Avatar: Fire and Ash opened with $345 million in worldwide sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, notching the second-best global debut of the year and potentially putting James Cameron on course to set yet more blockbuster records. Sixteen years into the Avatar saga, Pandora is still abundant in box office riches. Fire and Ash, the third film in Cameron's science-fiction franchise, launched with $88 million domestically and $257 million internationally. The only film to open bigger in 2025 was Zootopia 2 ($497.2 million over three days), the AP reports. In the coming weeks, Fire and Ash will have the significant benefit of the lucrative holiday moviegoing corridor.
Fire and Ash didn't have the weekend to itself. A trio of new wide releases arrived in theaters: Lionsgate's The Housemaid, Angel Studios' David, and Paramount Pictures' The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. David won the race for second place. The animated tale of David and Goliath collected $22 million from 3,118 theaters, notching the best opening weekend for Angel Studios, the Christian-oriented studio. The Housemaid, Paul Feig's twisty psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, opened with $19 million 3,015 theaters. In third was SpongeBob, which collected $16 million from 3,557 theaters. All of those new films will need to contend with new wide releases, including A24's Marty Supreme, with Timothée Chalamet; Focus Features' Song Sung Blue, with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson; and Sony's Anaconda, with Jack Black and Paul Rudd.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
- Avatar: Fire and Ash, $88 million.
- David, $22 million.
- The Housemaid, $19 million.
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, $16 million.
- Zootopia 2, $14.5 million.
- Five Nights at Freddy's 2, $7.3 million.
- Wicked: For Good, $4.3 million.
- Dhurandhar, $2.5 million.
- Marty Supreme, $875,000.
- Hamnet, $850,000.
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