Box office Fire and Ash had a domestic opening of $88 million

Opening weekend for Disney “Avatar: Fire and Ashes” was less fire and more boiling.

This is the expectation for the full theatrical release of the third part of the Avatar series, directed by James Cameron.

During its first three days in theaters, “Fire and Ash” grossed $88 million, well short of analysts’ expectations, which expected its debut to be between $110 million and $125 million. For comparison, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” grossed $134 million during the same three-day period.

Internationally, the film collected $257 million, bringing the film’s global opening to an estimated $345 million.

“Fire and Ashes” faced some theatrical headwinds, namely its three-hour-plus runtime. Pent-up demand was also lower compared to The Way of Water, which was released more than a decade after the first Avatar film. Some box office analysts and critics noted that “Fire and Ash” had less technological innovation than its predecessors, which was a driving factor in previous ticket sales.

About 5.2 million domestic moviegoers went to see “Fire and Ash,” according to data from EntTelligence, a significant decline from the 8.7 million who ventured out in 2022 to see the opening weekend of “The Way of Water.”

However, the Avatar franchise has never led the way at the box office. The first film, 2009’s “Avatar,” made just $77 million in its opening weekend domestically, but remained in theaters for about a year. By the time the film left theaters, it had grossed $2.7 billion worldwide. With the re-release, the film’s revenue now stands at $2.9 billion, according to data from Comscore.

The Way of Water ran in theaters for 23 weeks and grossed $2.3 billion globally.

“With less than two weeks left in the box office year, the pressure on Avatar: Fire And Ash to deliver significant volume was intense, and while the film may have come in slightly below pre-release opening weekend expectations, the Avatar films have always been known for their marathon box office runs,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore.

Premium large format ticket sales also help the franchise at the box office. The Avatar movies were indexed to more expensive demo screens like IMAX and Dolby as well as 3D. Disney reported that 3D and theme theaters accounted for 66% of the weekend total.

Although 3D films are no longer very popular with domestic audiences, they are still popular internationally, especially in China. In fact, the movie “Avatar” generated the bulk of its revenues outside the United States, as its revenues from abroad reached $2.08 billion.