It is truly unexpected that the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America failed to outperform that of Zootopia 2.


Zootopia 2 is a sequel to Disney's highly - acclaimed classic animated film. Its predecessor raked in over $1 billion at the global box office and also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, winning the hearts of audiences worldwide. After a nine - year wait, this sequel has finally hit the big screen and been enthusiastically embraced by audiences in the Chinese mainland. Upon its release, it even surpassed Ne Zha 2, which was a hit during the Spring Festival holiday, in terms of popularity.

Under normal circumstances, most Hollywood films that are enthusiastically received by Chinese mainland audiences usually achieve blockbuster success both in North America and overseas. The Avatar and Avengers franchises are perfect examples of this. What's more, Zootopia 2 is a sequel to a critically - acclaimed animated film and boasts above - average quality itself.

However, to everyone's surprise, Zootopia 2 turned out to be a blockbuster only in the Chinese mainland market. In North America, its opening - day box office was a mere over $38 million, and its cumulative box office to date is less than $280 million, barely half of that in the Chinese mainland market. Precisely because it did not perform well at the box office in North America and other overseas regions, its global box office performance has been lackluster, failing to reach $1.2 billion and trailing Ne Zha 2 by more than $1 billion.


The fact that Zootopia 2 performed far worse in North America than in the Chinese mainland was already quite a shock. But what came as an even bigger surprise was that Avatar 3, the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of the year, had a lower opening - day box office in North America than Zootopia 2 after its release. It seems that the dominant position of Ne Zha 2 is unshakable.

The opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America was just over $36 million, more than $2 million less than that of Zootopia 2 and a staggering $20 million lower than its predecessor.

As the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of the year, Avatar 3 was highly favored by many, and director James Cameron also held high hopes for it, hailing it as "the best installment in the franchise". Initially, the highest projected global box office for the film reached $3 billion.

On December 19 this year, Avatar 3 was simultaneously released in the Chinese mainland and North America. In the Chinese mainland, its opening - day box office failed to exceed 100 million yuan, which was far below expectations. After approximately three days since its release, its cumulative box office stands at only 337 million yuan. Media outlets predict that its final box office will reach 1.1 billion yuan, 600 million yuan less than its predecessor.

The performance of Avatar 3 in the Chinese mainland can be regarded as a flop, with both its reputation and box office hitting a new low in the franchise. Therefore, to achieve high box office returns, it had to rely on North America, the world's largest film market.

Nevertheless, surprisingly, the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America was only over $36 million, equivalent to 257 million yuan.

Back then, the opening - day box office of its predecessor in North America exceeded $53 million, and its single - day box office on the second day even surpassed $44 million. Eventually, Avatar: The Way of Water grossed $688 million at the North American box office, nearly $100 million less than the first installment. Its global box office stood at $2.322 billion, $600 million less than the original Avatar.

Now, the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America is not only far lower than the second - day box office of its predecessor but also lags behind that of Zootopia 2, which is undoubtedly a complete box - office disaster.

It is worth noting that Avatar 3 is the most expensive film ever made, with a production cost of $460 million (more than 3.2 billion yuan). It needs to earn at least $1.4 billion at the box office to break even.

However, since the film has underperformed drastically in both North America and the Chinese mainland, the two largest film markets globally, it is estimated that its final global box office will be halved compared with its predecessor, likely settling at around $1.1 billion.

If this turns out to be the case, Avatar 3 is likely to incur a loss of nearly $280 million for the film studio, which is equivalent to nearly 2 billion yuan, exceeding the loss incurred by Snow White released last March.

In this case, it is probable that the planned sequels Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will never see the light of day.

It is truly unexpected that the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America failed to outperform that of Zootopia 2.


Zootopia 2 is a sequel to Disney's highly - acclaimed classic animated film. Its predecessor raked in over $1 billion at the global box office and also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, winning the hearts of audiences worldwide. After a nine - year wait, this sequel has finally hit the big screen and been enthusiastically embraced by audiences in the Chinese mainland. Upon its release, it even surpassed Ne Zha 2, which was a hit during the Spring Festival holiday, in terms of popularity.

Under normal circumstances, most Hollywood films that are enthusiastically received by Chinese mainland audiences usually achieve blockbuster success both in North America and overseas. The Avatar and Avengers franchises are perfect examples of this. What's more, Zootopia 2 is a sequel to a critically - acclaimed animated film and boasts above - average quality itself.

However, to everyone's surprise, Zootopia 2 turned out to be a blockbuster only in the Chinese mainland market. In North America, its opening - day box office was a mere over $38 million, and its cumulative box office to date is less than $280 million, barely half of that in the Chinese mainland market. Precisely because it did not perform well at the box office in North America and other overseas regions, its global box office performance has been lackluster, failing to reach $1.2 billion and trailing Ne Zha 2 by more than $1 billion.


The fact that Zootopia 2 performed far worse in North America than in the Chinese mainland was already quite a shock. But what came as an even bigger surprise was that Avatar 3, the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of the year, had a lower opening - day box office in North America than Zootopia 2 after its release. It seems that the dominant position of Ne Zha 2 is unshakable.

The opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America was just over $36 million, more than $2 million less than that of Zootopia 2 and a staggering $20 million lower than its predecessor.

As the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster of the year, Avatar 3 was highly favored by many, and director James Cameron also held high hopes for it, hailing it as "the best installment in the franchise". Initially, the highest projected global box office for the film reached $3 billion.

On December 19 this year, Avatar 3 was simultaneously released in the Chinese mainland and North America. In the Chinese mainland, its opening - day box office failed to exceed 100 million yuan, which was far below expectations. After approximately three days since its release, its cumulative box office stands at only 337 million yuan. Media outlets predict that its final box office will reach 1.1 billion yuan, 600 million yuan less than its predecessor.

The performance of Avatar 3 in the Chinese mainland can be regarded as a flop, with both its reputation and box office hitting a new low in the franchise. Therefore, to achieve high box office returns, it had to rely on North America, the world's largest film market.

Nevertheless, surprisingly, the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America was only over $36 million, equivalent to 257 million yuan.

Back then, the opening - day box office of its predecessor in North America exceeded $53 million, and its single - day box office on the second day even surpassed $44 million. Eventually, Avatar: The Way of Water grossed $688 million at the North American box office, nearly $100 million less than the first installment. Its global box office stood at $2.322 billion, $600 million less than the original Avatar.

Now, the opening - day box office of Avatar 3 in North America is not only far lower than the second - day box office of its predecessor but also lags behind that of Zootopia 2, which is undoubtedly a complete box - office disaster.

It is worth noting that Avatar 3 is the most expensive film ever made, with a production cost of $460 million (more than 3.2 billion yuan). It needs to earn at least $1.4 billion at the box office to break even.

However, since the film has underperformed drastically in both North America and the Chinese mainland, the two largest film markets globally, it is estimated that its final global box office will be halved compared with its predecessor, likely settling at around $1.1 billion.

If this turns out to be the case, Avatar 3 is likely to incur a loss of nearly $280 million for the film studio, which is equivalent to nearly 2 billion yuan, exceeding the loss incurred by Snow White released last March.

In this case, it is probable that the planned sequels Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will never see the light of day.