Fire And Ash’ Leads U.K., Ireland Holiday Box Office Again

Disney’s “Avatar: Fire And Ash” held the No. 1 position at the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second weekend, adding £6.1 million ($8.2 million) and lifting its total to £20.8 million ($28 million), according to Comscore. The threequel comfortably dominated the Christmas corridor, outperforming a packed slate of holiday newcomers.

Lionsgate U.K.’s erotic thriller “The Housemaid,” starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, debuted in second place with $6 million, marking one of the strongest adult-skewing openings of the Christmas corridor. Paramount’s “The Spongebob Movie: Search For Squarepants” followed in third, launching with $4.1 million.

Disney’s “Zootopia 2” moved to No. 4 in its fifth weekend, earning $2.1 million for a cumulative $30.4 million, while Entertainment Film Distributors’ newcomer “Marty Supreme” opened at No. 5 on $1.9 million.

Sony’s “Anaconda” arrived in sixth place with $1.7 million, edging ahead of Universal’s “Wicked: For Good,” which placed seventh. The musical added $1.1 million to bring its total to $60.3 million, cementing its status as one of the year’s biggest performers.

Further down the chart, Moviegoers Entertainment’s Bollywood blockbuster “Dhurandhar” ranked eighth with $343,000, pushing its cumulative gross to $3.4 million. Mubi’s “Sentimental Value” opened at No. 9 on $339,000, narrowly ahead of Berkshire Dreamhouse’s Malayalam-language comedy “Sarvam Maya,” which rounded out the top 10 with $228,000.

The first major wide release of 2026 arrives on Thursday, Jan. 1, with Universal rolling out musical drama “Song Sung Blue” across more than 300 locations. Directed by Craig Brewer, the film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

Also opening Thursday is Viavix’s Hong Kong drama “No Time for Goodbye,” directed by Don Ng and starring Lam Yiu-Sing and Kitty Yu.

Friday, Jan. 2, sees Picturehouse Entertainment releasing Ira Sachs’ docudrama “Peter Hujar’s Day,” while BFI Distribution opens Frederick Wiseman’s culinary documentary “Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros.”

Trinity Filmed Entertainment’s historical science fiction film “Back To The Past,” directed by Ng Yuen-fai and Jack Lai and starring Louis Koo, Jessica Hsuan and Raymond Lam, opens on 25-plus sites.

Park Circus brings two high-profile anniversary releases to cinemas: animated hit “Happy Feet” returns for its 20th anniversary across 100-plus locations, while David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” marks its 40th anniversary with a similarly scaled reissue.