Avatar Dominates Christmas Box Office, but Marty Supreme Steals the Spotlight
Avatar: Fire and Ash kept its iron grip on the holiday box office, but underdog Marty Supreme crashed the party with a breakout Christmas Day surge that turned it into the season’s stealth smash.
After a rough year for theaters, Christmas finally showed up with a win. The holiday delivered the strongest Christmas box office since the pandemic started, with an estimated $68.4 million total on the day. For comparison, last year hit $62 million. Not a miracle, but definitely momentum.
Here is how the day shook out, and yes, James Cameron still owns December.
Avatar: Fire and Ash was the easy No. 1. The sequel banked $24 million on Christmas Day, pushing its domestic total to $153 million. Worldwide, it has already blown past the $500 million mark. Cameron doing Cameron things.
The real plot twist was the runner-up. Instead of Sony’s expected crowd-pleaser Anaconda, A24’s awards play Marty Supreme slid into second. Powered by Timothee Chalamet, who is on a serious hot streak, Marty Supreme surprised with $9.5 million on the day. That’s a legit breakout for a prestige title in a crowded corridor.
Quick reality check: Christmas Day grosses can be front-loaded. Remember when the musical remake The Color Purple opened to a huge $18 million on Christmas Day and then cooled fast? Ideally Marty Supreme avoids that pattern, and it might. Reviews are strong, Oscar buzz is real, and the word of mouth is excellent — including from us.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash — $24M on Christmas Day; $153M domestic to date; worldwide has crossed $500M+
- Marty Supreme (A24) — $9.5M on Christmas Day; CinemaScore: B+
- Anaconda (Sony) — $9M on Christmas Day; CinemaScore: B-
- Zootopia 2 — $5.3M on Christmas Day; $301.4M domestic to date
- David (Angel Studios) — $4.56M on Christmas Day; $37M domestic to date
- Song Sung Blue — $4.425M on Christmas Day; stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson; best CinemaScore of the group (A) and could leg out over the break
- The Housemaid — $3.5M on Christmas Day; we will see if it can capture the same holiday glow that turned Anyone But You into an $88M domestic hit last year
Bottom line: Christmas gave exhibitors something to celebrate for the first time in a while. Avatar doing Avatar things was expected; Marty Supreme muscling past Anaconda was not. Now the question is who holds through New Year’s and who was just a one-day wonder.