The opening weekend box office figures for James Cameron’s much-anticipated sci-fi spectacle Avatar: Fire and Ash are now in, and while the film has posted respectable numbers, it is clearly trailing behind the franchise’s earlier installments. Despite the slower start compared to its predecessors, the film has still managed to rake in a strong total over its first three days in India.
According to trade tracking website Sacnilk.com, Avatar: Fire and Ash had collected ₹24.18 crore by 10 pm on Sunday. The film earned ₹19 crore on its opening Friday, followed by ₹22 crore on Saturday. With these figures, the movie’s total India nett collection at the end of its opening weekend stands at ₹65.43 crore.
While the numbers are impressive by general box office standards, they fall significantly short when compared to the previous film in the franchise, Avatar: The Way of Water. Released in 2022, The Way of Water had crossed the ₹100 crore mark in India by its third day alone. On its first Sunday, the film earned ₹43.40 crore, pushing its overall pan-India opening weekend nett collection to a massive ₹126.20 crore. The comparison highlights the gap in audience turnout between the two films, despite both being directed by James Cameron and backed by cutting-edge visual effects.
One of the major challenges facing Avatar: Fire and Ash at the box office is stiff competition from Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar. Currently in its third week of release, Dhurandhar continues to dominate cinemas across the country. On its 17th day, which marked its third Sunday, the film crossed the staggering ₹545 crore mark at the Indian box office. With its strong and sustained performance, Dhurandhar is poised to enter the list of the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time in India, further limiting screen space and audience share for Fire and Ash.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, produced by 20th Century Studios, released in India on December 19 across six languages — English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. The multilingual release was aimed at maximizing its reach across regions, a strategy that had worked exceptionally well for The Way of Water. However, early trends suggest that while audiences are still drawn to the film’s visual grandeur, the overall buzz has been comparatively muted.
Globally, the Avatar franchise remains one of the most successful in cinematic history. The second installment, Avatar: The Way of Water, exceeded expectations upon its release in 2022, eventually becoming the third-highest-grossing film of all time. The film earned an astounding USD 2.3 billion worldwide, reaffirming James Cameron’s reputation as a master of large-scale filmmaking and immersive world-building.
The Way of Water featured a massive ensemble cast, including Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Bailey Bass, Jemaine Clement, and David Thewlis. Many of these actors continue to be part of the expanding Avatar universe, which Cameron has planned as a five-film saga.
Looking ahead, James Cameron has already locked release dates for the remaining installments in the franchise. Avatar 4 is scheduled to hit theatres on December 21, 2029, while Avatar 5 is set for release on December 19, 2031, according to reports by Variety. Cameron has repeatedly stated that the long gaps between releases are necessary to push technological boundaries and deliver a cinematic experience that surpasses audience expectations.
However, critical reception to Avatar: Fire and Ash has been mixed. The Hindustan Times, in its review of the film, expressed disappointment with the storytelling despite praising the visuals. The review stated, “Avatar was an effort to marry simple storytelling with world-class visuals, and give the audience the true joy of cinema. But it seems that Cameron has lost the plot now. In Fire and Ash, it feels as if he created a bunch of visuals and then stitched them together, hoping nobody would notice there was no coherent story, or at least nothing new to bind the plot. It’s still a great cinematic experience, but that is despite the best efforts of the maverick filmmaker. I already dread the next two parts!”
As Avatar: Fire and Ash continues its theatrical run, all eyes will be on its weekday performance and long-term sustainability at the box office. While the film may not replicate the historic success of The Way of Water, it still holds the potential to post strong lifetime numbers — provided audience interest holds amid intense competition and divided critical opinion.