The final two weeks of 2025 are underway, and the pre-Christmas box office is showing healthy momentum thanks to a strong mix of franchise power, faith-based animation, adult thrillers, and family-friendly fare. Leading the charge is Disney and 20th Century’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, which debuted at number one with $88.0 million domestically, helping push weekend 51 to a 26 percent increase over the same frame last year.
Directed by James Cameron, Avatar: Fire and Ash marks the third chapter in the filmmaker’s ambitious sci-fi saga. While its opening fell short of Avatar: The Way of Water and the original Avatar, the film has already delivered a powerful $345.0 million worldwide, reinforcing the franchise’s global appeal.
The film expands the story beyond Pandora’s oceans into volcanic regions ruled by internal conflict and scarcity, following Jake Sully and Neytiri as they confront grief, leadership, and division within the Na’vi. Critics have been mixed with a 68 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, though audiences have embraced the film with a strong 91 percent rating. See our review here.
In second place, Angel Studios’ David landed its biggest opening weekend ever, earning $22.0 million domestically. The animated retelling of the biblical King David reflects the studio’s continued success in mobilizing its core audience, who rewarded the film with a near-perfect 98 percent audience score. With a unique crowd-funded financing model and strong holiday playability, David is positioned to become another profitable win for the studio.
Third place went to Lionsgate’s psychological thriller The Housemaid, which opened to $19.0 million. Directed by Paul Feig, the film adapts the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden and stars Sydney Sweeney as a young woman drawn into a dangerous web of manipulation inside a wealthy household. The film has been well-received by both critics and audiences and is expected to benefit from strong adult turnout through the holiday corridor.
Paramount’s family offering The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants finished in fourth place with $16.0 million. The latest big screen outing for the long-running Nickelodeon character earned solid critical marks and stands as the only new kids-focused release heading into Christmas, giving it a clear runway through the New Year.
Rounding out the top five, Disney’s Zootopia 2 slipped to fifth place but continued its impressive run, adding $14.5 million domestically and pushing its global total past $1.3 billion. The sequel has now surpassed the worldwide gross of the original Zootopia and, alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash, has helped Disney secure its position as the top studio of the 2025 holiday season.
With several new wide releases arriving next week and strong holdovers already in play, the box office is on track to close out the year on firmer footing than 2024. Current projections place the total domestic box office for 2025 at approximately $8.6 billion, a modest year-over-year increase that signals continued recovery heading into 2026.
Weekend Box Office 12/19–12/21 (Courtesy of Comscore)
REELated:
Go behind the scenes with the cast of Avatar: Fire and Ash
