Happy new year, fellow cinephiles! Looking at the totality of the 2026 movie release calendar, one will note that there are a whole lot of terrifically exciting features on the way in the next 12 months, from Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary to Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part 3... but some patience will have to be exhibited for them. As we sit at the end of the first weekend of this fresh year, no new films have yet arrived in wide release – which means that the big headlines at the box office today are all about some 2025 films hitting major milestones.
While 2025 may be over, big releases are still adding to their legacy in theaters around the globe, and this weekend, both James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash and Paul Feig's The Housemaid added an extra figure to their worldwide box office totals. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Avatar: Fire And Ash | $40,000,000 | $305,995,254 | 1 | 3,835 |
2. Zootopia 2 | $19,000,000 | $363,612,160 | 2 | 3,285 |
3. The Housemaid | $14,865,000 | $75,724,000 | 4 | 3,070 |
4. Marty Supreme | $12,554,127 | $56,000,736 | 3 | 2,887 |
5. Anaconda | $10,000,000 | $45,861,000 | 5 | 3,509 |
6. The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants | $8,200,000 | $57,634,000 | 7 | 3,217 |
7. David | $8,002,169 | $70,112,579 | 6 | 2,900 |
8. Song Sung Blue | $5,810,000 | $24,943,000 | 8 | 2,705 |
9. Wicked: For Good | $3,260,000 | $339,880,000 | 9 | 1,885 |
10. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | $2,700,000 | $125,221,000 | 10 | 1,986 |
Avatar: Fire And Ash Crosses $1 Billion At The Worldwide Box Office
Will Avatar: Fire And Ash ultimately be able to join its predecessors and stand among the seven other films in history to successfully hit $2 billion at the global box office? We will have to wait a little while to learn the answer to that very special question, but for now, we can start off 2026 with some exciting news: Avatar 3 has become the 59th film in history to earn $1 billion globally.
The new sci-fi adventure still has some distance to travel if it wants to be dubbed the biggest film of 2025, as it sits on the charts behind the successes of Jared Bush and Byron Howard's Zootopia 2 ($1.588 billion) and Jiaozi's Ne Zha 2 ($2.001 billion), but the latest epic from James Cameron is nonetheless breathing rarified air. According to The Numbers, the blockbuster once again topped the domestic chart this weekend, adding $40 million to its domestic total, and in combination with the money it earned the past three days from foreign markets, the movie has now made $1.083 billion worldwide.
In the United States and Canada, Avatar: Fire And Ash has made $306 million so far, which is slightly behind the pace of both Avatar and Avatar: The Way Of Water. By the 17th day of their respective releases in 2009 and 2022, the former had made $352.1 million, while the latter was up to $425.7 million. By the end of their runs, the franchise's seminal title demonstrated longer legs in the region (earning $785.2 million vs. $688.8 million), and there will be a lot of eyes watching how the third chapter in the series measures up.
As far as its place among the biggest 2025 releases is concerned, the film has now reached fifth place on the domestic chart – presently behind James Gunn's Superman, which finished its theatrical run making $354.2 million. Zootopia 2 (which is still climbing), has made $363.6 million and is now in third place, while Jared Hess' A Minecraft Movie ($423.9 million) and Dean Fleischer-Camp's Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million) sit at the top.
As I've repeatedly noted in this box office column in recent weeks, however, the big money for the Avatar franchise comes from abroad. To save you doing the math from all of the information presented thus far, those big ticket sales for Avatar: Fire And Ash in the U.S. and Canada represents less than 30 percent of what the movie has made globally.
Combining the box office earnings of all three Avatar movies thus far, they have made $6.35 billion in theaters – which is plenty to justify the outrageous production budgets for each of the titles. There is clearly a lot of excitement being generated around these special blockbusters, and there will be plenty of folks drooling with anticipation when Avatar 4 arrives in 2029 and Avatar 5 hits theaters in 2031 (and yes, those are official dates).
After A Modest Domestic Start, The Housemaid Hits $100 Million Globally
Looking at the earnings of Avatar: Fire And Ash, everything else really pales in comparison, but the big bonus of a late December release date is that it's a period of the release calendar that can launch a lot of big success stories. With a production budget of $350 million (per Variety), Avatar 3 might get a lot of attention for hitting $1 billion at the global box office, but The Housemaid cost one tenth of that to get made, and it just hit a major milestone by making $100 million worldwide.
Adapted from the hit novel of the same name by author Freida McFadden, The Housemaid's success hasn't been super splashy, as debuted in theaters in third place and fell to fourth in its second weekend. Now, however, it is back in third place, and it's notable that its earnings domestically have stayed relatively consistent: $19 million, $15.3 million, and $19.9 million.
In the United States and Canada thus far, it has earned an impressive $75.7 million, and the $57.3 million it has made from foreign markets brings its global earnings to date up to $133 million. It has climbed up to 26th place on the domestic chart for 2025 (having surpassed the $73.2 million made by Joachim Rønning's Tron: Ares during its quick big screen stint), and thanks to the friendly (and lacking) January 2026 release schedule, it has a strong chance of ending up in the top 20.
Speaking of 2026, we will finally be getting the year's first new wide releases this coming Friday, including the Gerard Butler action in Ric Roman Waugh's Greenland 2: Migration and the ape-centric horror in Johannes Roberts' Primate. Will either of the titles be able to successfully compete with Avatar 3 and unseat it from its spot at the top of the box office? It will be an interesting story to follow, and I will have all of the results for you in my next box office column one week from today here on CinemaBlend.
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