Moviegoers packed theaters during the final weekend of the year as James Cameron Avatar 3 box office numbers continued to climb, confirming Avatar: Fire and Ash as one of the biggest blockbusters of 2025. The sci-fi epic once again proved the franchise’s lasting power, drawing large crowds across global markets.
The third film in James Cameron’s Avatar series earned an additional $64 million domestically from Friday through Sunday and about $181.2 million internationally, pushing its worldwide total to $760.4 million. In just 10 days, the movie rose to become the sixth highest-grossing film worldwide in 2025, overtaking major titles such as Warner Bros. Discovery’s Superman and Sony Pictures’ Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.
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The continued success of the james cameron avatar 3 box office highlights the strength of the long-running franchise, which began in 2009 and expanded in 2022. With its cutting-edge visual effects and immersive storytelling, Fire and Ash has once again drawn audiences back to theaters. The film has already generated $96 million globally from IMAX screenings, and Disney expects it to become the biggest IMAX release of the year. According to Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, premium formats played a major role in the film’s performance, even as consumers remain cautious about ticket prices.
Beyond Avatar, several other films performed strongly during the holiday period. Disney’s Zootopia 2, which debuted over Thanksgiving, finished second at the box office with $20 million, representing a 35% increase from the previous weekend. The animated sequel has now earned $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 2025. Dergarabedian praised the film’s holiday success, noting that PG-rated movies outperformed PG-13 releases this year, generating a combined $2.87 billion.
A24’s Marty Supreme landed in third place with $17.5 million. The sports comedy-drama starring Timothée Chalamet gained momentum through strong social media buzz and a younger audience base. After opening in just six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, the film expanded to more than 2,600 theaters nationwide. According to Shawn Robbins of Fandango and Box Office Theory, A24 effectively blended awards-season strategy with modern digital promotion.
Lionsgate’s The Housemaid followed in fourth place with $15.4 million, while Sony Pictures’ reboot of Anaconda earned $14.5 million. Angel Studios’ David collected $12.69 million, and Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants brought in $11 million. Focus Features’ Song Sung Blue debuted at No. 8 with $7.6 million.
According to Robbins, this marked the strongest Christmas box office week since 2020. He noted that seeing so many major releases meet or exceed expectations during the same holiday period has been rare in the post-pandemic era.
So far in 2025, the domestic box office has reached $8.76 billion, up 1.56% from last year but still behind 2023, the only post-pandemic year to surpass $9 billion. Before COVID-19, the industry peaked in 2019 with more than $11 billion in domestic earnings.
Industry experts believe the momentum from the james cameron avatar 3 box office could carry into early 2026. Dergarabedian estimates that another $100 million could be added before the year ends. A strong upcoming slate—including The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 3), Disclosure Day (June 12), Disney’s Toy Story 5 (June 19), and December releases like Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three—could help theaters achieve their best year since the pandemic.
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