James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” opened 2026 in front, pacing North American theaters through the New Year holiday. The film led Jan. 1 with about $15.7 million, then repeated as the No. 1 title on Jan. 2 with roughly $14 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The top 10 releases combined for about $43.5 million on New Year’s Day, a level exhibitors will read as a meaningful holiday pulse check. Through the end of the Jan. 1 reporting week, “Fire and Ash” stood at about $266 million domestic and roughly $949 million worldwide, putting the sequel on the doorstep of the $1 billion mark.
The run has leaned on staying power as much as opening-weekend heat. After debuting below some forecasts, the sequel steadied during the Christmas frame, dropping about 28% in its second weekend while delivering an estimated $64 million over three days from 3,800 screens. International receipts have carried most of the haul so far, with China, France and Germany cited among the strongest early markets, while premium large formats continue to lift grosses with higher ticket prices.
Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid” has quietly played the counterprogramming game and held real space on multiplex marquees. The Paul Feig thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried grossed about $4.6 million on New Year’s Day and stood at roughly $43.4 million domestic to date. Recent estimates pegged its worldwide take near $65 million through the Christmas weekend, a sturdy showing for an adult-skewing title while holiday mainstays like “Zootopia 2” keep family audiences coming back.
The surge lands in a market still trying to rebuild weekly habits after years of volatility. Domestic ticket sales finished 2025 at about $8.76 billion, close to 2024 levels and far short of 2019’s $11.4 billion, according to Comscore. Paul Dergarabedian, the company’s senior media analyst, called the finish “a really solid end to a tumultuous year,” and said the 2026 slate looks “pretty incredible” as studios and theaters chase steadier traffic beyond a handful of tentpoles.
