After a bumpy 2025, the new year is off to a good start at the domestic box office, thanks to a varied menu of holiday titles that moviegoers are continuing to feast on before schools and college resume and extended work vacations end. Indeed, New Year’s weekend revenue looks to be a post-pandemic best.
Leading the pack, of course, is James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, which flew past the $1 billion mark at the global box office on Saturday. Disney and 20th Century will announce full details Sunday morning. It’s another notch in Cameron’s belt, who already directed three of the four biggest movies of all time at the global box office, led by Avatar and followed by Avatar: The Way of Water and Titanic.
Avatar 3‘s global earnings through New Year’s Day (Thursday) were a mighty $935 million, including $266 million domestically and $699 overseas. On Friday, it earned another $14 million in North America from 3,832 theaters to finish the day with a domestic total of $280 million. Based on those returns, it should win the weekend with a chart-topping $36 million to $38 million as it crosses the $300 million mark in North America in addition to the billion-dollar milestone.
And, as of Saturday, it is one of only three Hollywood movies released in 2025 to cross $1 billion after fellow Disney titles Lilo & Stitch ($1.038 billion) and the record-smashing Zootopia 2, which has grossed $1.51 billion to date since its Thanksgiving release.
And its still going strong. Zootopia 2 is expected to fall a scant seven percent in its sixth weekend to come in second with $18 million or more from 3,285 cinemas.
Earlier this week, the sequel passed up Frozen II ($1.453 billion) to become the top-grossing title in the history of Walt Disney Animation Studios, not adjusted for inflation. It has also become the top-grossing Hollywood animated film of all time in China with a running total north of $560 million, and is the second-biggest film of all time behind Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Disney has enjoyed a banner year, amassing $6.5 billion in ticket sales for the first time since the pandemic.
Several other titles are also holding in exceptionally well at the New Year’s weekend box office. Lionsgate and Paul Feig’s well-reviewed sleeper hit The Housemaid could fall just six percent to $14 million for a domestic tally nearing $75 million.
The female-skewing thriller is a major win for all involved, and particularly Sydney Sweeney. The actress came under fierce attack for an American Eagle jeans campaign — she recently began addressing the issue — followed by the disastrous box office performance of Christy, an awards vehicle for Sweeney.
A24’s high-profile period pic Marty Supreme — directed by Josh Safdie and starring Timothée Chalamet as a 1950s table tennis champion — is another holiday stand-out. It was the biggest surprise of Christmas weekend in placing second with $27.1 million. The pic’s Friday-Sunday haul of $17.5 million was the second-best showing in the history of A24.
Marty Supreme is headed for a fourth-place finish this weekend with $11 million to $12 million from 2,887 cinemas. It continues to outpace Sony’s Anaconda and Focus Features’ critical darling Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Alongside Angel Studio’s faith-based David, Song Sung Blue boasts the highest audience ranking on Rotten Tomatoes (98 percent) of any Christmas title playing nationwide.
Anaconda, rebuffed by many critics, should round out the top five this weekend, followed by Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, David and Song Sung Blue, which is based on the 2008 documentary of the same name about Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed in the popular Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder.
Universal’s Thanksgiving event pic Wicked: For Good is headed for ninth-place, while the weekend’s only new nationwide opener — We Bury the Dead — may have to settle for tenth place if it can’t get much past $2.7 million.
Playing in 1,172 theaters, Zak Hilditch’s indie zombie thriller stars Daisy Ridley, and premiered at 2025’s South by Southwest. The story follows a young married woman who travels from America to Tasmania in hopes of finding her husband alive. The U.S. military botched a nearby weapons test that obliterated the population of Tasmania, creating either a pile of dead bodies or zombies that gradually become more aggressive. Ava’s husband, Mitch, had the misfortune of being on a work retreat there at the same time.
Brenton Thwaites, Matt Whelan, Mark Coles Smith and Kym Jackson also star in the movie, which Vertical is handling.
Numbers will be updated Sunday morning.
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