‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Tops Box Office for Fourth Straight Week; ‘Primate’ Debuts No. 2
James Cameron’s 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' led North American box office for a fourth weekend with $21.3M; Paramount’s 'Primate' debuted with $11.3M and industry optimism.
Overview
James Cameron’s 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' earned $21.3 million domestically this weekend, bringing its four-week North American total to $342.6M and $888M internationally.
Paramount’s rampaging-chimp horror 'Primate' opened at $11.3M domestically across roughly 2,964 theaters, drawing solid preview turnout and favorable early audience responses.
Disney’s 'Zootopia 2' continues global strength with $1.65B cumulative and $10.1M this weekend; Lionsgate’s 'The Housemaid' added $11.2M, nearing $94.15M and securing a sequel.
The weekend coincided with the Golden Globes; 'Avatar' and 'Zootopia 2' received nominations. Comscore says weekend revenues were up 23% from the same period in 2025.
Other releases like 'Greenland 2,' 'Anaconda' and faith-driven 'I Was a Stranger' posted modest returns, with varied CinemaScores and audience demographics shaping performance.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources use mildly promotional language and selective emphasis to frame the weekend as a box-office rebound. They foreground blockbuster dominance and studio successes, deploy evocative descriptors like smoldering, rampaging and juggernaut, rely on Comscore figures as source content, and omit audience or critical voices that might temper the upbeat narrative.
Sources (4)
FAQ
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ has earned about $342–345 million domestically by its fourth weekend and is tracking toward roughly $1.6 billion worldwide, which would put it below ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (about $2.3 billion globally) but still among the top-grossing films of its release year.
Industry optimism stems from strong sustained performances by tentpoles like ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and ‘Zootopia 2,’ plus solid debuts like ‘Primate,’ which have helped push early-year North American box office revenue to about a 23% year-over-year increase compared with the same period in 2025.
‘Primate’s roughly $11.3 million domestic opening, supported by strong preview turnout and positive early audience reactions, suggests continued reliable demand for mid-budget horror, especially when the concept is clear and marketed effectively.
With about $1.65 billion in global grosses and continued weekend earnings, ‘Zootopia 2’ stands as one of the highest-grossing contemporary animated films and a key driver of overall box office growth, particularly in international markets.
‘The Housemaid’ has shown minimal weekend drops while approaching around $94–100 million domestically on a modest budget (about $35 million) and is projected to reach up to $250 million worldwide, which has already led to a sequel being greenlit.
History
This story does not have any previous versions.