Avatar: Fire And Ash tops China box office

Walt Disney Co's Avatar: Fire And Ash opened at No.1 in China, delivering a strong debut just weeks after the entertainment giant's Zootopia 2 broke records for a foreign animated film in the country.

- STORY: SOHEE KIM / BLOOMBERG

The third instalment in James Cameron's sci-fi franchise generated US$57.6 million (1.8 billion baht) in its opening weekend, according to Disney. It is the second-highest debut for a foreign title in China this year, after Zootopia 2.

Once a huge source of revenue for Hollywood, China's ticket receipts for US films dipped in the pandemic era as the country favoured locally produced content. Hollywood releases have gradually returned this year with major promotional pushes, as the government steps up support for a slowing cinema industry that now counts about 100,000 screens nationwide.

China's box office has reached $7.2 billion in 2025 as of Dec 21 compared with 42.5 billion yuan for all of 2024. Much of that increase is due to the locally produced blockbuster Ne Zha 2, which accounted for about 30% of ticket sales.