“Avatar: Fire and Ash” continued to draw crowds on New Year’s Eve, topping the box office with $8.1 million.
Recently, the film has become another holiday juggernaut for James Cameron and Disney, which acquired the rights to all things Pandora when it bought Fox in 2019. It has earned just over $250 million during its first two weeks in theatres and has been an even stronger performer overseas. It should cross $1 billion globally in the coming days.
But the movie business didn’t have as much to celebrate as it hoped to as the year came to a close. Cinemas in the US and Canada sold an estimated $8.87 billion in tickets in 2025, representing a modest 1.5 percent increase on 2024’s domestic revenues. That’s also short of the $9 billion that many analysts expected the industry to generate.
Before the pandemic, ticket sales were on an upward trajectory, routinely nearing or topping $11 million, but attendance has yet to return to the same levels, even as the cost of going to the movies has increased. The popularity of premium formats like Imax, which have higher ticket prices, has bolstered grosses even as fewer consumers have opted to hit up the multiplex.