Third 'Avatar' film lights up global box offices

Director James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" has kicked off its box office run with roughly $345 million in global ticket sales through Sunday, meeting pre-weekend forecasts for the epic movie franchise's third film.

The film ranked as the second-highest Hollywood movie debut for 2025, behind only the $556 million for Disney's Zootopia 2 in November.

The Walt Disney movie topped box office charts in the United States and Canada, where it brought in $88 million of its worldwide total, according to Disney estimates. Fire and Ash continues the story of the nine-foot-tall blue Na'vi people on a lush planet named Pandora.

The domestic total came in 35 per cent lower than 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel released 13 years after the first film enchanted audiences with stunning visual effects.

With Fire and Ash, "audiences didn't miss it as much as they did when it came to the sequel," said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co.

Still, "it is a great start for the holiday corridor," Bock said, noting the enthusiasm for moviegoing around Christmas and New Year's Day. "There is a huge box office avalanche over the next two or three weekends."

Theaters hope Fire and Ash sparks a resurgence in moviegoing that extends into next year. Year-to-date ticket sales hovered at 1.3 per cent above 2024 but 22.5 per cent below the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to Comscore data.

Cinema operators believe they have a strong 2026 lineup including Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Cameron's blockbusters tend to keep piling up sales for weeks longer than others. Fire and Ash was released three days closer to Christmas than The Way of Water, suggesting holiday commitments may have kept people from theaters over opening weekend.

Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington voice the lead Avatar characters, portraying two parents forced to fight to protect their family and their planet.

Cameron has acknowledged the Avatar movies are expensive and need to reap huge returns to keep the series going. Disney has not disclosed the films' budgets.

The first "Avatar" film released in 2009 racked up $2.9 billion in global ticket sales. The Way of Water pulled in $2.3 billion.

A fourth and fifth Avatar film are scheduled for release in 2029 and 2031.