‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ passes $1B — but falls behind franchise’s historic pace

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of Jan. 2-4, 2026.

1. Avatar: Fire and Ash

Weekend gross: $40M
Total domestic gross: $306M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 37

The good news for Avatar: Fire and Ash? The latest film in James Cameron’s franchise has cruised past the $1 billion mark, adding $40 million in North America as it joined its two predecessors in that club.

The not-so-great news for Avatar: Fire and Ash? It turned in the lowest third-weekend haul for any Avatar film — and it wasn’t even close. The original Avatar grossed $68.5 million over this same point while Avatar: The Way of Water followed closely with $67.4 million.

I know it seems strange to critique the box office performance of a film that already passed the $300 million mark in North America, but the Avatar franchise has repeatedly rewritten expectations. The first two Avatar films easily passed the $2 billion mark worldwide. (The original Avatar sits less than $80 million away from ticking into the $3 billion zone.)

Fire and Ash’s box office numbers are coming in roughly a weekend behind The Way of Water ($45.8 million over its fourth weekend) and roughly two weekends behind Avatar ($42.8 million over its fifth weekend).

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2. Zootopia 2

Weekend gross: $19M
Total domestic gross: $363.6M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 4

Despite Avatar: Fire and Ash performing behind its predecessors, the one-two punch of Fire and Ash and Zootopia 2 has been very, very good for Disney. The animated sequel is Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest worldwide hit, with its $1.588 billion global haul passing Frozen II’s $1.452 billion. (Zootopia 2 still has some work to do on the domestic front, trailing Frozen II’s $477.4 million, Moana 2’s $460.4 million and Frozen’s $401 million.)

The Zootopia sequel is back to outperforming its predecessor, landing a $19 million fifth weekend compared to Zootopia’s $14.3 million fifth weekend. Zootopia 2’s $363.6 million domestic haul has effortlessly passed Zootopia’s $341.1 million mark.