Fire And Ash’ No. 1 Over ‘Primate’; ‘Housemaid’

SATURDAY AM: 2026, knock on wood, continues to be on a good start in its first 11 days at the domestic box office with around $324M, +22% from the same period a year ago. Even though James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash isn’t as strong as the first two films stateside with an anticipated running four weekend total tomorrow of $345.2M (on the high end), -33% behind Avatar: Way of Water, the movie is powerful enough to be the roux of the January box office. The threequel’s fourth weekend is expected to file between $21M-$24M in its fourth consecutive weekend at No. 1. Let’s also not forget about the amazing holding power of Disney’s Thanksgiving release Zootopia 2, which as of this morning is looking to do around $11M in its 7th frame, -43%. The pic has a shot at taking No. 2, but so does Paramount/18Hz’s Primate at $11M and Lionsgate’s Housemaid, which is still holding well with $10.6M, -30%, in its fourth weekend as the Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried thriller heads to $93.5M.

The studio’s Greenland 2: Migration is coming in at the lower end of its $8M-$10M projection with $8.5M. That STX and Anton co-production cost $90M, but Lionsgate took U.S. for $10M. Pic’s weekend doesn’t include Canada. Both Primate and Greenland 2 get B- CinemaScores.

Primate gets an alright 50% definite recommend in Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits. The R-rated movie is male skewing as expected at 58% with the 18-34 bunch showing up at 59%. Latino and Hispanic moviegoers and Caucasians are tied at 35% apiece followed by 20% Black and 7% Asian American moviegoers. Some PLFs are repping 10% of the Johannes Roberts’ directed genre pic’s business. West is the best with AMC Burbank the movie’s highest grossing venue so far with $20K.

Greenland 2 is a 49% definite recommend, and is also guy leaning at 56%, however, remains more older male than Primate, with dudes over 25 at 48% to the chimp’s 39%. The 35-44 set is the largest demo at 26% with 18-34 showing up at 37%. Caucasians are at 42%, Latino and Hispanic audiences at 28%, Black at 13%, Asian American at 10%. This movie is also over-indexing in the West, where a third of the gross is coming from versus a norm of 23% for other titles in the marketplace. The Harkins in Estrella Falls, AZ is the top grossing venue with close to $11K.

Angel Studios’ political war drama I Was a Stranger, which is looking at $1.1M outside the top 10, is the only new wide entry to get a good CinemaScore, that being an A-. It’s playing to the faith-based crowd in the South, Midwest and Mountain regions, just not at big numbers at 1,400 sites with 51% female and the over 55 set at 39%. Diversity demos are 48% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black, 6% Asian American and 10% Native American/other. Top grossing venue currently is the AMC Empire with around $4K.

Meanwhile, Sony’s comedy Anaconda just clicked past $100M at the global box office with $51.2M abroad and $50.4M stateside for a running total of $101.6M.

Also hearing that Hamnet is a hit in its UK opening with $4M weekend. The Chloe Zhao-directed period drama posted the highest opening Friday for a drama released in January since 1917 in 2020. Domestic stands at a running total of $12.7M heading into the Golden Globes tomorrow where it’s up for six noms including Best Feature Drama. Global stands close to $17M.

U.S./Canada numbers as of Saturday AM:

FRIDAY PM UPDATE: In a weekend where a chimp with rabies is looking to scare more people into theaters, 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: Fire and Ash remains the alpha male with what’s expected to be a $24 million fourth weekend at 3,700 locations after a $5.6M Friday and a running cume of $345.2M.

Overseas is where it’s at, and the hope is that the threequel will ring up a global weekend north of $90M+, leading all titles in release. Here in North American, Avatar: Fire and Ash continues to play in Imax, 3D, 4D, Screen-X and D-box premium auditoriums.

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Second for the frame is currently going to Lionsgate’s The Housemaid, holding strong with a $3.4M fourth Friday and a fourth weekend of $12M at 3,123 screens, down 21%, getting the Sydney Sweeney-Amanda Seyfried movie to $94.6M. For Sweeney, as a leading actress, the pic is already her highest grossing at the domestic box office besting Anyone But You‘s $88.3M stateside take.

Paramount/18Hz’s monkey-gone-mad movie Primate with an equal 76% score among critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, is seeing $4.4M today and $10.5M for the weekend at 2,964 sites.

And there are those looking to knock the chimp out such as Lionsgate’s Greenland 2: Migration, with $3.8M today and $10M for the weekend; however, they sport not great critic and audience scores at 54% and 64%, respectively. Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves: Pantera was in slightly better shape a year ago with RT critic and audience ratings of 62% and 79%, respectively. CinemaScore came in at B+.

With K-12s back in school, the expectation is that the youngins will come out Saturday for more Zootopia 2; the Disney pic is eyeing $10M in weekend 7, -48%, after a $2M Friday for a running cume of $378.7M. While more than Moana 2‘s seventh frame of $6.5M a year ago, that sequel was considerably more frontloaded than Zootopia 2, with its running cume at the time at $434.8M. Moana 2 played all the way to the first weekend of April, ending its run at $460.4M. Just gives you an idea of how much juice is left in Zootopia 2.

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FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Paramount/18Hz’s Primate rang up $1.4M from both Thursday night showtimes and previous previews. Meanwhile, Lionsgate/STX’s Greenland 2: Migration did $900K. Triple note on that Gerard Butler movie: Canada isn’t going this weekend. Primate and Greenland 2 were forecast to make $8M-$10M heading into this weekend.

Despite the entry of two older-male-skewing titles, Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to hold on to No. 1 in its fourth weekend with $20M-$22M. The James Cameron-directed threequel grossed $2.5M yesterday, ending its third week at $55M for a running cume of $321.2M.

The Johannes Roberts-directed, Walter Hamada-produced $21M Primate opens today in 2,964 locations. Internationally, the film opens this week in 26 markets including Mexico. That 90% fresh Rotten Tomatoes critics score has simmered down to 78% fresh, which is still notable for an R-rated horror movie. Oz Perkins’ The Monkey last year had a 77% certified fresh RT score in reviews. Speaking of which, Primate‘s previews are about $500K shy of Monkey‘s $1.9M (which turned into a $5.8M Friday/previews and $14M opening).

Butler’s Lionsgate movie from a year ago, Den of Thieves: Pantera, did $1.35M in previews before a $5.7M Friday and a $15M No. 1 debut. The first Greenland was 77% certified fresh with audiences during the pandemic (remember, it only got a PVOD play), and Part 2 is lower at 59%. Greenland 2 was made for $90M, but Lionsgate only took U.S. for $10M. Elevation will be releasing the sequel in Canada as PVOD via Amazon.

Per Comscore, 76% of colleges are on break today, a number that declines to 42% on Monday but spikes back up to 94% the following Monday on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in addition to K-12 being 94% on break.

Top pics of the week: