First off, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is the third movie in James Cameron’s big, blue, sci-fi series. It just came out a week ago, and it’s already brought in a whopping $450 million from around the world. To put that in perspective, that’s like selling roughly 45 million movie tickets at an average price, in just seven days. It’s a monster hit already.
That $450 million is split into two main parts. About $119 million of that came from the United States and Canada (that’s the “domestic” box office). The rest, a much bigger chunk of $331 million, came from everywhere else—countries like China, France, Germany, South Korea, and so on. This shows that Avatar is a truly global event. People everywhere are flocking to Pandora, that beautiful alien world Cameron created.
Now, the movie’s first weekend was huge, but the real test for a blockbuster is what happens after the opening weekend. Do people keep coming, or do they lose interest? For “Fire and Ash,” the signs are good. This past Tuesday, it made another $16.5 million domestically and $34.3 million overseas. These are really strong numbers for a random weekday. It means the movie has “legs.” It’s not just a flash in the pan; people are still buying tickets even after the initial rush. This “steady hold” is great news for the studio, especially with Christmas right around the corner.
Christmas is like the Super Bowl for movie theaters. Families are off work and school, people are looking for things to do together, and going to the movies is a classic tradition. The period from Christmas Day through the weekend is one of the busiest of the entire year. So, the fact that “Avatar” is holding strong right before this rush is a fantastic sign.
The article says the movie is aiming to make $75 to $80 million over the four-day Christmas weekend (Friday through Monday). If it hits that, it will almost certainly stay as the #1 movie in North America, even with new competition. And speaking of competition, three new films are jumping into the ring on Christmas Eve: a sports comedy with Timothée Chalamet (“Marty Supreme”), a musical drama (“Song Sung Blue”), and a disaster comedy called “Anaconda.” But since they open so late in the week, their first numbers won’t even come out until Christmas Day.
But here’s the really interesting part of the story. While “Avatar” is the shiny new thing, there’s another movie that’s been out for a while that is an absolute juggernaut: “Zootopia 2.” This Disney animated sequel has already earned $1.3 BILLION worldwide. Let that number sink in. It’s almost three times what the new Avatar has made so far. A staggering $993 million of that came from overseas audiences. It’s so popular internationally that it will soon be only the second animated movie ever to cross the $1 billion mark outside North America (the first was “Inside Out 2”).
It’s the big event of the moment. “Zootopia 2,” on the other hand, is the movie that just won’t quit. It’s a family film that everyone can see, and it’s been playing for weeks, steadily piling up cash. It’s a reminder that while flashy sci-fi gets the opening weekend headlines, a well-loved animated movie can have incredible staying power and appeal to every single demographic.
Finally, all this success has led to a huge milestone for Disney, the studio behind both Avatar and Zootopia. Thanks to these hits, plus others like the “Lilo & Stitch” remake, Disney has officially surpassed $6 billion in global ticket sales for the year. This is the first time they’ve done that since the COVID pandemic shut everything down, and only the fifth time in their entire history. It’s a massive comeback for the box office and for Disney itself. It’s like the movie industry is finally, fully back in action.
So, in a nutshell: The new Avatar is off to a roaring start and is poised to rule Christmas. But it’s sharing the spotlight with a gentle animal cop from Zootopia who has been quietly breaking records for weeks. Together, they’re helping bring crowds back to theatres and proving that when the right movie comes along, people still love the magic of the big screen. It’s a good holiday season for movie lovers, and for the folks counting the tickets.