Avatar: Fire and Ash is soaring in popularity, yet it hasn’t surpassed the achievements of the earlier films in the series.
The 2025 release Avatar: Fire and Ash continues to achieve significant financial success, marking another milestone for the film at the box office. Released on December 19, this third chapter of James Cameron’s epic science fiction series is now the third top-grossing film of 2025 globally and ranks as the second highest-earning release by 20th Century Studios since its rebranding in 2020.
According to The Numbers, as of this Sunday morning, Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to have accumulated a global box office total of $1.414 billion by the end of its seventh weekend showing. This impressive total includes $386.1 million from North American theaters and an additional $1.028 billion from markets abroad.
This achievement places Avatar: Fire and Ash as the 19th film in cinematic history to surpass the $1.4 billion mark, overtaking the $1.405 billion global gross of 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron to become the 18th highest-grossing movie ever.
Despite these significant milestones, the film still lags behind the performance of the first two Avatar films. Remarkably, it has garnered less than half of the $2.924 billion global box office total achieved by the original 2009 Avatar film, which continues to hold the record as the highest-grossing film of all time.
Moreover, it has only earned 61% of the $2.323 billion grossed by the series’ second movie, Avatar: The Way of Water, released in 2022.
It’s still uncertain how much further Fire and Ash will ascend in box office earnings by the time it finishes its theater run. However, a promising sign is its robust audience retention during its seventh weekend in domestic theaters, where it saw a mere 14% drop from the previous weekend’s earnings.
Even though Avatar: Fire and Ash won’t face significant competition from major 2026 releases until March, when Pixar’s Hoppers and the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi film Project Hail Mary are set to premiere, the pace of its earnings is decelerating. Thus, it appears unlikely that it will reach the $2 billion milestone like its predecessors.
The viability of a potential Avatar 4 may be at stake given that Avatar: Fire and Ash reported production costs of $400 million, suggesting a break-even point near $1 billion. The exact level of profitability needed for the continuation of this high-budget series with additional sequels remains unclear.
Ava Thornton is an entertainment journalist with a keen eye for the latest in Hollywood, indie films, and streaming trends.
Her work blends insider knowledge with a deep appreciation for storytelling.
