‘Avatar’ and ‘Marty Supreme’ propel strong ticket sales to wrap a turbulent 2025 for Hollywood

This image released by Disney shows Lo'ak, performed by Britain Dalton, left, and Tsireya, performed by Bailey Bass in a scene from "Avatar: Fire and Ash." (20th Century Studios/Disney via AP)

NEW YORK — Hollywood wrapped up a turbulent year with big ticket sales for “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and a box-office hit for Timothée Chalamet with “Marty Supreme” over a busy holiday weekend in movie theaters.

As expected, James Cameron’s latest trip to Pandora dominated ticket sales, collecting US$88 million over the four-day Christmas-to-Sunday period and $64 million on the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Though “Fire and Ash” initially opened notably softer domestically than its 2022 predecessor, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” it held better in its second weekend. It dipped just 28%, whereas “Way of Water” fell 53%.

In two weeks, “Fire and Ash” has quickly amassed $217.7 million in North America for The Walt Disney Company. But the $400 million-budgeted film has been a massive draw internationally, grossing $542.7 million thus far overseas. To reach the box-office heights of the previous films, both of which rank among the biggest blockbusters ever, “Fire and Ash” will need to sustain business through New Year’s and early January. If it does, “Avatar” could become the first franchise with three $2 billion movies.

But much of the heat in theaters over Christmas and on the weekend belonged to “Marty Supreme,” A24’s biggest budget release, Josh Safdie’s 1950s-set table tennis drama collected $27.1 million over the four-day weekend, a smash success for the indie studio.

Chalamet went to great lengths to promote the acclaimed release, including appearing atop the Sphere in Las Vegas. The strong opening proved that the 30-year-old star has drawing power beyond most of his contemporaries, and it marked a rare box-office win for a wholly original film. Safdie’s film carries a price tag of about $70 million.

“Marty Supreme” even bested the film most analysts expected to rank number two: Sony Pictures’ “Anaconda.” The big-screen comedy, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, collected $23.7 million over the four-day holiday weekend. That’s still good for comedy, a genre most studios have abandoned in recent years. But “Anaconda” (50% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) was surely dinged by poor reviews.

Hollywood is ending the year with its best Christmas Day box office since before the COVID-19 pandemic, a celebratory final note in what’s been a rough year for the film industry. Going into the year, expectations were high for the industry’s first year this decade not marred by pandemic or strike.

“It was a really solid end to a tumultuous year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride. I think the best news for the industry — I know we kind of say this every year — but if you look at the lineup for 2026, it’s pretty incredible.”

But domestic ticket sales on the year are ending roughly on par with the disappointing $8.75 billion in 2024. With three days left in 2025, the box-office total is $8.76 billion, according to Comscore. By comparison, in 2019, that total was $11.4 billion.

That’s a worrying development for theaters, which are now nervously watching Netflix attempt to buy one of Hollywood’s most storied studios in Warner Bros. The highest grossing film of the year was a Chinese production, the $2 billion-generating “Ne Zha 2.” The most-watched movie of 2025 was “KPop Demon Hunters,” a movie Sony Pictures sold to Netflix. Even the Oscars are headed to YouTube.

What worked in 2025? PG-rated movies. For the second year in a row, PG-rated movies outperformed PG-13 ones. Domestically, PG films generated $2.87 billion, according to Comscore, while PG-13 movies collected $2.78 billion.

The three biggest Hollywood blockbusters were all PG-rated: “Zootopia 2” ($1.42 billion globally), “Lilo & Stitch” ($1.04 billion) and “A Minecraft Movie” ($958.2 million).

“Zootopia 2” even outranked the newcomers over the traditional weekend. In its fifth weekend, it earned another $20 million. Propelled by “Zootopia 2,” “Lilo & Stitch” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” Disney became the first studio since 2019 to cross $6 billion worldwide in the year.

Yet expectations are already growing for a rebound year at the box office in 2026. Among the major titles upcoming are “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the live-action “Moana,” “Toy Story 5” and “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

The coming week, when schools are out and many people are off work, should be one of the busiest weeks of the year in theaters. Aside from the top films, a number of other releases will hope to capitalize.

That includes Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid,” the Paul Feig thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried ($46.7 million in two weeks); “David,” the animated David and Goliath film from Angel Studios ($49.8 million in two weeks); Paramount Pictures’ “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” ($38.2 million in two weeks); and Focus Features’ “Song Sung Blue.”

“Song Sung Blue” may be particularly well-positioned for strong legs. The Craig Brewer-directed film, starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman as members of a Neil Diamond cover band, debuted over the holiday weekend with a four-day haul of $12 million. Audience scores (an “A” CinemaScore) have been excellent.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $64 million.

2. “Zootopia 2,” $20 million.

3. “Marty Supreme,” $17.5 million.

4. “The Housemaid,” $15.4 million.

5. “Anaconda,” $14.6 million.

6. “David,” $12.7 million.

7. “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” $11.2 million.

8. “Song Sung Blue,” $7.6 million.

9. “Wicked: For Good,” $5.3 million.

10. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” $4.4 million.

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press