‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ scores $345m debut at global box office; ‘Zootopia 2’ posts solid hold

Worldwide box office: December 19-21

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates. 

‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ tops multiple markets

With only three years since the last Avatar film was in cinemas, compared to a 13-year gap between the 2009 original Avatar and 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way Of Water, the question had remained: would audiences be remotely as excited this time around?

After one weekend of play, any Disney executives nerves should settle thanks to an estimated global opening of $345m for Avatar: Fire And Ash: $88m in North America, and $257m across 51 international markets. That compares with a $441.7m opening for The Way Of Water three years ago: $134.1m in North America and $307.6m across international markets.

Fire And Ash opened at the top spot in all significant international markets except Japan. The film also provided the biggest opening of 2025 in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea and many smaller markets.

Following the success of Zootopia 2 in China (see below), Disney has scored another hit in the populous market, with an estimated $57.6m opening – just above The Way Of Water’s $56.0m China launch, and the second-biggest debut in 2025 for a US studio film.

Behind China, France provided the second-biggest international opening for Fire And Ash with an estimated five-day $21.4m, ahead of Germany ($18.0m), South Korea ($13.6m), UK/Ireland ($11.9m) and Mexico ($10.0m).

The James Cameron-directed film was strong on 3D, in Imax and in PLF (premium large-format) – with 56% of box office revenue coming from 3D, and a further 10% from premium 2D formats. Standard 2D presentation accounted for only 34% of the total.

Imax reported a $43.6m global opening for Fire And Ash – the company’s biggest debut number in 2025, and the fifth-biggest in its history. Imax delivered 12.6% of the opening box office for Fire And Ash on less than 1% of the film’s total screens. Numerous countries notched their biggest Imax opening weekends ever, including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Belgium, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Romania, Switzerland and Turkey.

Three years ago, Avatar: The Way Of Water went on to achieve a lifetime total of $2.34bn – with $688m in North America and $1.66bn across international markets. The original Avatar remains the highest-grossing film of all time, with $2.92m globally.

Avatar films have traditionally held well across successive weekends, and Disney will hope that Fire And Ash continues that trend. There remains a long way to go for the film to reach the stratospheric heights even of the last instalment. 

‘Zootopia 2’ adds $91m for $1.27bn total

Despite the arrival of Avatar: Fire And Ash in the market, fellow Disney release Zootopia 2 (aka Zootropolis 2) achieved a solid hold, dropping 44% in North America, 42% across international markets, and 36% across international markets excluding China.

The animated sequel grossed an estimated $91.2m in its fourth weekend of play: $14.5m in North America, and $76.7m across international markets.

Totals to date are $283m in North America and $990m for international – combining to deliver a $1.27bn global total. That compares with $1.04bn lifetime for the original Zootopia in 2016.

With its Avatar and Zootopia sequels, Disney occupied the top two spots at the weekend box office in almost all the key international markets, including France, Germany, Spain, UK/Ireland, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.

A significant key to the success of Zootopia 2 is the contribution of China: $539.1m box office, and more than half of the international total. The number is more than 12 times the second-ranked international market: France, with $44.0m. Next in the international ranking for the film come South Korea ($41.3m), Japan ($39.3m), Mexico ($28.9m) and Germany ($27.2m). UK/Ireland, which currently ranks a rather lowly seventh among international markets for the title, has reached $24.7m.

Zootopia 2 is the highest-grossing US studio film of 2025 globally, ahead of Lilo & Stitch ($1.04bn). Based on the opening number for Avatar: Fire And Ash, Disney looks on track to achieve the biggest three films of the year among US studio releases – although Fire And Ash may not join its Disney stablemates in the top three by the end of calendar year 2025. (All these Disney titles are eclipsed by the highest-grossing film of the year globally, Chinese animation Ne Zha 2 with a $1.90bn total.)

Domestic releases pepper global top 10 chart

There are three films in Comscore’s worldwide weekend top 10 chart courtesy of North American release: faith-based animated musical David, twisty psychological thriller The Housemaid and animated sequel The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants.

These films are either yet to release beyond the shores of North America (Spongebob) or have so far been negligibly released in international markets.

Lionsgate’s The Housemaid and Paramount’s The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants will enjoy significant international rollout beginning this coming weekend. The Spongebob film played paid previews at the weekend, for example in UK/Ireland.

Estimated opening numbers for this trio are: $22.1m for Angel Studios’ David, $19.2m for The Housemaid and $16.0m for The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants.

Directed by Paul Feig, The Housemaid is adapted from the first book in a bestselling trilogy by Freida McFadden, and stars Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. It’s the second hit film featuring Sklenar based on a bestselling novel, following It Ends With Us adapted from Colleen Hoover’s book.

It Ends With Us grossed $351.4m worldwide lifetime for Sony Pictures Releasing in 2024. The two films are not directly comparable in terms of genre, and have different certification in the US: PG-13 for It Ends With Us and R for The Housemaid. (Both are rated 15 in the UK.)

Sandwiched between The Housemaid and the Spongebob film in the global chart is Indian action epic Dhurandhar, which added an estimated $16.0m from 21 markets, taking the total after three weekends to $94.1m.

Falling down the chart is Universal’s Wicked: For Good, now down in eighth place, and adding an estimated $8.3m worldwide at the weekend. Global total is $484.2m. A year ago, Wicked reached a lifetime total of $758.8m.

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