Avatar: Fire and Ash opens with $345M, trails Avatar 2; India faces Dhurandhar clash
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens with $345M, trails Avatar 2; India faces Dhurandhar clash
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens to $345M worldwide, lagging Avatar 2 and facing Dhurandhar competition in India, with China helping but not enough.
Avatar: Fire and Ash opened to a global box office surge, pulling in an estimated 345 million dollars over its first three days. Domestic takings in the U.S. and Canada hovered around 88 million, while international markets contributed about 257 million, buoyed by a strong performance in China. The third installment in James Cameron's sci-fi saga is thus off to a healthy start, even as it trails the opening of Avatar: The Way of Water, which debuted much higher at 441 million globally.
In India, the film posted a more modest start. Trade trackers pegged opening weekend at around Rs 19 crore on day one, rising to Rs 22.5 crore on Saturday and about Rs 25.75 crore on Sunday, for a total of roughly Rs 67.25 crore nett after the weekend. The movie faces stiff competition from Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar, which continues to perform strongly in its third weekend.
Beyond India, the box office frame has been busy, with Disney's Zootopia 2 and Barbie posting higher grosses over the same period. Still, analysts say Avatar: Fire and Ash is holding up reasonably well and could enjoy a longer-than-usual run during the holiday season, a pattern that has marked the franchise's past releases.
Industry observers note that while the film's opening is not record-breaking, its global momentum remains solid, and the trend of Avatar installments sustaining life at the box office could continue through the holidays. The comparison with Avatar 2 underscores the high bar set by Cameron's franchise, but expectations remain buoyed by continuing demand from international markets and fans eager for more spectacle.
