NEW YORK — Hollywood closed a turbulent 2025 with a busy holiday box-office weekend driven by James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash and Timothée Chalamet’s A24 release Marty Supreme. From Dec. 25 to Dec. 28, studios estimated Avatar drew $88 million across the four-day holiday window and $64 million over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday weekend. Marty Supreme posted a major indie success with approximately $27.1 million over the four-day span, underscoring Chalamet’s outsize pull. The results helped lift a year that has been uneven for North American theaters but showed signs of momentum heading into 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Avatar: Fire and Ash earned an estimated $88 million over the four-day Christmas-to-Sunday period and $64 million for the weekend, per studio estimates.
- In its second weekend, Avatar fell 28%, significantly better than Avatar: The Way of Water’s 53% drop in its comparable frame.
- Marty Supreme collected about $27.1 million over the four-day period and $17.5 million on the weekend, making it A24’s largest-budget breakout this year.
- Sony’s comedy Anaconda finished with roughly $23.7 million for the four-day stretch and $14.6 million for the weekend, a respectable haul despite mixed reviews.
- Domestic box-office receipts for 2025 are settling near $8.76 billion with three days remaining, roughly matching 2024’s $8.75 billion but well below 2019’s $11.4 billion.
- Internationally, Fire and Ash has grossed about $542.7 million overseas, bringing its global total well past North American earnings; the film’s production budget is about $400 million.
- PG-rated films again outperformed PG-13 titles domestically in 2025, with PG films totaling $2.87 billion versus $2.78 billion for PG-13, according to Comscore.
Background
The industry entered 2025 hopeful that a return to normal conditions after the pandemic and the strikes would produce a stronger theatrical year. Major studios scheduled a robust slate, aiming to lure families and event audiences back to multiplexes. Still, the year has been volatile: several tentpoles underperformed, streaming deals reshaped release windows, and international markets continued to be decisive for large-budget pictures.
Avatar: Fire and Ash carries heavy expectations because the franchise’s previous installments rank among the highest-grossing films ever. The new entry opened softer domestically than Avatar: The Way of Water did in 2022 but has shown steadier holds. For independent studios, Marty Supreme represents a different success story: a mid-budget, original film finding a substantial opening through star-driven promotion and critical buzz.
Main Event
James Cameron’s return to Pandora led ticket sales during the holiday stretch, with studios estimating an $88 million four-day intake and $64 million for the weekend in North America. After two weeks, Fire and Ash has reached $217.7 million domestically while exceeding $542.7 million internationally, a performance that keeps it on track to emulate prior franchise totals if it sustains audience interest into January.
Marty Supreme, set in the 1950s and directed by Josh Safdie, surprised many by converting festival and critical attention into mainstream ticket sales. A24 invested roughly $70 million in the production, and Chalamet’s promotional efforts — including a high-profile appearance at the Sphere in Las Vegas — helped the picture outperform most expectations for an original property.
Sony’s Anaconda and other holiday competitors saw respectable returns: Anaconda took an estimated $23.7 million across the four days, while titles like Zootopia 2, The Housemaid and David all posted solid multi-week holds. Family-oriented and PG-rated titles remained box-office anchors, with franchise and animated releases continuing to generate large grosses globally.
Analysis & Implications
The hold pattern for Avatar: Fire and Ash — a 28% second-weekend drop — signals strong audience retention compared with the steeper falls common for modern tentpoles. That relative stability matters because the film’s $400 million budget relies on sustained global business to reach the franchise’s historic heights. If Fire and Ash maintains healthy weekday and New Year’s play, it could join its predecessors among the rare films to reach or exceed $2 billion worldwide.
Marty Supreme’s success is noteworthy for several reasons: it validates the commercial potential of well-marketed, adult-oriented originals and highlights star-driven campaigns in the theatrical era. For A24, the result justifies higher-budget bets and could recalibrate how specialties approach wide releases, especially around major holiday windows.
Despite these bright spots, the year’s domestic totals illustrate a structural challenge: North American revenue is still well below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. The gap is not solely about movie quality; it reflects changing consumer habits, competition from streaming, and the uneven performance of mid-budget films. Studios and theaters will watch early 2026 releases closely to see whether the holiday uptick becomes a sustained recovery.
Comparison & Data
| Rank | Title | Weekend (Fri–Sun, $M) | Four-day (Christmas–Sun, $M) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avatar: Fire and Ash | 64.0 | 88.0 |
| 2 | Zootopia 2 | 20.0 | – |
| 3 | Marty Supreme | 17.5 | 27.1 |
| 4 | The Housemaid | 15.4 | – |
| 5 | Anaconda | 14.6 | 23.7 |
| 6 | David | 12.7 | – |
| 7 | The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants | 11.2 | – |
| 8 | Song Sung Blue | 7.6 | 12.0 |
| 9 | Wicked: For Good | 5.3 | – |
| 10 | Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | 4.4 | – |
This table aggregates studio and Comscore weekend estimates released as theaters closed the holiday stretch. The four-day figures reflect the Christmas-to-Sunday frame where available; weekend values are the standard Friday-to-Sunday totals used for weekly rankings.
Reactions & Quotes
“It was a really solid end to a tumultuous year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, underscoring that the holiday performance provided a welcome boost after an uneven 2025.
Paul Dergarabedian, Senior Media Analyst, Comscore
“PG-rated films continued to outperform, driving family attendance and hefty grosses for animated tentpoles,” according to industry box-office tallies cited this week.
Comscore (box-office data)
“Song Sung Blue debuted to an ‘A’ CinemaScore, suggesting strong word-of-mouth might extend its run beyond initial projections.
CinemaScore (audience polling)
Unconfirmed
- Reports that Netflix is actively negotiating to buy Warner Bros. remain unsettled in public disclosures and lack a definitive closing timeline.
- Projections that Avatar: Fire and Ash will reach $2 billion globally are possible but depend on sustained box-office performance through January and robust international legs.
- Plans for the Academy Awards to move to YouTube have been reported in trade coverage but should be treated as evolving until confirmed by the Academy and platform partners.
Bottom Line
The final holiday weekend of 2025 offered clear bright spots: Avatar: Fire and Ash displayed franchise resilience with a much-improved second-week hold, and Marty Supreme demonstrated that original, star-driven films can still break out theatrically. Those outcomes helped mask a year that overall remained below pre-pandemic domestic levels and underscored the growing importance of international markets to justify big budgets.
Looking ahead, a crowded 2026 slate of tentpoles gives the industry a chance to build momentum, but the recovery will hinge on consistent audience turnout, clearer studio strategies around theatrical windows, and how streaming deals evolve. For theaters and studios alike, the holiday weekend was a reminder that both franchise familiarity and carefully scaled originals have roles to play in restoring box-office growth.
Sources
- NBC News — media report summarizing studio and Comscore estimates (news)
- Comscore — box-office analytics and year-to-date totals (industry analytics)
- CinemaScore — audience polling and CinemaScore results (audience research)