SATURDAY UPDATE: James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash crossed the $100M mark at the international box office on Friday, reaching $100.4M through three days. It is now on its way to a global opening in the $340M-$350M range. Worldwide, that’s within, but on the lower end of, the pre-weekend projection. The Na’vi typically take their time to leg out, and social scores are strong both overseas and domestically as the holidays approach.
The 20th Century/Disney sci-fi threequel is playing around the world (save Hong Kong where it releases January 8) and has opened to No. 1 in nearly all offshore markets. As noted yesterday (see below), it posted the highest opening day of 2025 across such majors as Australia, France, Germany and Italy, then continued the trend on Friday in Spain, the UK and India (non-local).
Through Friday, China had grossed $17.2M, a No. 1 start. Not included in the international total above, China rises to an estimated $41M through today. Also not included in the overseas total above, Korea added a big $4.3M today, lifting the local estimated running cume to $9.7M.
The Top 10 markets through Friday are: China ($17.2M), France ($8.7M), Germany ($8.3M), Korea ($5.4M), Mexico ($4.4M), UK ($4.1M), Australia ($4.1M), Italy ($3.5M), Indonesia ($2.8M), India ($2.6M) and Brazil ($2.5M).
We will have a full look at the weekend on Sunday.
PREVIOUS, FRIDAY: James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash is off to a $43.1M start across two days at the international box office. That includes 18 markets that opened on Wednesday and another 25 which joined the Na’vi on Thursday.
Among the debuts, the 20th Century Studios/Disney sci-fi adventure posted the highest opening day of 2025 in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand, Indonesia (non-local) and Thailand (non-local) as well as several smaller European markets.
The $43.1M total above does not include China which released today (after limited sneaks on Wednesday in the Cinity format, and PLFs on Thursday). The Friday estimate in China is coming in around $17.1M, placing it No. 1. That would represent the 3rd highest opening day for a studio film since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, behind only Zootopia 2 and Fast X. Early social scores are strong with Maoyan a 9.4 (even with the first Avatar and above Way of Water’s 9.0) and TPP a 9.5 (Avatar: 9.3, Way of Water: 9.2).
Wednesday’s key openers included France where Fire and Ash bowed at No. 1 with a 50% market share and 75% of the box office coming from 3D and premium formats. In Germany, the threequel claimed 67% market share at No. 1 on launch day with 80% of takings from 3D and premium. In Italy, the No. 1 start saw a 72% share of the market (44% from 3D and premium).
Also on Wednesday, Korea launched at No. 1 as the 2nd biggest studio start of 2025 with 72% of the market.
Thursday’s major debuts included Australia with a No. 1 and 62% market share. All Latin American markets opened to No. 1 including Mexico (68% market share) and Brazil (70% market share).
Through the first two days, the Top 10 markets are as follows: France ($5.5M), Germany ($4.7M), Korea ($3.4M), Mexico ($2.7M), Australia ($2.5M), Italy ($2.2M), Indonesia ($1.8M), Brazil ($1.6M), Thailand ($1.4M) and Taiwan ($1M). Note that Korea is up to $5.4M through today, though Friday’s estimate is not included in the international total above.
Along with China, Fire and Ash today adds such markets as UK, Spain, Japan, Poland, Turkey, India and Vietnam.
We’ll have more updates throughout the weekend.