AMC Entertainment (AMC) saw well over 4 million moviegoers at its theaters from Thursday, December 18, through Sunday, December 21, driven mostly by the release of James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The movie from Disney/20th Century Studios (DIS) delivered an estimated $345M global opening, including $88M in the U.S., making it the second-largest worldwide launch of the year, trailing Zootopia 2, according to studio estimates compiled by Comscore.
AMC also noted that in the U.S., five different movie titles, including the third Avatar movie, generated at least $14M each over the weekend.
“As of Sunday, new releases DAVID, THE HOUSEMAID, and THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, along with holdover ZOOTOPIA 2, were all estimated to reach that milestone,” AMC said in a statement.
Separately, IMAX (IMAX) said Monday that Avatar: Fire and Ash generated $43.6M for the premium theater chain, which includes $13M from North America and the rest coming from its international theaters.
The movie debuted with “the widest IMAX global release of all time” across 1,703 screens, the company said. As of September 30, 2025, there were 1,829 IMAX systems around the world.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to be screened across the IMAX network through January in most global markets, the company said.