The standings this AM are pretty much the same as where we saw them late last night with Avatar: Fire and Ash at $88M, but now it’s clear that the James Cameron-directed sequel notched the second highest global opening for an MPA movie YTD at $345M behind Zootopia 2. Sunday is forecasted at $23M, repping a -18% hold from yesterday. That’s the same percentile hold as Avatar: Way of Water, though that had a bigger Sunday of $36.5M, rounding out its $134.1M opening.
The global success of the Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman & Shane Salerno story by movie puts Disney at $5.8 billion worldwide. Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione told you a few weeks ago that Disney became the No. 1 studio (besting Warner Bros) with $5 billion. Now, with Fire and Ash and the $1.27 billion Zootopia 2 haul, Disney is poised to hit $6 billion worldwide by Saturday, +37% ahead of Warner Bros’ $4.37 billion.
Under 25 for Fire and Ash was 38%, which is great compared to Way of Water‘s 40% (the youngins are pretty much intact). 3D drove 56% of the business. Premium large format, Imax (at 15% or $13M) and 3D altogether contributed 66% of the gross, meaning moviegoers are seeing the threequel the way it was intended. Fire and Ash‘s domestic debut is the fourth-highest Imax indexing ever for a North American opening north of $85M.
EnTelligence reports that 5.2 million people went to see Fire and Ash this weekend, compared to 8.7M for Way of Water. Average ticket price for Way of Water was $14.43 (vs. Fire and Ash‘s $16.66) while the premium ticket price was $17.96 (compared to the threequel’s $19.82). Forty-five percent of Saturday’s moviegoers opted to watch Fire and Ash at matinees (before 5PM).
In regards to weekend’s foot traffic (admissions), 45% went to see Fire and Ash, 14% watched David, 12% Housemaid, 9% SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants and 8% Zootopia 2.
Comscore is reporting that the weekend came in at $178.6M for all titles, +25% from a year ago. The domestic B.O. for Jan. 1-Dec. 21 stands at $8.35 billion, +1% over the same frame in 2024. If we’re going to cross the $9 billion mark, we’re $650M away. Some distribution execs don’t think we’ll hit that.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th) 3,800 theaters, Fri $36.5M, Sat $28M Sun $23M 3-day $88M/Wk 1
- David (Angel) 3,118 theaters, Fri $9.66M Sat $6.7M Sun $5.65M 3-day $22M/Wk 1
- The Housemaid (LG) 3,015 theaters, Fri $8M, Sat $5.8M Sun $5.1M 3-day $19M/Wk 1
- SpongeBob Movie..(Par) 3,557 theaters, Fri $6M, Sat $5.3M Sun $4.7M 3-day $16M/Wk 1
- Zootopia 2 (Dis) 3,540 (-295) theaters, Fri $4M (-36%), 3-day $14.5M (-44%), Total $282.8M/Wk 4
- Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (Uni) 3,012 (-567) theaters, Fri $2.2M (-61%) Sat $2.9M Sun $2M 3-day $7.25M (-62%), Total $108.9M/Wk 3
- Wicked: For Good (Uni) 2,913 (-567) theaters, Fri $1.28M Sat $1.8M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.3M (-50%), Total $320.5M/Wk 5
- Dhurandhar (Moviegoer) 400 (+23) theaters, Fri $670K (-28%) Sat $940K Sun $865K 3-day $2.47M (-30%), Total $12.6M/Wk 3
- Marty Supreme (A24) 6 theaters, Fri $384,4K, Sat $265K Sun $225K PTA $145,8K 3-day $875K/Wk 1
- Hamnet (Foc) 617 (-132) theaters Fri $260K Sat $350K Sun $240K 3-day $850K (-41%), Total $8.76M/Wk 4