Fri | Jan 23, 2026

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ tops box office again

Published:Monday | January 19, 2026 | 12:09 AM
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This image released by Disney shows Neytiri, performed by Zoe Saldana, in a scene from Avatar: Fire and Ash’.
Uncredited
This image released by Disney shows Neytiri, performed by Zoe Saldana, in a scene from Avatar: Fire and Ash’.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Ralph Fiennes in a scene from ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’.
Uncredited
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Ralph Fiennes in a scene from ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’.
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AP:

The film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, may have scored well with critics, but slightly more movie-going audiences chose to spend the holiday weekend catching up with Avatar: Fire and Ash. James Cameron’s epic topped the North American box office charts for the fifth straight weekend with $13.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney Co also celebrated another win as their Thanksgiving release Zootopia 2 became the highest- grossing animated Motion Picture Association release of all time.

Meanwhile The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta, landed in second place with $13 million through Sunday. By the end of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, it’s expected to be at $15 million, still trailing Avatar’s projected $17.2 million. The film, released by Sony Pictures and starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell, opened wide on the weekend in 3,506 theatres on a wave of hype and strong reviews. It currently has 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and 72 per cent of audiences said in a PostTrak poll that they would “definitely recommend” the movie.

But perhaps in a case of too much too soon, the sequel also comes less than a year after the previous instalment, 28 Years Later, which opened to $30 million in June. Going into the weekend, The Bone Temple was expected to make at least $20 million through Monday. With a reported $63 million production budget, not including marketing and promotion, it also has a long journey to break even.

“It’s one of those head-scratchers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. “There may be a little bit of confusion from audiences. But word-of-mouth might sustain it in this marketplace, like we saw with The Housemaid and Zootopia 2.”

Third place went to Zootopia 2, with $8.8 million in its eighth weekend. With global grosses currently at $1.7 billion, it surpassed Inside Out 2 as the highest-grossing MPA animated release of all time. The Housemaid landed in fourth place with $8.5 million. Made for only $35 million, the Lionsgate release has grossed nearly $250 million worldwide.

Rounding out the top-five was Marty Supreme, which became A24’s highest-grossing North American release. Josh Safdie’s mid-century adrenaline rush may get another boost after Oscar nominations are announced Thursday.