Even 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' can't lift 2025 box office out of pandemic-crisis doldrums

As “Avatar: Fire and Ash” headed to the large surface this month, theatre owners held their breath.

In an uneven twelvemonth that saw 2 billion-dollar hits and a viral “chicken jockey” craze, but besides a disastrous archetypal 4th and a astir 30-year-low astatine the October container office, the extremity of December was the past accidental for theaters to marque up ground.

But adjacent James Cameron and the Na’vi — the latest “Avatar” movie has already grossed much than $472 cardinal globally — couldn’t prevention 2025 from a disappointing conclusion.

Box-office gross successful the U.S. and Canada is expected to full $8.87 cardinal for the year, up conscionable 1.5% from past year’s disappointing $8.74 cardinal tally, according to movie information steadfast Comscore. More troubling is that 2025’s home box-office haul is projected to beryllium down much than 20% compared with 2019, earlier the pandemic changed audiences’ movie-going habits and turbocharged streaming successful ways that the accumulation manufacture is inactive grappling with.

The problem: Fewer radical are buying movie tickets. Theatrical attendance is moving beneath past year’s levels, with an estimated 760 cardinal tickets sold arsenic of Dec. 25, according to media and amusement information steadfast EntTelligence. Last year, full summons income for 2024 exceeded 800 million.

Part of the mentation for the falloff successful cinema gross and admissions lies successful the movies themselves.

Industry experts and theatre owners accidental the prime and frequence of releases led to dips successful the calendar that enactment other unit connected the different movies to perform. Once-reliable genres specified arsenic comedies and dramas are facing a overmuch tougher clip successful theaters, and pistillate moviegoers — who came retired successful droves successful 2023 for “Barbie” — were underserved successful a twelvemonth that mostly skewed toward male-leaning blockbusters.

“It’s just to accidental that 2025 didn’t rather scope the levels galore of america expected astatine the commencement of the year,” Eduardo Acuna, main enforcement of Regal Cineworld, said successful a statement. “A large portion of that comes down to a deficiency of extent successful the merchandise schedule, and the conflict of galore smaller titles to interruption through.”

Even big-name stars specified arsenic Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Dwayne Johnson and Sydney Sweeney couldn’t prop up attendance for films specified arsenic Sony Pictures’ “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” A24’s “The Smashing Machine” and Black Bear Pictures’ “Christy,” each of which flopped.

And contempt the captious acclaim and stacked formed database for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the movie has stalled domestically astatine $71 million, with a planetary full of $205 million.

“One Battle After Another” had a fund of astir $130 million, portion “The Smashing Machine” reportedly outgo $50 cardinal and has grossed conscionable $21 cardinal worldwide.

“The situation facing Hollywood is however to reconcile the budgets of these films with however overmuch they tin gain successful theaters and down the road, eventually, successful streaming,” said Paul Dergarabedian, caput of marketplace trends astatine Comscore.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” hauled successful much than $324 million, but it was 1 of fewer large blockbusters targeted to women. (Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” which brought successful $50 cardinal globally, was another.)

Though the summertime was marked by a fig of large films, including Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios’ “Superman,” Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” and Apple’s “F1 The Movie,” astir were geared toward antheral audiences.

Female-focused films are “are fewer and acold between,” said Jeff Bock, elder box-office expert astatine Exhibitor Relations, an amusement information and probe firm. “There should beryllium thing for everyone playing astir of the time, and that isn’t the case.”

To beryllium sure, determination were immoderate agleam spots for the industry, including occurrence from young audiences.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie” was the highest-grossing home movie this year, with $423.9 million. Close down was Walt Disney Co.’s live-action adaptation “Lilo & Stitch,” which collected $423.8 cardinal successful the U.S. and Canada and a full of $1 cardinal worldwide.

Counting those two, 5 of the year’s apical 10 domestic-grossing films had PG ratings, including “Wicked: For Good,” Disney’s animated “Zootopia 2” and Universal’s live-action “How to Train Your Dragon.”

“In general, the bully quality astir the twelvemonth is that astir of the large hits progressive young audiences,” said Tom Rothman, seat and CEO main enforcement of Sony Pictures’ question representation group. “There is simply a spot of a youth-quake.”

Disney capitalized connected the large twelvemonth for family-friendly fare.

The Burbank amusement elephantine precocious crossed $6 cardinal astatine the planetary container bureau for the year, powered by billion-dollar hits specified arsenic “Lilo & Stitch” and “Zootopia 2,” and marking the company’s biggest twelvemonth since 2019. (Though it wasn’t each sunny for Disney this year, arsenic Pixar’s archetypal animated movie “Elio” misfired, arsenic did the live-action film, “Snow White,” which was mired successful controversy.)

Another notable younker operator was “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu nary Yaiba Infinity Castle” from Sony Pictures successful concern with its anime banner, Crunchyroll. The movie had a monolithic opening play haul of $70 cardinal successful July connected its mode to a home gross of $134 cardinal and a planetary full of $715 million, highlighting the expanding popularity of anime.

“The mainstreaming of anime astatine the theatrical container bureau is simply a truly important portion of what happened this twelvemonth and a truly bully sign,” Rothman said. “You’re bringing successful young audiences.”

Not surprisingly, established intelligence spot — whether video games, known franchises, novels oregon comic books — inactive topped the charts this year, with 9 of the apical 10 home films tied to an existing title.

That familiarity astatine the container bureau counts erstwhile moviegoers, peculiarly families, are looking for movies to watch. Viewers tin beryllium choosy astir however they walk their currency and time, and whitethorn not ever privation to gamble connected a movie they’ve ne'er heard of.

“Meaningful IP inactive has an vantage successful getting radical to travel to the theater, though it’s not the lone mode to bash it,” said Adam Fogelson, seat of Lionsgate’s question representation group, which saw occurrence this twelvemonth with an adaptation of Stephen King’s caller “The Long Walk,” arsenic good arsenic franchise movie “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.”

Horror flicks besides frightened up plentifulness of concern successful 2025. Warner Bros., successful particular, had a drawstring of wins successful fearful films, including Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.”

In 1 notable exception, Blumhouse had a uncommon miss with “M3GAN 2.0,” the follow-up to the 2022 cult favorite. In an interrogation connected “The Town” podcast, Blumhouse Productions Chief Executive Jason Blum blamed the sequel’s shortcomings connected a alteration successful genre from the original.

As 2025 draws to a close, manufacture insiders and theatre owners are much optimistic astir adjacent year’s container bureau prospects.

Several large films are acceptable to merchandise successful 2026, including Christopher Nolan’s overmuch anticipated “The Odyssey,” Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” arsenic good arsenic Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” from Universal, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment.

That anticipation is besides clouded by the uncertainty of the impending Warner Bros. woody and what that volition mean for movie releases.

Many cinema owners fearfulness that a takeover by Netflix volition bounds oregon destruct the theatrical exclusivity of Warner Bros. films, though Netflix executives person said they volition grant the company’s existent and aboriginal commitments to the large screen. And if Paramount were to bargain the company, theatrical exhibitors fearfulness that the fig of films would decrease, leaving them with little contented to show. (Paramount CEO David Ellison has said the institution did not program to merchandise less movies.)

Any woody is expected to instrumentality astatine slightest a twelvemonth to complete.

In the meantime, Hollywood volition hold to spot however beardown the 2026 slate genuinely is.

“There are a batch of large titles retired there, and that’s wherefore radical person been calling 2026 a instrumentality to form,” said Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Even though 2026 is precise promising, tin Hollywood support delivering year-in and year-out?”