Moviegoers had a bit left over from their Christmas shopping to give theaters a present this week. The holiday arriving on Thursday this year gave them a four-day weekend. We are just one week removed from the box office having the second best December haul since the pandemic. That weekend was just replaced by this weekend, as both Avatar and Zootopia added to their $2 billion global haul, and there is still plenty to go around for many of the new releases as well. So much, in fact, that this is the first weekend since July 20, 2018 that seven films in the top 10 grossed more than $10 million.
King of the Crop: Avatar: Fire and ASh Holds on with $64 Million
Last week we told you Avatar: Fire and Ash would be just fine. As part of the “Don’t bet against James Cameron” public service announcement with the assist from holiday flock attendance, the third film in his franchise fell just 28% to $64 million in weekend two and now has a 10-day total of $217.6 million. That is the seventh best of all time for December, just ahead of the first Avatar in eighth place with $212.7 million and behind Avatar: The Way of Water in sixth place with $261 million. All three films opened on the weekend that started the holiday break for schools. Fire and Ash had the sixth- or seventh-best second weekend in December (Rogue One made $64.03 million) and, if the estimates hold, it is just ahead of The Way of Water’s $63.3 million, from a weekend in which both Christmas Eve and Christmas fell on that Saturday and Sunday.
Next weekend will be key to pinning down a final estimate, as the first Avatar fell just 9.4% in its third go and The Way of Water actually shot up 6.4%. If it follows the traditional Avatar path, it could still get itself over $600 million domestic. If it more closely resembles Rogue One, it could come up just shy of half a billion. The Way of Water jumped from $261 million after 10 days to $425.5 million in 17 days. Does Fire and Ash have $194 million worth of fans and spectacle-seeking moviegoers in the next week? What isn’t in dispute is the fact that a billion dollars is coming soon, as it brings its global total to $760 million, which has now made the trilogy the first to gross $6 billion worldwide.
Tales of the top 10: Zootopia 2 Gets holiday Boost, Marty Supreme Lives Up to Its Name
Another bad bet is going against families over the holiday season. Zootopia 2 jumped up 35% in its fifth weekend to $20 million bringing its 33-day domestic total to $321.3 million. Those may not be record numbers overall, but the holiday boost gave it the 12th- or 13th-best fifth weekend of all time just behind Barbie ($21.03 million) and Marvel’s The Avengers ($20.48 million). Moana 2 made $18.9 million at the same point last year. That boost, though, could give the animated sequel a shot to crack $400 million on the domestic side. $380-390 million still looks like the play, but give it a little time. Worldwide the film continues to move up the record charts, passing Avengers: Age of Ultron for 17th place with $1.42 billion. It is the fifth film since the pandemic to earn a spot in the top 20 of all time, and with $1.1 billion outside the U.S. ($561 million in China alone), it is about to enter the top 10 all time just on the international chart. Only 12 films have ever grossed a billion dollars outside the U.S. James Cameron currently owns three of them.
Timothée Chalamet has been putting in the work for Marty Supreme. Whether it be interviews, half the commercials during sporting events this season, or standing atop the Las Vegas Sphere, Chalamet is doing his part. And the audience has responded. Not only did Marty Supreme have the best six-theater launch ever last week, it made $27.1 million since opening wide on Christmas Day, including $17.5 million over the weekend. That is 10 days of release with less than half that being of wide exposure, and it is already the second-best 10-day total in A24 history behind Civil War ($44.9 million), and with $28.3 million it is ahead of Hereditary ($27.01 million). No point in being coy as this is poised to become one of their highest-grossing films ever. Everything Everywhere All At Once ($77.1 million), Civil War ($68.6 million) and the Safdies’ Uncut Gems ($50.02 million) are their top three. Last year Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown got itself to over $75 million during its Oscar run. Marty Supreme is going to be a bigger part of that conversation and may be quite the story going forward.
Paul Rudd and Jack Black decide to do their version of Anaconda and it got off to an OK start. Since opening on Christmas Thursday, the film has racked up $23.6 million with $14.5 million coming in over the weekend. That ranks 17th among Christmas Day releases by their fifth day in theaters. Only seven of the top 20 wide Christmas Day releases went on to gross $100 million. Nosferatu just missed last year with $95.6 million despite being seventh on that list. Eighth place belongs to The Color Purple musical, which flamed out quickly after a tremendous holiday opening and finished with just $60 million. Only four films on the list did less than The Color Purple: Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ($58.2 million), David O. Russell’s Joy ($56.2 million), Aliens Vs. Predator – Requiem ($41.8 million), and Wonder Woman 1984 ($46.8 million), which also debuted on HBO Max during the pandemic. The original Anaconda grossed $65.8 million back in 1997 after a $16.6 million opening. The 2025 version has also made another $20 million internationally.
There are two more family films out there minding their own business. Angel Studios’ David is on the verge of becoming their second-highest grossing film ever. Another $12.6 million this weekend gives the film $49.7 million. Their Easter release of The King of Kings finished with $60.2 million. David just missed $50+ million after 10 days in December, which is a pretty great place to be as only three films (Nosferatu, Stepmom, and Valkyrie) grossed that much in their first 10 days and missed reaching $100 million. David’s second weekend is behind those three films (between $13.09 and $14.58 million each), though all fell 45.8% or more in weekend three. Plus, among the December releases making between $45-50 million after 10 days, six of the 11 did make it to $100 million, but it will take a small drop next weekend for that to be possible, and it is going to need to hit that number one way or another for any chance of the $60+ million budget to be recouped theatrically.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants isn’t in quite the same position, but it’s hardly down for the count. Another $11.2 million this weekend brings its 10-day total to $38.1 million. Among the animated December offerings to gross between $40-43 million in their first 10 days, only The Prince of Egypt made it to $100 million. The rest finished between $63.1 million (Beavis and Butt-Head Do America) and $80.9 million (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius), with The Adventures of Tintin and Spies in Disguise in between. The list of December animated releases after 10n days goes from $40 million down to $28.6 million (Hoodwinked) so SpongeBob is just a bit behind those higher-end titles, but $60 million domestic should still be its floor. Globally the film is at $60.3 million.
The Housemaid isn’t quite in that $50 million category that David finds itself in, but a 19% drop to $15.4 million for fourth place in its second weekend brings its 10-day total to $46.4 million. A total of 11 December releases were between $45-50 million in that period, and six of them did make it to $100 million. There hasn’t been one since 2011, but apart from those Color Purple numbers, we are still talking potentially $79 million and above for the $35 million production. It may not be a huge haul for Lionsgate, but it will likely be enough to greenlight the next book in the series for a new franchise if Netflix doesn’t grab it out from under them first.
The headline may say that Song Sung Blue made just $7.6 million this weekend and $12 million since its Christmas opening. For the time being, the response to that should be “so what?” Just two years ago we watched the Glen Powell/Sydney Sweeney pairing of Anyone But You open to $6 million (on a weekend when Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday) and then multiply that 14.71 times to arrive at an $88.3 million haul. It was the fourth-best December multiplier ever for a film opening in over 2,000 theaters. (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is in third with 14.92.) But while Titanic may be the champion at 20.97, the last time we saw Hugh Jackman singing around Christmastime, The Greatest Showman began with $8.8 million (also with a Sunday Xmas Eve) and eventually grossed over $174 million domestic for a 19.79 multiplier. Can Lightning (and Thunder) strike twice?
Wicked: For Good may have had an 8% bump over the holiday, but in its sixth weekend it made $5.2 million compared to $19.7 million for Part One, which was a 39.6% increase over its fifth weekend in the same holiday week. Wicked: Part One, despite coming up just shy of Frozen II (less than $4 million) of becoming the highest-grossing November release ever, was nevertheless top of the list after weekend six with $424.5 million. Wicked: For Good is at $331.6 million and should finish its run between $340-350 million domestic to become the sixth-highest grossing film of 2025. Globally the film has passed $500 million, giving the two Wicked films a haul of over $1.25 billion.
Leave it to the holiday crowd to stave off the giant drops of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which fell nearly a full 70% in its second weekend and just over 60% in weekend three. Weekend four still saw a drop of 43% to $4.4 million, but it’s better than the original’s $3.5 million fourth weekend. Still about $14 million off its pace, $130 million is certainly in the cards, though outgrossing the original’s day-and-date theatrical/streaming release of $137.2 million may be a tall order. Worldwide the film is over $220 million and another hit for Universal and Blumhouse.
Outside of the top 10, another major Oscar contender, Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, made $700,000 in 391 theaters to bring its total over $10 million. Chan-wook Park’s No Other Choice made $313,000 in 13 theaters and has grossed $626,000 to date. Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? made $203,000 in 33 theaters for a total of $511,000, and Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee opened in four theaters with $71,000.
On the Vine: Daisy Ridley Faces Zombies in We Bury the Dead
Not much for next week, though Vertical is opening the Daisy Ridley zombie film We Bury the Dead, which premiered at SXSW last March and impressed critics to the tune of a Fresh 89% on the Tomatometer.
Full List of Box Office Results: December 26-28, 2025
- Avatar: Fire and Ash – $64.0 million ($217.6 million total)
- Zootopia 2 – $20.0 million ($321.3 million total)
- Marty Supreme – $17.5 million ($28.3 million total)
- The Housemaid – $15.4 million ($46.4 million total)
- Anaconda – $14.6 million ($23.7 million total)
- David – $12.6 million ($49.7 million total)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants – $11.2 million ($38.1 million total)
- Song Sung Blue – $7.6 million ($12.0 million total)
- Wicked: For Good – $5.2 million ($331.6 million total)
- Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 – $4.4 million ($118.9 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©20th Century Studios