'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Tops Christopher Nolan's Superhero Threequel at Global Box Office

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Image via 20th Century

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

There was little doubt from the film world that James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash would be a hit at the box office. Following in Zootopia 2's footsteps, the threequel has already surpassed the billion-dollar mark after just over two weeks, cementing its position over the most recent box office weekend. Earning $40 million from a small expansion into 3,835 theaters nationwide, Fire and Ash now sits on an impressive global total of $1.083 billion, split between a domestic haul of $306 million and a further $777 million from overseas markets.

Thanks to this strong third weekend, Fire and Ash has now surpassed Christopher Nolan's own threequel, The Dark Knight Rises, at the all-time global box office. Starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Gary Oldman, The Dark Knight Rises struggled to hit the critical heights of its direct predecessor, but was an enormous box office hit, earning $1.082 billion worldwide. Now sitting in 39th place in the all-time list, next for Fire and Ash to overcome is Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth movie in Michael Bay’s action franchise. Just $21 million separates the pair, a gap Fire and Ash should bridge within the next seven days. For those yet to check it out in theaters, a synopsis for the movie reads:

"Jake and Neytiri's family grapples with grief, encountering a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges."

'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Is Proving More Popular With Audiences Than Critics

From 81% down to 76%, the critics' score of the Avatar franchise on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has continued to drop, with this third unable to break that trend. With just 66% on the review site, the film is considered the worst of the trilogy by critics. However, audiences have awarded an impressive 90% score, with their consensus on the site reading, "An immersive, mesmerizing visual experience and a long-awaited return to Pandora, Avatar: Fire and Ash reaffirms James Cameron’s status as a contemporary visionary." Comparatively, critics said, "Remaining on the cutting edge of visual effects, Fire and Ash repeats the narrative beats of its predecessors to frustrating effect, but its grand spectacle continues to stoke one-of-a-kind thrills."

You can watch Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.