'Avatar: Fire and Ash' (Courtesy Photo)

 

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Burns Slow But Strong as Cameron Once Again Dominates the Global Box Office

Numbers don’t lie, but they do tell stories. This weekend, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" opened to $88 million domestic and a hefty $345 million global — a haul that might look “softer” compared to "The Way of Water’s" $134 million splashdown, yet it’s a study in perspective. James Cameron’s sequels have never been about instant gratification. The three "Avatar" films have now amassed more than $5.6 billion combined, and if history holds, "Fire and Ash" will linger like an ember — steady, glowing, untouchable.

IMAX recorded $43.6 million in global grosses, marking the format’s fifth-biggest debut ever — testament to Cameron’s métier: scale as religion. His $400 million opus keeps his streak alive as the only filmmaker with three of the top four all-time global earners, reaffirming that his films don’t peak; they burn slow and long, rewriting box office laws through staying power.

Still Waters and Holy Hits

In a counter-programming masterstroke, Angel Studios landed its biggest launch yet with "David," a $22 million domestic start driven by faith audiences and family turnout. With a $60.9 million budget, it’s the highest-grossing animated faith-based debut in history — a bona fide miracle for a studio still basking in "Sound of Freedom’s" surprise megasuccess.

Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried’s "The Housemaid" turned up the domestic noir heat with a $19 million bow and a 70% female audience — outperforming Paul Feig’s "A Simple Favor" and proving that blonde-on-blonde psychodrama sells when sharpened with tension and glamour.

The Sponge Stumbles, But the Frame Surges

Not everyone found their footing. "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants" opened to a soggy $16 million — dwarfed by the $55 million and $32 million starts of its predecessors. The gamble to release across from Cameron’s juggernaut, "David," and "Zootopia 2" was... suboptimal scheduling, to put it kindly.

Yet the broader box office picture glows brighter. The pre-Christmas weekend brought in $178.7 million total — up over 20% from last year — and nudged Disney toward an astonishing $6 billion global for 2025, a post-COVID best for any studio.

A24’s Big Swing and the Art of the Platform

The most electric stat of the weekend might not belong to Pandora, but to A24’s "Marty Supreme," which grossed an eye-popping $875,000 from just six screens. That’s a $145,900 per-screen average — the studio’s best ever and the highest industrywide since "La La Land." Timothée Chalamet and Josh Safdie’s manic collaboration has New York and Los Angeles sold out, priming for a wide Christmas expansion that could become the cinephile event of the season.

Looking Ahead

With "Anaconda," "Song Sung Blue," and "Marty Supreme" still poised to expand into the lucrative holiday corridor, 2025’s domestic total sits at $8.38 billion — merely 1.3% ahead of last year but 22% off the pre-pandemic high. Still, the global landscape tells a more hopeful tale: "Avatar: Fire and Ash" drew 75% of its $345 million from international markets, including a surprising $57.6 million debut in China, surpassing "The Way of Water" there.

For Cameron, the numbers are less about dominance than duration. His films don’t explode — they endure. And in an era of second-week collapses and content fatigue, that kind of longevity feels downright revolutionary.