2025 ended with a victory. Over 365 days, the domestic box office bested 2024 by about $83.6 million. The numbers were still down from the Barbenheimer year of 2023 ($8.90 billion total), but $8.65 billion was still the second-best total theaters have seen since the pandemic. The holidays are over, but the battle goes on for the 2025 releases to continue grossing while still in theaters to match the previous two years. And that battle continued this weekend, the last one before kids go back to school. The box office just had its best January weekend since the Martin Luther King holiday in 2020, just before the pandemic began two months later.
King of the Crop: Avatar: Fire and ASh Crosses $1 Billion Worldwide
Everyone wants to know how Avatar: Fire and Ash is doing. Well, it is still No. 1 after three weeks of release, and it could certainly make it four in a row next week. On the all-time charts, it ranks 41st after 17 days ($306.0 million), and it had the 26th-best third weekend ever with $40 million. The Way of Water was third on that list ($67.4 million) and 15th on the other ($425.5 million). The reported $400+ million budgeted film has hit $1,083 billion worldwide (James Cameron’s fourth film in a row to achieve that) and speculation is that it is headed over $1.5 billion to become another all-timer for the director. I’d say it’s doing just fine.
Only five films failed to hit $400 million domestic after reaching $300 million in 17 days. They were Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Jurassic World: Dominion, and The Batman. None of them had a third weekend as high as Fire and Ash. The films that did not reach $400 million grossing over $35 million in their third weekend were Skyfall, Jumanji: The Next Level, The Batman, 2016’s The Jungle Book, and Zootopia. But the latter film’s sequel is making its own Avatar waves through the charts.
Tales of the top 10: Zootopia 2 and Marty Supreme Achieve New Heights
After 40 days of release, the top 44 films on that list all made it to $400 million. No. 44 is Wonder Woman, which had made $371.2 million. No. 48 is currently Disney’s Zootopia 2, which, after adding $19 million this weekend, has made $363.6 million. Of course that is just on the domestic side and about as low as the animated sequel is going to come in any rankings. Thanks to $2.15 billion overseas, Ne Zha 2 is going to own the top animated spot globally for some time. Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 made $1.69 billion. Now Zootopia 2 is Disney’s highest grossing non-Pixar animated release of all time with $1.588 billion. That is 12th all time on the global chart and needs around $74 million to pass 2019’s The Lion King for 11th, $83 million to knock Jurassic World out of the top 10, and $110 million to best Inside Out 2 for ninth. Can the film still join the ranks of the $400 million club here at home? That is the $37 million question. Do not rule it out entirely, as it could still become just the sixth film ever to score that number after grossing less than $30 million in its third weekend. It is also only the second film from Hollywood to gross over $600 million in China after Avengers: Endgame.
There were 19 films to cross $100 million in 2025. That would break a two-year streak of Hollywood not producing 20. But there are still two films hoping to continuing that streak. Paul Feig’s The Housemaid is one of them. The Lionsgate release made another $14.8 million this weekend to bring its 17-day total to $75.7 million. That is right in the wheelhouse of the releases of 2005’s Fun with Dick & Jane and 2016’s Passengers. Both had Wednesday, Dec. 21 releases, and by the end of its third weekend, Dick & Jane had made $81 million and Passengers was at $80.9 million. The former got to $110 million and the latter just over $100 million with a two-day respective head start of $7.5 and $7.3 million over The Housemaid. Passengers’ third weekend was just $8.8 million. The odds are very much in favor of The Housemaid becoming the 20th $100 million release of 2025.
Sinners is going to be the highest-grossing Best Picture nominee, but Marty Supreme is set to become the second-highest. A24’s highest-grossing film of all time is their Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once ($77.1 million domestic, $142.8 million worldwide). Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme has a ways to go on the global side, but after 12 days of a wide domestic release, it has made $56 million. Supreme bested David O. Russell’s American Hustle, among others, to have the best six-theater launch ever with $875,000, compared to American Hustle’s $740,455, and while it isn’t quite doing Hustle numbers after its wide launch, it is certainly close enough to compare.
Hustle had second and third weekends of wide extension to $19.1 million and $18.7 million, while Marty was at $17.7 million and $12.5 million and has made nearly as much as Russell’s Hustle, which had $59.1 million after 17 days of limited and wide release. Among comparable non-Oscar-competitive titles like Maid In Manhattan and Sisters, Marty Supreme would be looking at around a $90 million finish. Both of those films were over $84 million by the end of their sixth weekends. Marty’s sixth weekend will arrive on the heel of a slew of Oscar nominations, which could extend audience interest to become A24’s first $100 million domestic release.
Luis Llosa’s Anaconda back in 1997 made $32.7 million in its first ten days of release. This year’s comedic remake with Jack Black and Paul Rudd did that in eight. On days 9-11 it added $10 million to its total and now has $45.8 million. The numbers closely align with the 2012 Christmas Day release of Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, which had a $9.7 million second weekend and an 11-day gross of $45.7 million. Last week, we had Anaconda pegged to cross $60 million. If it doesn’t take a huge post-holiday drop-off next weekend, it could stretch for $88 million globally to date.
Two other animated films have also been drawing in their share of patrons. The SpongeBob Squarepants movies have quietly grossed over a half billion dollars around the globe. That total would be even higher if the pandemic didn’t sabotage the third film’s release. The fourth, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants, contributed another $8.2 million to that total this weekend and has now made $57.6 million in 17 days. Putting that up against the numbers of The Adventures of Tintin back in 2011, which was up to $57 million after a $6.7 million third weekend, SpongeBob 4 could be headed for a finish in the $80-85 million region.
SpongeBob may have won this week’s battle, but Angel Studios’ David looks to be winning the Goliath war over Bikini Bottom. In weekend three, David made $8 million and is now up to $70.1 million in 17 days. The company’s second-highest grosser may need a little push to get itself to $100 million. Overall it is slightly ahead of The Prince of Egypt from back in 1999, but that film had an $11.2 million third weekend and still barely finished over nine digits. David is, however, on track to pass The Bad Guys 2 ($82.59 million) to become at least the fourth-highest grossing animated film of 2025, a year when only two of them (Zootopia 2 and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle) cleared $100 million.
Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue isn’t exactly The Greatest Showman, but it has been doing some steady business over the holidays. In its second weekend it made $5.8 million to bring its 11-day total to $25 million. The question now is whether this is going to translate to just a $35-40 million finish or if any word-of-mouth will keep it to minimal drops and land it in the $40-50 million area. Some eyes will be on The Actors Awards this week to see if Kate Hudson could sneak into the Best Actress list. If not, the awards talk will dissipate quickly. The $30 million production does look like it will be among the five highest-grossing films released by Focus since the pandemic. The list currently includes Nosferatu ($95.6 million), Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale ($44.9 million), Downton Abbey: A New Era ($44.1 million), The Northman ($34.2 million), and Conclave ($32.5 million).
Universal is closing out the holiday season top ten in style with a pair of hits. Wicked: For Good may not have lived up to Part One in a number of ways, but another $3.2 million this weekend brings its total to $339.8 million, which makes it the sixth-highest grossing domestic release of 2025 after Avatar: Fire and Ash passes it shortly. It is one of 13 films from last year to cross half a billion globally as it hopes to pass The Fantastic Four: First Steps ($521.8 million) for 12th on that list. At No. 10, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 finished its fifth weekend with $2.7 million and is now over $125 million. If the film follows a similar path to Anchorman 2, which made $2.1 million in its fifth weekend, it could finish its run between $135-140 million with a shot to pass the $137.2 million domestic gross of the original. The worldwide gross of the sequel is over $225 million, down from the $291 million of the first film.
Beyond the Top 10: We Bury the Dead Debuts at No. 11
Just missing the top 10 was the Daisy Ridley zombie film, We Bury the Dead. Premiering at SXSW last year, the film was picked up by Vertical Entertainment, who made it the first wide release of 2026 in 1,172 theaters, where it grossed $2.5 million. That is their best start to date. Their widest releases up to this point were the Milla Jovovich/Dave Bautista action fantasy In the Lost Lands ($1.07 million in 1,370 theaters) and the Josh Hartnett actioner Fight or Flight ($2.002 million in 2,153 theaters). Their releases of Ron Howard’s Eden (664 theaters) and the Emma Thompson thriller Dead of Winter (605 theaters) also opened to $1.04 million and $1.03 million each. We Bury the Dead also boasts an 84% on the Tomatometer. Keep moving forward, Vertical.
Chan-wook Park’s No Other Choice made $991,000 in 45 theaters. The estimated per-theater average of $22,022 is the second-best second weekend PTA for a film released in 2025 behind only Friendship ($23,338). With $1.98 million in 11 days the film is about to pass The Handmaiden ($2.006 million) and Decision To Leave ($2.17 million) to become the director’s highest-grossing domestic release. Neon could be hoping for a late awards surge here. Focus is basically just waiting for the nominations come out at this point on Hamnet. Chloe Zhao’s film is still in 312 theaters, where it grossed $710,000 to bring its total to $11.8 million. Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? is pretty off in the awards conversation and will go wider next weekend. This weekend it made $250,000 and has made a million bucks to date.
It should be noted that theaters played the Stranger Things finale across the country in over 500 theaters on New Year’s Eve, and the speculated gross on those screenings was $25 million. AMC, Cinemark and Classic Cinemas were charging $20, which came with concessions (and helped get around contract clauses). Regal Cinemas charged $11 (wink, wink). That $25 million would be more than any of the individual releases of TV’s The Chosen, which have collectively grossed over $102 million. We know that because those grosses were officially reported. Meanwhile, Netflix is reportedly eyeing just a 17-day window for theatrical releases for Warner Bros. That would have cut off about $413 million in grosses from Warner Bros. releases in 2025, not to mention how many theaters may choose not to play them at all, as well as moviegoers figuring they can just wait 17 days and plop down to watch them on their subscription at home.
On the Vine: Post-Apocalyptic Journeys and Rabid Chimpanzees
More science fiction and horror will be offered to audiences to kick off 2026 next week, starting with the sequel to one of the best-reviewed Gerard Butler films, Greenland 2: Migration. We’ll see if critics are as good with this one as they were with the first during the pandemic. Those that saw Primate at Fantastic Fest last September are certainly on board with the rabid chimpanzee film (it’s currently at 92% on the Tomatometer). Will the January horror crowd come out to support it?
Full List of Box Office Results: January 2-4, 2025
- Avatar: Fire and Ash – $40.0 million ($306.0 million total)
- Zootopia 2 – $19.0 million ($363.6 million total)
- The Housemaid – $14.8 million ($75.7 million total)
- Marty Supreme – $12.5 million ($56.0 million total)
- Anaconda – $10.0 million ($45.8 million total)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants – $8.2 million ($57.6 million total)
- David – $8.0 million ($70.1 million total)
- Song Sung Blue – $5.8 million ($25.0 million total)
- Wicked: For Good – $3.2 million ($339.8 million total)
- Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 – $2.7 million ($125.2 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
Thumbnail image by ©20th Century Studios
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