James Cameron’s sci-fi threequel “Avatar: Fire and Ash” remained comfortably atop the domestic box office over the Christmas stretch. Meanwhile a trio of new holiday releases, A24’s sports dramedy “Marty Supreme,” the Focus Features musical tear-jerker “Song Sung Blue” and Sony’s action comedy “Anaconda,” helped keep multiplexes bustling… but they weren’t enough to fend off the Disney animated sequel “Zootopia 2,” which returned to No. 2 in its fifth weekend of release.
“Avatar 3” added a solid $64 million over the traditional weekend and $88 million since the Christmas holiday on Thursday. The three-day figure is a scant 28% decline from its $89 million domestic debut, a stronger hold than its predecessor, 2022’s “The Way of Water,” which dropped by 52% after a larger $134 million debut. So far, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” has generated $217.7 million in North America and $760 million worldwide after two weekends of release. Based on past precedent, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” should stick around at the top of box office charts well into the new year. After all, the first two “Avatar” films were No. 1 for seven consecutive weekends, eventually earning well over $2 billion each.
“Marty Supreme” enjoyed the best debut among newcomers in third place with $17.4 million from 2,600 theaters over the weekend and $27.1 million through the four-day holiday frame. Domestic ticket sales stand at $28.3 million after a weekend in limited release. The three-day figure marks the second-biggest opening weekend to date for A24, the beloved indie behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Hereditary” and “Lady Bird.” Alex Garland’s “Civil War” remains the studio’s best debut with $25 million over the traditional three-day weekend.
For “Marty Supreme,” the stellar start can be attributed to director Josh Safdie for making a movie that’s resonating with audiences, as well as star Timothée Chalamet, who plays a fictional tennis table champ and has been a one-man marketing machine, going to great lengths — and heights — to get out the word about the original film. A24 spent roughly $70 million to produce “Marty Supreme,” which is expected to remain a box office draw due to positive reviews and great word-of-mouth. Moviegoers — roughly 65% of whom were 35 or younger — gave the R-rated film a “B+” grade on CinemaScore exit polls. That’s a far better reception than the “C+” grade that was bestowed upon Safdie’s prior film, the deeply unsettling “Uncut Gems.” Staying power will be important, however, because “Marty Supreme” needs to generate a lot of coinage to justify its price tag, the biggest ever for A24.
“Sports dramas are not big movies to begin with, but the right cast can elevate them,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. He’s referring to films like “F1: The Movie,” starring Brad Pitt, and “Air,” led by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. “Timothée Chalamet is making that kind of difference.”
“Anaconda” landed at No. 5 with $14.6 million over the weekend and $23.7 million since Christmas. The movie also opened internationally with $20 million for a global start of $43.7 million. A $45 million-budgeted meta-reboot, “Anaconda” stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd as best friends who travel to the jungle to pursue their childhood dream of remaking their all-time favorite movie, 1997’s “Anaconda.” The project starts to unravel when life imitates art and a real anaconda begins hunting them down. Critics and audiences were mixed on “Anaconda,” which has a 51% Rotten Tomatoes average and “B” grade on CinemaScore.
“Song Sung Blue” opened in eighth place with $7.6 million over the weekend and $12 million through the four-day holiday frame. Craig Brewer directed the $30 million-budgeted movie, featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in the true story of two down-on-their luck musicians who form a Neil Diamond tribute band. Opening weekend crowds dug the film, which earned an “A” grade on CinemaScore, the best marks among the new releases. In terms of ticket buyers, 65% were female, while 53% of audiences were above the age of 55.
“This is a crowd-pleaser, and word-of-mouth should build now among older moviegoers, who take their time getting to the cinema,” Gross says.
Meanwhile, Disney’s animated juggernaut “Zootopia 2” outpaced the newcomers with $20 million over the weekend and $25.2 million since Christmas on Thursday. Since its debut around Thanksgiving, the PG film has generated $320 million domestically and $1.42 billion globally, making “Zootopia 2” the highest-grossing Hollywood release of the year.
Another holdover, Lionsgate’s psychological thriller “The Housemaid,” notched the No. 4 spot with $15.4 million over the weekend and $18.9 million through the four-day holiday period. The film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, has earned an impressive $46.6 million domestically and $64.9 million worldwide to date.
With three days left in 2025, the overall domestic box office is sitting at $8.76 billion, just 1.5% ahead of last year and roughly 22% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Annual revenues through Dec. 31 are projected to wind up at $8.87 billion.
“‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and ‘Zootopia 2’ and the impressive nationwide expansion of ‘Marty Supreme’ helped to power a very strong end of year push,” says Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian.
In the end, though, the elusive $9 billion benchmark remains out of reach for yet another year.
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