Disney's 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' disappoints with weak $88 million domestic opening

The opening play for Disney's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" was little of a blaze and much of a simmer.

And that's the anticipation for the afloat theatrical tally of the 3rd installment successful James Cameron's Avatar franchise.

During its archetypal 3 days successful theaters, "Fire and Ash" tallied $88 million, falling good shy of analysts' expectations, which called for a debut haul betwixt $110 cardinal and $125 million. For comparison, 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water" brought successful $134 cardinal during the aforesaid three-day period.

Internationally, the movie collected $257 million, bringing the film's planetary opening to an estimated $345 million.

"Fire and Ash" faced immoderate theatrical headwinds, namely its over-three-hour runtime. There was besides little pent-up request compared to "The Way of Water," which was released much than a decennary aft the archetypal Avatar film. Some container bureau analysts and critics noted that "Fire and Ash" has little technological innovation than its predecessors, which had been a driving origin successful past summons sales.

Around 5.2 cardinal home moviegoers went to spot "Fire and Ash," according to information from EntTelligence, a monolithic diminution from the 8.7 cardinal that ventured retired successful 2022 to spot the opening play of "The Way of Water."

Still, the Avatar franchise has ne'er been front-loaded astatine the container office. The archetypal film, 2009's "Avatar," generated conscionable $77 cardinal successful its opening play domestically, but stayed successful theaters for astir a year. By the clip it exited theaters, the movie had generated $2.7 cardinal globally. With re-releases, the movie present stands astatine $2.9 billion, according to information from Comscore.

"The Way of Water" ran successful theaters for 23 weeks and has grossed $2.3 cardinal globally.

"With little than 2 weeks remaining in the container bureau year, the unit connected 'Avatar: Fire And Ash' to present large was aggravated and though the movie whitethorn person travel successful a spot beneath pre-release opening play projections, the Avatar films person ever been known for their marathon container bureau trajectories," said Paul Dergarabedian, caput of marketplace trends astatine Comscore.

Also aiding the franchise astatine the container bureau are premium large-format summons sales. The Avatar films person over-indexed with the much costly experiential screens similar IMAX and Dolby arsenic good arsenic 3D showings. Disney reported that 3D and premium theaters accounted for 66% of the play total.

While 3D films person fallen retired of favour with home audiences, they stay fashionable internationally —especially successful China. Indeed, "Avatar" made the bulk of its wealth extracurricular the U.S., with a whopping $2.08 cardinal coming from overseas.