James Cameron's franchise remains one of the main symbols of box office success, but its newest chapter shows clear signs of declining audience interest. By mid-January, «Avatar: Ashes and Fire» grossed $1.32 billion worldwide — an impressive result, but below Disney's expectations and previous series records.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film added another $61.7 million last weekend: $17.2 million in the US and $44.5 million in international markets. Total collections in North America amount to $367.4 million, outside the US — $955.3 million. In total — $1.322 billion, which allows the film to take 28th place in the list of the highest-grossing films of all time.
At the same time, «Ashes and Fire» lags significantly behind the performance of «Avatar: The Way of Water». The second part had already crossed the $1.57 billion mark during the same period and eventually finished its run with a result of $2.32 billion. The gap was noticeable from the very start: the third film opened in the US with $89 million, while «The Way of Water» — with $134 million. By the fifth weekend, the difference only increased: $17.2 million versus $39.8 million for the previous part.
Nevertheless, the film continues to hold the first place in the world box office for the fifth week in a row. For Disney, this is still a major success — the studio has topped the global box office for the eighth week in a row, including thanks to the third «Avatar» and «Zootopia 2».
However, for James Cameron, the current results look ambiguous: the director previously admitted that the fate of the fourth and fifth films will directly depend on how convincingly «Ashes and Fire» performs at the box office, and also noted the need to find ways to reduce the cost of producing the following parts.