoon series, debuted with $12.2m from four territories. 

And Buratino, a Russian musical fantasy adaptation of a children’s book based on classic The Adventures of Pinocchio, managed $12.1m from eight markets. 

• Disney tops 2025 studio rankings with $6.58bn global box office take, Warner and Universal follow