We have definitely done it before and we considered it this year so my sister could get away from her boys for a bit but then a migraine hit her

Never been to a movie on Christmas Day, but we did go see Any Which Way You Can on Christmas Eve in 1980.

TCTTS said:

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From what I understand, Fire and Ash has actually somehow outperformed The Way of Water post-opening-weekend.

For instance...

Global 2nd Weekend = $224.6M = The Way of Water

Global 2nd Weekend = $245.2M = Fire and Ash

... and it's continuing to close the gap. That said, ultimately, Fire and Ash is unlikely to catch The Way of Water's $2.32B global total gross, and will probably end up somewhere between $1.75B and $2B, which is still obviously a massive success, more than most experts anticipated, and more than enough to greenlight the fourth movie.

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FWIW…

Avatar: Fire and Ash has box office results for its first 13 days…total domestic box office = $250.3 million

Avatar: Way of Water first 13 days = 338 million

So not sure how numbers are being skewed but if you can add you can see it's not pacing the same as the 2nd movie…domestically anyway…

EDIT: Also discovered this regarding international box office….

Depending on what country you're looking at the 2nd "weekend" could include Thursday (Christmas Day) and a few include Christmas Eve as well….

So some "weekends" for this film on their 2nd weekend were 4 or 5 days….just sayin…

The only movie I've seen on Christmas Day was the first Toy Story.

I hear you, but I never said it was pacing the same as the second movie overall. I simply said it was closing the gap that the second movie had on it at the end of their respective opening weekends, and then I clarified that it's highly unlikely to catch the second movie in the long run.

Overall, I'm just making the point that, despite being the lowest earner of the franchise, Fire and Ash is still doing incredibly well at the box office, exceeding most experts' projections, defying the same old/like-clockwork "Avatar is cooked" accusations, and will almost assuredly get a sequel now.

Also, just for the record, here's how the numbers compare overall as of this exact moment...

True true. It just drives me nuts when statistics are skewed by articles to make their point. Not saying you did that at all there's articles and all kinds of stuff toating that 3rd movie is >>>>>>>> 2nd movie in $$$$$$ and it's just not accurate.

And heck yeah this sucker is still gonna make money…mainly due to most of this movie was paid for (from my understanding) during the second movie shooting…

And as usual my main focus is domestic $$$ only cause it's how the our movie theaters are doing that has my main interest.

Btw I haven't posted on the box office thread yet regarding my prediction from August or Sept (whenever it was)….looks like for calendar release date films we just squeaked by with passing 2024 by about 1% will by my guess……jury is still out though for "in year releases"….that one still has a little hill to climb and needs fire and ash to do close to 600 million to win that category.

I finally saw this tonight and it's definitely my least favorite of the three. Don't get me wrong, there are some incredible moments/visuals, and I even teared up a couple times. But it really did feel like a rehash of the much better second movie, except with Varang in the mix this go around.

Speaking of, Cameron has said that The Way of Water and Fire and Ash were originally meant to be one movie, but at some point in the writing process he decided to split it into two movies, and it shows. It's like he originally had enough story for a four-hour movie, but instead of cleanly splitting it into two two-hour movies, with where he chose to end The Way of Water he ultimately had to tell damn near the same story twice, basically repeating the same third act.

In fact, I can pretty easily see how the original version potentially unfolded. Essentially, if you think of The Way of Water as the overall base structure, just take all the Quaritch/Varang stuff from three and splice it into the final three-fifths or so, then combine a lot of the elements from each of the third acts, and you've got your four-hour-super movie. Yes, it would obviously take a lot more finessing than that, but overall it's not hard to imagine.

Anyway, what we got wasn't bad by any means, just not nearly as special as the first two movies, IMO.

TCTTS said:

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I finally saw this tonight and it's definitely my least favorite of the three. Don't get me wrong, there are some incredible moments/visuals, and I even teared up a couple times. But it really did feel like a rehash of the much better second movie, except with Varang in the mix this go around.

Speaking of, Cameron has said that The Way of Water and Fire and Ash were originally meant to be one movie, but at some point in the writing process he decided to split it into two movies, and it shows. It's like he originally had enough story for a four-hour movie, but instead of cleanly splitting it into two two-hour movies, with where he chose to end The Way of Water he ultimately had to tell damn near the same story twice, basically repeating the same third act.

In fact, I can pretty easily see how the original version potentially unfolded. Essentially, if you think of The Way of Water as the overall base structure, just take all the Quaritch/Varang stuff from three and splice it into the final three-fifths or so, then combine a lot of the elements from each of the third acts, and you've got your four-hour-super movie. Yes, it would obviously take a lot more finessing than that, but overall it's not hard to imagine.

Anyway, what we got wasn't bad by any means, just not nearly as special as the first two movies, IMO.

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First 3/5 of the movie or so were great and I felt like I was watching a different enough movie. But when the eclipse hit I was just sitting there shaking my head a little. It was a bigger battle, we go more of the whales, but it literally gets down to Jake's daughter getting held at gun point again on a ship.

I still loved it but did get a little annoyed by that final act.

100%. Agreed.

pic.twitter.com/Cb7gLm2AsC

— Damian (@Daamianski) January 3, 2026

I legitimately had no idea theaters were open on the 24th and 25th. Ignore my previous comment then.

mommy? sorry. mommy? pic.twitter.com/PnTJ1mCQIl

— IMAX (@IMAX) January 3, 2026

jeez the thirst must be real