James Cameron is well on his way to a fourth title on the top 10 highest grossing films of all time.

Avatar: Fire and Ash burns through $1 billion at the global box office

James Cameron is well on his way to a fourth title on the top 10 highest grossing films of all time.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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January 4, 2026 7:27 p.m. ET

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Varang (Oona Chaplin) in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'. Credit:

20th Century Studios

James Cameron can't stop winning.

The blockbuster maverick is riding high on the box office returns from his latest effort, *Avatar: Fire and Ash*, the third entry in his famously profitable fantasy series. *Fire and Ash *brought in $40 million domestically and $169.6 million around the world in its third week of release, bringing its global tally across the $1 billion threshold.

The film CGI fantasia now boasts $306 million in total proceeds at home, and $1.08 million abroad, per Comscore. *Fire and Ash*'s domestic drop from $64 million in week 2 to this week's $40 million represents only a 37 percent drop, a strong figure for a film of its scale at this point in its release trajectory. That same figure on the global stage dropped to 29 percent.**

Still from 'Zootopia 2'.

Still, Cameron has yet to earn the right to take home the title of 2025's highest-grossing film director. For now, that honor remains with Jared Bush and Byron Howard, the co-directors of *Zootopia 2*. Disney's animated sequel currently sits at $1.58 billion at the global box office, and $363.6 million domestically, after taking in $81.7 million and $19 million respectively in week 6.

*Fire and Ash *is also notably underperforming compared to its predecessor, 2022's *Avatar: The Way of Water*. That film opened to a staggering $134 million, compared with *Fire and Ash*'s $88 million, and at this point in its release cycle, it boasted $425.5 million.

'Avatar: Fire and Ash' ignites holiday weekend box office with No. 1 spot

James Cameron and 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' cast and crew break down the voyage of the Wind Traders

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With 2025 now in rear view at the domestic box office, the year can be deemed a success, having grown 1.5 percent compared to last year with an $8.87 billion final count.

The last few weeks played a major role in volleying the year over that net, with the sequelmania releases of *Wicked: For Good*, *Zootopia 2*, *Avatar: Fire and Ash*, and *Five Nights at Freddy's* *2 *drumming up a stunning amount of business at the box office. With *Avatar *and *Zootopia *locked in at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions since the former's release in December, other titles have risen to edge *Wicked *and *Freddy's *out of the way for the bronze.

This week, Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried's psychological thriller *The Housemaid *cleaned up with a $14.8 million domestic gross in its third week, while Timothee Chalamet's ping pong drama *Marty Supreme *scored No. 4 with $12.5 million at the same point in its release cycle.****

Next up, *Avatar*'s supremacy likely remains undaunted, with the second week of January's only major releases being Paramount's simian horror *Primate*, and Lionsgate's apocalyptic thriller sequel *Greeland 2: Migration*.

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