Fire and Ash Keeps Its Grip

Avatar: Fire and Ash kept on smoldering at the box office, taking the top spot for a fourth straight week on a relatively quiet weekend as the January doldrums began setting in for the industry. The third chapter in James Cameron's Pandora epic brought in $21.3 million in North American theaters for the Walt Disney Co., according to studio estimates Sunday. In total after four weeks, the AP reports, Fire and Ash has grossed $342.6 million in North America and $888 million in the rest of the world. Last week, it joined its two predecessors as a billion-dollar earner.

The week's top-grossing new release was Paramount Pictures' rampaging-chimp horror film Primate, which earned $11.3 million domestically. Disney's Zootopia 2, which came in fourth, has shown remarkable staying power since its November release. It continues to be a global juggernaut and a sensation in China. Globally, the animated sequel has piled up $1.65 billion. That put it just on the edge of becoming Disney's highest-grossing animated movie ever, trailing only the $1.66 billion brought in by 2019's photorealistic The Lion King. The Sydney Sweeney-driven thriller The Housemaid continues to be a good earner for Lionsgate, which greenlit a sequel last week. It collected $11.2 million in North America in its fourth weekend for a total of $94.15 million after costing just $35 million to make, finishing third.

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:

1. Avatar: Fire and Ash, $21.3 million.
2. Primate, $11.3 million
3. The Housemaid, $11.2 million.
4. Zootopia 2, $10.1 million.
5. Greenland 2: Migration, $8.5 million
6. Marty Supreme, $7.6 million.
7. Anaconda, $5.1 million.
8. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, $3.8 million.
9. David, $3.1 million.
10. Song Sung Blue, $3 million.