The success of James Cameron’s fantasy threequel marks the fifth major weekend in a row at the domestic box office.

*Avatar: Fire and Ash *sets the box office ablaze with scorching $345 million global premiere

The success of James Cameron's fantasy threequel marks the fifth major weekend in a row at the domestic box office.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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December 21, 2025 7:14 p.m. ET

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'Avatar: Fire and Ash'. Credit:

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

- *Avatar: Fire and Ash *burned up the global box office this weekend with a stupendous $345 million premiere gross.

- While that represents a downturn from *Avatar: The Way of Water*'s opening earnings in 2022, each entry in the franchise has proven an enduring success at the box office, eventually racking up hundreds of millions.

- The rest of the leading spots on the domestic chart were occupied by new premieres — the animated Christian film *David *(No. 2), erotic thriller *The Housemaid *(No. 3), and comical family film *The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants *(No. 4).

Be thrilled, be grateful, be anything you like — but don't be surprised that *Avatar: Fire and Ash *just broke the bank at the weekend box office.

The third in James Cameron's planned five-part saga got a great start domestically with $88 million in its premiere weekend, but shot to the moon and back globally with $345 million by the time Sunday rolled around, per Comscore.

That domestic figure marks a fairly significant downturn from its predecessor, 2022's *Avatar: The Way of Water*, which summoned $134 million over the course of its premiere weekend. But it does tick up from 2009's franchise starter, which earned $77 million. Each *Avatar *film has launched the weekend before Christmas, and parts 1 and 2 have proven to have long, long legs, racking up hundreds of millions in their walks into and through the new year.

That means 2025 is well and redeemed at the domestic box office, despite long, slow stretches, and a worryingly fallow summer. *Fire and Ash*'s premiere marks the fifth major groundswell at U.S. theaters in as many weeks, following the releases of *Wicked: For Good*, *Zootopia 2*, and *Five Nights at Freddy's 2*, which currently boast a combined gross in excess of $700 million.

'David,' 'The Housemaid,' 'The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants'.

Angel Clips/youtube;Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate;Paramount Pictures

Speaking of eye-popping combined grosses, Cameron's *Avatar *franchise has now earned over $5.6 billion at the global box office, breaking every conceivable record for franchise profitability.

Still, *Fire and Ash*'s monumental global premiere figure didn't eclipse the records set by *Zootopia 2*, which started with* *$556 million, and China's animated mythic epic *Ne Zha 2*, which premiered to $431 million.

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*Wicked: For Good*, *Zootopia 2*, and *Five Nights at Freddy's 2 *are all still going strong at five, four, and three weeks in theaters, respectively. But even more good box office news came this week in the fact of their all being sidelined to three additional new premieres.

The Christian production house Angel Studios, a newly minted major player in town, released the PG-rated animated musical *David *to silver medal success on the domestic charts, with a $22 million premiere take. The family-friendly take on the iconic tale of David and Goliath also registered internationally at No. 3 despite only opening in two additional territories — Canada and Australia.

At No. 3, Lionsgate scored a surprising win with the erotic thriller *The Housemaid*, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The adaptation of the bestseller by Freida McFadden opened to $19 million across just over 3,000 theaters for a strong per-theater-average of $6,032. Finally, at No. 4 was *The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants*. The animated romp featuring the voices of George Lopez, Mark Hamill, and rapper Ice Spice earned $16 million in its domestic debut.

For the first time in over a month, next weekend's roster of new releases doesn't include any obvious breakaway hits. *Avatar*, *Wicked*, and *Zootopia *were all sure things, but that doesn't mean *Song Sung Blue *can't surprise us all.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star as Mike and Claire Sardina, a couple who perform in a Neil Diamond tribute band called Lightning & Thunder, in the latest from *Hustle & Flow *and *Coming 2 America *director Craig Brewer.

"This is actually what a real love story is," Brewer said of a preview scene shared exclusively with * *in November. "You have this fantastic beginning to a relationship. There's music, there's fireworks, and then you decide to share a life with each other and share a home with each other. And then life starts happening, and that's when tragedy starts to happen. That's when heartbreak begins to happen. And the idyllic dream of what you went into with rose-tinted glasses begins to get cracks in them."

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