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2026 got to a pretty good start, even though there was a lack of notable newcomers this week. Unsurprisingly, Avatar: Fire and Ash held the top spot for the third week. In the process, it broke past the $1 billion mark worldwide. And Zootopia 2 had another insane performance overseas, raising the bar for where it will finish.

The Top 10 earned a combined $124.4 million this weekend. That's up 26% from last year, when Mufasa: The Lion King reached #1 on its third weekend.

Staying on top for the third weekend, Avatar: Fire and Ash earned $41.4 million. That represents a light 34% drop. Although The Way of Water actually increased on its third weekend and it was also much higher ($67 million), given that it only started to benefit from the holidays.

Fire and Ash has amassed $307.6 million to date. Last week, it was $44.1 million behind The Way of Water, and now that has grown to $117.8 million. And it will only continue growing over the next days. It could still hit $500 million domestically, but it's not guaranteed.

Zootopia 2 has enjoyed some great legs thanks to the holidays. It eased just 2%, for a great $19.3 million weekend. With $364 million domestically, it has officially passed the original's gross ($341.2 million). Given the lack of competition on January, it should definitely reach $400 million domestically.

In third place, Lionsgate's The Housemaid is breaking past any expectations. It dipped a very slight 1%, earning $15.1 million this weekend. The film has amassed $75.9 million domestically, and it should finish its run with over $120 million domestically. The biggest Lionsgate title since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

In fourth place, A24's Marty Supreme is showing word of mouth is on its favor. The film dipped just 29%, earning $12.5 million this weekend. Through 11 days in wide release, the film has earned a fantastic $56 million. It's already A24's third biggest ever film, and it will pass Civil War ($68 million) by next week. Given its great word of mouth and heavy Oscar buzz, Marty Supreme could get as high as $90 million domestically.

Sony's Anaconda eased just 31%, adding $10 million. After 11 days, the film has earned $45.8 million, and should make its way to almost $80 million by the end of its run.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants eased 25%, for a $8.3 million. The film's domestic total stands at $57.7 million, and it should continue holding well thanks to no animated competition in January.

Angel Studios' David eased 39%, earning $7.6 million this weekend. That takes its domestic total to $69.7 million, although perhaps it seems $100 million will be a bit of a challenge.

Song Sung Blue eased just 17% on its second weekend, earning $5.8 million. The film's 11-day total stands at $25 million, and it could still reach $40 million if it keeps holding well.

Wicked: For Good dipped 39%, for a $3.2 million weekend. The film has amassed $339.8 million so far.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Five Nights at Freddy's 2 with $2.6 million, just a 39% drop. The film has earned $125.2 million, and it looks like it will fall off now that holidays are over.

There was one single wide release this week, Vertical's We Bury the Dead. But it finished outside the Top 10, earning $2.5 million in 1,172 theaters. That's Vertical's best ever debut, although it just speaks volumes on how low they are as a distributor.

It seems like Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice is picking up some steam. Even though it's playing in just 45 theaters, the film hit the 12th spot with $1 million this weekend. That's a dazzling $22,247 per-theater average, signaling great word of mouth. It will continue expanding, and could possibly hit the Top 10 next week.

On December 31st through January 1, 620 theaters screened the series finale of Stranger Things. There are no official figures, although the trades report that it sold an estimated $25 million-$30 million in consessions. As Netflix does not report figures, this was all reported as concession vouchers. They allowed theaters to keep 95% of the sales, a fantastic figure.

OVERSEAS

James Cameron did it again.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has crossed the $1 billion milestone, thanks to a $169.6 million overseas haul this week. With this, he has become the first director to have four titles reach $1 billion worldwide, after Titanic and the prior Avatar films. There's not a market breakdown for now, but its biggest market has been China with $138 million. Given the empty January, it should continue legging out just fine.

But even with Avatar taking the spotlight, Zootopia 2 continues destroying records. This weekend was actually better than last week, as it added $81.7 million overseas. That takes its worldwide gross to an insane $1.590 billion. It already passed Frozen II ($1.453 billion) to become Walt Disney Animation Studios' biggest ever film.

In China, Zootopia 2 actually increased to $38 million over a five-day holiday. It already surpassed Avengers: Endgame in ticket sales, but this weekend, it eclipsed that film's ¥$4.249 billion total to become the biggest ever Hollywood title in the market. That's roughly ¥4.250 billion ($604.1 million), which means it has both the adjusted and unadjusted record.

Not content with taking down Frozen II, Zootopia 2 is now aiming for another record: the biggest ever Hollywood animated film, Inside Out 2 ($1.698 billion). It's just $108 million away, which means it could get there as early as next week. After that, Zootopia 2 will try to reach $1.8 billion, and could get as high as $1.9 billion. Which means that there's a possibility that it outgrosses Avatar: Fire and Ash to become the biggest Hollywood title of 2025.

Anaconda added $13.4 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $88.3 million. The best markets are Australia ($5.8M), the UK ($5.3), and Mexico ($4M). In the next few days, it will cross the $100 million mark.

While there's no complete overseas breakdown, The Housemaid is proving to be a success outside America. It has crossed $130 million worldwide, and with the legs it's showing, it should easily get to $200 million.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

• A vanishing act. Lionsgate's Now You See Me: Now You Don't has closed with $211 million worldwide. It clearly shows there's still interest in the franchise, although it also shows it already hit a ceiling. It didn't quite change the fact that it's the lowest grossing film in the franchise, as this is a 37% drop from the second film. Lionsgate is clearly confident in this franchise, and they already have a fourth film in development. But given how the film performed, it's likely that it will continue the franchise's decline at the box office.

THIS WEEKEND

Alright, we finally getting some notable wide releases.

As it's now a tradition, Gerard Butler has another January film. That's Greenland 2: Migration, sequel to the 2020 film. Even though it only made $52 million worldwide (pandemic you know?), the film was a huge success in PVOD, which is what motivated Lionsgate to pick up the rights to the sequel. Although the film's $90 million budget is a huge concern.

Paramount is also releasing Primate, the first major horror title of the year, following a family's chimpanzee who goes bananas and starts killing people. The film has premiered at Fantastic Fest and earned some great reviews so far (92% on RT). Will this surprise?

In limited release, Row K Entertainment will start its run as distributor with Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire. It stars Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis, who was involved in the 1977 Indianapolis hostage standoff. The film debuted in Venice with a fantastic response (98% on RT), although usually a film of this caliber is released in fall to contend for fall season. Nevertheless, it should score a great per-theater average ahead of its wide expansion next week.

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