“Avatar: Fire and Ash” continued its strong showing at the box office, grossing $40 million in its third weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.
The third film in director James Cameron’s science fiction series also cleared the $1 billion mark in global ticket sales as it sets its sights on the historic box-office performance of its predecessors. The original “Avatar,” released in 2009, remains the highest grossing film of all time with over $2.9 billion in worldwide box office receipts. The first sequel, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” is third all-time with over $2.3 billion.
“Zootopia 2” also continued its impressive run, making $19 million Friday through Sunday in its sixth weekend, Comscore reported.
“The Housemaid” took third place with $14.8 million in its third weekend.
“Marty Supreme” was fourth with $12.5 million, followed by “Anaconda,” which took in $10 million in its second weekend.
Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants” ($8.2 million), “David” ($8 million), “Song Sung Blue” ($5.8 million), “Wicked: For Good” ($3.2 million) and “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” ($2.7 million).
This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $132 million. The year-to-date total is $157 million — up 6.6% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.