When it comes to an Avatar movie, it’s always about their tail at the domestic and global box office. That’s not just because of their runtimes, but also how they launch in the pre-Christmas corridor and find their gas throughout the year-end holiday stretch into January. Audiences want the best seats to watch this James Cameron directed 3D spectacle and will wait to get them. Realize that Cameron owns the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 spots on the list of highest grossing movies of all-time with 2009’s Avatar ($2.92 billion worldwide), 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.34 billion WW), and Titanic ($2.26 billion WW). No other filmmaker can boast three spots in the top ten pics of all-time; not Steven Spielberg, not Christopher Nolan (however, the Russo Brothers do own two spots with No. 2 Avengers: Endgame at $2.799B and No. 7 Avengers: Infinity War at $2.05B, and their Avengers: Doomsday comes out a year from now). The three Avatar films have now earned over $5.6B to date globally which includes Fire and Ash‘s opening.
We’ll keep refreshing this list, as it’s about the end results with Avatar: Fire and Ash, but here’s how it shook out this weekend:
At $345M, 2nd Biggest Global Opening Ever for James Cameron behind Avatar: Way of Water at $441.7M (not in like-for-likes, but historically reported).
At $88M, 2nd Biggest Domestic Opening for Cameron behind Avatar: Way of Water‘s $134.1M.
2nd Biggest MPA Global Opening of 2025 behind Zootopia 2 ($560.3M) and ahead of Lilo & Stitch ($341M).
3rd Biggest Global Opening of 2025 behind Zootopia 2 ($560.3M) and China’s local animated title Ne Zha 2 ($431.2M).
2nd Highest MPA international opening overall since Avatar: The Way of Water ($308M) in 2022, behind only Zootopia 2. (Avatar: Fire and Ash opened at #1 in all material markets except for Japan).
Highest MPA Movie International Opening of 2025 in France ($21.4M), Germany ($18M), Spain ($7.1M) and Korea ($13.6M).
Best Opening for an Avatar movie in China, and 2nd Biggest Opening in Middle Kingdom YTD with $57.6M behind Zootopia 2, and above Avatar: The Way of Water ($56M).
With $43.6M, The Biggest Global Opening for Imax in 2025, and the Fifth Biggest In The Large Format Exhibitor’s History.
Highest opening for an Avatar film in Turkey and Ukraine.
Highest opening for an Avatar film in Vietnam and Indonesia ($5.6M).
Highest MPA opening weekend for 2025 in Singapore, Thailand, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Disney Heading To $6 Billion Worldwide for 2025: The best post-Covid annual global haul for any Hollywood studio.
Longest Runtime for an Avatar Movie at 3 hours and 17 minutes, ahead of Avatar (2 hours, 42 minutes) and Avatar: Way of Water (3 hours, 12 minutes).
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