“Avatar: Fire and Ash” continued to draw crowds on New Year’s Eve, topping the box office with $8.1 million. The film has become another holiday juggernaut for James Cameron and Disney, which acquired the rights to all things Pandora when it bought Fox in 2019. It has earned just over $250 million during its first two weeks in theaters and has been an even stronger performer overseas. It should cross $1 billion globally in the coming days.
But the movie business didn’t have as much to celebrate as it hoped to as the year came to a close. Cinemas in the U.S. and Canada sold an estimated $8.87 billion in tickets in 2025, representing a modest 1.5% increase on 2024’s domestic revenues. That’s also short of the $9 billion that many analysts expected the industry to generate. Prior to the pandemic, ticket sales were on an upward trajectory, routinely nearing or topping $11 million, but attendance has yet to return to the same levels even as the cost of going to the movies has increased. The popularity of premium formats like Imax, which have higher ticket prices, has bolstered grosses even as fewer consumers have opted to hit up the multiplex.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2” continued to be a force, earning $4.6 million to bring its domestic total to $337.9 million to take second place. “Marty Supreme” continued to be one of the few indie films to break out at the box office, earning $2.4 million on Wednesday to nab third place. That brings the domestic total for the A24 drama about a ping pong hustler (Timothée Chalamet) to roughly $39 million. The film, which has been acclaimed by critics, was costly. It has a budget of $70 million and the studio spent tens of millions more to market the picture.
In fourth place, Angel Studios’ “David” picked up $2.4 million, pushing its Stateside results to $58.5 million, while Sony’s horror-comedy “Anaconda” rounded out the top five, earning $2.2 million to bring its domestic total to $31.7 million.
Elsewhere, Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid,” a campy thriller with Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, earned $2.1 million, leaving it with a domestic haul of $56.2 million. And Focus Features’ “Song Sung Blue,” featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Neil Diamond interpreters, also earned $2.1 million, bringing its grosses to $16.9 million.
Theaters are also leaning into alternative content over the holidays, with many screening Netflix’s “Stranger Things” finale. The show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, announced that 1.1 million seats had been sold in over 620 locations, but Netflix did not announce grosses.
The New Year’s Eve box office tends to be sleepy, as many consumers prefer to eat, drink and be merry. Look for ticket sales to rebound on Thursday as sleep-deprived audiences look for something to do while shaking off a champagne fog.
