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.
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.
