“Avatar: Fire and Ash” continued to draw crowds on New Year’s Eve, topping the box office with US$8.1 million.
The film has become another holiday juggernaut for James Cameron and Disney, which acquired the rights to all things Pandora when it bought Fox in 2019.
It has earned just over US$250 million during its first two weeks in theaters and has been an even stronger performer overseas.
It should cross US$1 billion globally in the coming days.
But the movie business did not have as much to celebrate as it hoped to as the year came to a close.
Cinemas in the U.S. and Canada sold an estimated US$8.87 billion in tickets in 2025, representing a modest 1.5 percent increase on 2024’s domestic revenues.
That is also short of the US$9 billion that many analysts expected the industry to generate.
Prior to the pandemic, ticket sales were on an upward trajectory, routinely nearing or topping $11 million, but attendance has yet to return to the same levels even as the cost of going to the movies has increased. The popularity of premium formats like Imax, which have higher ticket prices, has bolstered grosses even as fewer consumers have opted to hit up the multiplex.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2” continued to be a force, earning US$4.6 million to bring its domestic total to US$337.9 million to take second place.
“Marty Supreme” continued to be one of the few indie films to break out at the box office, earning $2.4 million on Wednesday to nab third place.
That brings the domestic total for the A24 drama about a ping pong hustler (Timothée Chalamet) to roughly US$39 million.
The film, which has been acclaimed by critics, was costly. It has a budget of $70 million and the studio spent tens of millions more to market the picture.
Source: variety.com
