'Avatar: Fire and Ash' tops box office, crosses $1B

NEW YORK -- Hollywood kicked off 2026 with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” atop the box office for the third straight week and with hopes for a blockbuster-filled year after a disappointing 2025.In three weeks of release, “Fire and Ash” has cleared $1 billion worldwide.The third chapter in James Cameron’s Pandora epic collected $40 million over its third weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.“Fire and Ash” is doing its biggest business overseas; it’s grossed $777.1 million internationally thus far.

The Walt Disney Co.on Sunday trumped the $1 billion milestone as “cementing another monumental achievement for James Cameron’s groundbreaking franchise.”But over the holidays, it wasn’t just about the weekend ticket sales.

The whole week was a lucrative one for Hollywood, with most schools still out.What drove ticket sales, beyond “Avatar”? Sydney Sweeney, Timothée Chalamet and “Zootopia 2.”The most sustained success over the holiday collider in theaters belonged to a movie that opened all the way back in November.

Yet Disney’s “Zootopia 2” has had remarkable staying power.It landed in second place with $19 million, dipping a mere 4% from the previous weekend.The animated sequel has amassed $1.59 billion in six weeks.

That makes “Zootopia 2” Disney’s second highest grossing animated movie ever, trailing only 2019’s photorealistic “The Lion King” ($1.66 billion).“The Housemaid,” the twisty thriller starring Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, also emerged as a holiday-season hit for Lionsgate.It collected $14.9 million over the weekend, giving it $75.7 million domestically over three weeks.

It dipped only 3% from last weekend.Internationally, “The Housemaid,” which cost a modest $35 million to make, has added $57.3 million.Just as Sweeney’s star power is propelling “The Housemaid,” so is Chalamet’s with “Marty Supreme.” The A24 release also held well in its third weekend, grossi...