Maybe we will get an Avatar 4 after all. If you were looking for a sign that moviegoing is still alive and capable of throwing a party, the final weekend of 2025 delivered it. Disney and 20th Century’s Avatar: Fire and Ash stayed on top for a second straight frame, pulling in an estimated $64.0 million over Friday through Sunday. But the bigger story was everything underneath it. The marketplace did not just have a winner. It had depth.
Eight of the remaining films in the top ten added real weight, starting with the holiday arrivals that opened or expanded on Christmas Day, which fell on a Thursday this year. A24’s Marty Supreme went wide, Sony’s action comedy Anaconda joined the mix, and Focus Features rolled out its musical drama Song Sung Blue.
Meanwhile, last weekend’s new titles continued to hold their ground, including Lionsgate’s psychological thriller The Housemaid, Angel Studios’ animated biblical story David, and Paramount’s latest SpongeBob SquarePants movie. Even holdovers got a second wind, with Zootopia 2 surging again in its fifth weekend and Wicked For Good staying sturdy in its sixth.
All of that added up to a $177.2 million weekend at the domestic box office, a post-pandemic record for the final weekend of the year. It also landed 4 percent higher than the comparable weekend in 2024, when the total was $171.2 million.
For theaters, this is the version of the holidays they pray for. A slate broad enough to spread traffic across auditoriums and showtimes tends to mean steadier lines, fewer pinch points, and a better overall customer experience. The Christmas corridor also brings in plenty of occasional moviegoers who might only show up a few times a year. If the movies hit and the service holds up, some of those once-a-year customers might actually come back before next December.
Studios can also take the right lesson from this weekend. A movie does not have to “win the weekend” to find its audience and make money. Avatar: Fire and Ash topped the chart, but it only accounted for about 36 percent of the total weekend gross. That left plenty of oxygen for other titles to perform.
Looking ahead, next weekend marks the first box office frame of 2026, and the calendar is relatively light on new wide releases. Vertical Entertainment’s We Bury the Dead is the only fresh nationwide opener, meaning the current holiday lineup will likely do the heavy lifting again. One year ago, the first weekend of 2025 arrived with no new wide releases and a total of $103.9 million. With this much momentum still in play, next weekend should land well above that.
First Place: Avatar: Fire and Ash
In weekend two, Avatar: Fire and Ash earned $64.0 million, sliding just 28 percent from its debut. That brings the film to $217.7 million domestic after ten days and $760.4 million worldwide. It is running almost perfectly in line with the original Avatar at the same point in its release. However, it is about 17 percent behind Avatar: The Way of Water, which reached $261.0 million domestic after ten days in 2022.
Now comes the phase industry watchers love, and accountants worship. The so-called Avatar holds. James Cameron’s franchise has built a reputation for unusually soft week-to-week drops that stretch deep into the calendar, helping the first two films finish as two of the biggest global releases in history. Even after the strong first ten days, the earlier films still had primary runway left. The original Avatar still had roughly 73 percent of its eventual domestic total ahead of it at this stage, while The Way of Water had about 62 percent remaining. The big question now is how much of that staying power Fire and Ash can replicate.
Profitability is not the concern. The bigger issue is scale. The industry does not expect Avatar 3 to surpass Avatar 2, and Avatar 2 did not surpass the original. But the next several weeks will matter because Disney and Cameron will be watching the legs closely as they weigh what makes sense for the cost and scope of Avatar 4.
Second Place: Zootopia 2
Disney’s Zootopia 2 made a loud return in its fifth weekend, jumping to $20.0 million, up 28 percent from last weekend when it ranked fourth. After 33 days, the sequel sits at $321.4 million domestic and $1.4 billion worldwide. That kind of total also makes the math look very good for Disney. With a reported $150 million production budget, Zootopia 2 is already operating at a massive worldwide gross-to-cost ratio.
Zootopia 2 currently ranks as the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time globally, and it has a clear shot at passing Frozen II to move into third if it keeps its footing. With Zootopia 2 in second and Avatar Fire and Ash in first, Disney gets to close out the year with bragging rights and a strong finish in the annual market share race.
Third Place: Marty Supreme
A24 may have another legit hit on its hands with Marty Supreme. After turning heads last weekend with an enormous per-theater average in a limited rollout, the film expanded to 2,668 theaters and took third place with $17.6 million. The question was whether a 1950s-set movie about ping pong and hustlers could travel beyond New York and Los Angeles. It did. The weekend worked out to a $6,588 per theater average, second best among wide releases behind Avatar’s monster numbers.
Several forces are pushing this one forward. Josh Safdie has a track record for intense, propulsive filmmaking, and audiences have learned not to expect comfort food from him. Timothée Chalamet remains one of the rare modern stars who can open both giant studio products and prestige-leaning swings. A24 also played the rollout smart, leveraging scarcity, word-of-mouth, and media chatter to turn a small opening into a bigger narrative before the Christmas expansion.
The film follows Marty Mauser, a gifted but abrasive New York table tennis prodigy who hustles his way from local scenes to the world stage. As the wins pile up, so do the consequences, forcing him to confront the difference between winning and earning respect. Chalamet is joined by Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin O’Leary, and Fran Drescher, in a cast that signals the film is aiming to be both a crowd draw and a conversation starter.
Critics are strongly on board, with a 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, while audiences are positive at 83 percent. The bigger financial question is the budget. At a reported $70 million, Marty Supreme would need a serious global run to break even, especially given A24’s track record of films that are culturally loud but not always internationally massive. Awards attention could help, but the film will need time and steady holds to justify the swing.
Fourth Place: The Housemaid
Lionsgate’s The Housemaid landed in fourth with $15.4 million, dipping just 19 percent from its opening weekend. It now sits at $46.5 million domestic after ten days, a strong pace for a psychological thriller with franchise potential baked in, thanks to the book series. With more international rollouts ahead, the film is positioned to stay in play through mid-January if it continues to hold screens.
Fifth Place: Anaconda
Sony’s new Anaconda reboot opened with $14.6 million. The play here is obvious. Take the cult memory of the 1997 creature feature and steer it hard into comedy with Paul Rudd and Jack Black. Early audience response suggests that pivot is working, and the movie still has a whole week of holiday playtime ahead to build its total. With a $45 million production budget, the film does not need superhero numbers, but the coming days will be crucial in determining whether it becomes a modest win or a shrug.
Where the Market Stands
After 51 weeks, the 2025 domestic box office is essentially even with 2024 at this point, sitting at 100.4 percent of last year’s pace. Compared with 2019, it is still at 75.9 percent, a reminder that the recovery is real but not complete. The good news is that weekends like these prove the ceiling is still there when the release calendar gives audiences enough reasons to leave the couch.
| Rank | Title | Week | Theaters | Weekend Gross | % Change | Avg Per Theater | Domestic Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century) | 2 | 3,800 | $64,000,000 | -28% | $16,842 | $217,693,465 |
| 2 | Zootopia 2 (Disney) | 5 | 3,370 | $20,000,000 | +35% | $5,935 | $321,381,406 |
| 3 | Marty Supreme (A24) | 2 | 2,668 | $17,522,628 | — | $6,568 | $28,291,996 |
| 4 | The Housemaid (Lionsgate) | 2 | 3,042 | $15,400,000 | -19% | $5,062 | $46,460,000 |
| 5 | Anaconda (Sony) | 1 | 3,509 | $14,550,000 | — | $4,146 | $23,650,000 |
| 6 | David (Angel Studios) | 2 | 3,003 | $12,691,811 | -42% | $4,226 | $49,753,130 |
| 7 | The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (Paramount) | 2 | 3,570 | $11,200,000 | -28% | $3,137 | $38,171,000 |
| 8 | Song Sung Blue (Focus Features) | 1 | 2,587 | $7,600,000 | — | $2,938 | $12,025,000 |
| 9 | Wicked: For Good (Universal) | 6 | 2,008 | $5,260,000 | +8% | $2,620 | $331,623,000 |
| 10 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (Universal) | 4 | 2,280 | $4,400,000 | -43% | $1,930 | $118,969,000 |
REELated:
Go behind the scenes with the cast of Avatar: Fire and Ash
