“Avatar: Fire and Ash” Burns Bright at the Weekend Box Office

The latest weekend box office numbers are in, and surprising to no one, Avatar 3: Fire and Ash easily took the top spot with an estimated $345 million worldwide debut. However, there are certain factors that need to be considered.

Directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Avatar 3: Fire and Ash follows the events of Avatar 2 from 2022. The latest installment had an approximate $88 million debut at the domestic box office, with the overseas numbers bringing in about $257 million. No doubt that’s a whole lot of money that certain studios can only dream of making from a single flick during the release weekend. However, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, there are certain factors we need to consider when talking about a major IP like Disney’s Avatar.

Apparantly, the third Avatar movie had a production budget of a whopping $400 million. According to certain movie analysts, Avatar 3 will need to make at least $1 billion to break even. Like, WTF?!!!

So, will Avatar 3 be able to earn more than a billion at the box office? The second installment earned an impressive $2.3 billion. That’s why one would assume that the third chapter would come close (if not exceed) the predecessor’s milestone. But while the opening weekend numbers are very good, in context, Avatar 3 performed behind the sophomore offering.

Avatar 2: The Way of Water had a domestic opening of $134 million, a whole lot more than the current chapter’s $88 million. That’s why the weekend’s numbers have made certain analysts speculate that Avatar 3 will likely end up around the $1.5 billion range, and maybe (a nightmare scenario for Disney) even lower!

A successful performance, but not… IP successful. If you know what I mean.

As far as my opinion goes, I’m quite “Meh!” about the situation. I could never get into the Avatar IP. For me, when it comes to marketing, the narrative talks big about tackling very serious topics, including racism, colonialism, the military complex, and more. However, when all is said and done, the story doesn’t really dive deep into the topics, only serving surface-level “discussion” at best. Also, I feel like the audience allows the Avatar IP to get away with a lot of problematic depictions due to using alien tribes vs humans while trying to “discuss” real-world issues.

Talking about the rest of the box office, we have the religious animated movie David coming in at second place with an estimated $22 million domestic haul.

In third place, we have The Housemaid with an approximate $19 million. The thriller stars Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, and Brandon Sklenar. Based on the book of the same name, the story is about a housemaid (Sweeney) trying to deal with a difficult housewife (Seyfried) while not realizing what’s actually happening in the house until the very end.

The reported production budget is about $35 million. The Rotten Tomatoes score stands at 75% Critic and 92% Audience, with a majority praising Seyfried’s performance. I might check it out once it hits Digital.

In an unexpected turn, the animated movie The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants failed to connect at the box office. It came in fourth place with an approximate $15.6 million. The fact that David made more than a well-known global IP… wow!

The budget has been reported to be around $64 million. The RT Score is 84% Critic and 76% Audience. Yet another movie I might watch once it hits home release.

As for Zootopia 2 (you can read my review here), it made about $14.5 million this weekend, pushing the global gross to $1.2 billion after just 4 weeks in theaters.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 followed with an estimated $7.6 million. Even though it wasn’t a well-written movie, I still enjoyed the live-action adaptation of the IP. I have my fingers crossed for a (well-written) third chapter soon!

December 19, 2025 – December 21, 2025 Weekend Box Office

1. Avatar 3: Fire and Ash – $88 million
2. David – $22 million
3. The Housemaid – $19 million
4. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants – $15.6 million
5. Zootopia 2 – $14.5 million
6. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 – $7.6 million
7. Wicked: For Good – $4.8 million
8. Hamnet – $0.9 million
9. Marty Supreme – $.08 million
10. Dhurandhar – $0.6 million

Did you watch Avatar 3: Fire and Ash? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

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(via Box Office Mojo)

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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