'Fire and Ash' scorches rivals on box office

James Cameron reveals he rewrote ending to avoid colonial parallels

LOS ANGELES:

James Cameron's latest epic 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' is dominating cinemas while simultaneously reigniting debate about the real-world violence it mirrors, with the filmmaker directly linking the saga's themes to conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine during recent interviews.

The third instalment of the Avatar franchise retained the top spot at the North American box office after it debuted the week before, reeling in $64 million during the weekend after Christmas, industry estimates showed over the weekend.

The film grossed $217.6 million at the worldwide box office during the current weekend, ahead of 'Zootopia 2' - Disney's feel-good animated film and an Oscar contender - which brought in $20 million, according to weekend estimates.

Director James Cameron's blockbuster series stars Zoe Saldana as Na'vi warrior Neytiri and Sam Worthington as ex-Marine Jake Sully, who must battle a new foe threatening their family's life on the planet Pandora.

In a podcast, Cameron argued that the cycle of retaliation driving his storyline is recognisable worldwide, insisting action cinema should acknowledge consequences rather than glamourise destruction, and saying the moral high ground rarely prevents conflict from escalating.

He highlighted the fictional Tulkun, a pacifist species that believes killing inevitably leads to further killing, drawing a pointed comparison with today's wars and warning that even peaceful societies can be forced into existential battles when survival is threatened.

Cameron also disclosed he altered the film's ending after production because a proposed sequence showing Jake Sully distributing human weapons to Pandora's tribes too closely echoed colonial history - a parallel he decided would undercut the story's ethical arguments.

Despite its pacifist undercurrents, the director has warned the franchise's future may depend on the commercial performance of 'Avatar: Fire and Ash', hinting the saga could end early if the latest instalment fails to justify further multimillion-dollar sequels.

He even suggested he would publicly reveal the planned plots for the fourth and fifth films if the studio walked away, noting that those stories already exist in developed form and might alternatively be published as novels for the series' audience.

The film's early earnings have been strong, passing the $500 million mark worldwide within its first week, yet Cameron insists ambition cannot sustain the project and that every release must prove its worth to sceptical backers and audiences.

He has also kept open the possibility of directing future instalments himself, despite the strain of the work, while producer Jon Landau previously revealed the fifth film would take the Na'vi to Earth in a dramatic expansion of the narrative.

Against that backdrop, the box-office figures underline the scale of the project's reach across North America, with Cameron's third chapter continuing to dominate theatres during the crucial holiday period, as shown in the industry estimates released over the weekend.

After 'Avatar: Fire and Ash', 'Zootopia 2' rose to number two from five in the rankings, followed by 'Marty Supreme', a period sports drama starring Timothee Chalamet, in third place - up from number 10 the previous week - bringing in $17.5 million.

"This is an excellent opening for a sports drama," according to David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "Critics' reviews are sensational, with an excellent audience score (a B+ CinemaScore). The film is going to get a lift from holiday moviegoing this week," he said.

Dropping one notch to fourth place was 'The Housemaid', a thriller from Lionsgate films starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, which earned $15.4 million. 'Anaconda', the new comedy-action movie starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black, placed fifth with $14.5 million.

Gross praised 'Anaconda's strong debut. "This is a solid opening for a horror remake. The three-day figure is roughly average for the genre, and it's a bit better start than the previous 'Anaconda' opening in 2004," he said.

Rounding out the top 10 are: 'David' ($12.6 million); 'The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants' ($11.2 million); 'Song Sung Blue' ($7.6 million); 'Wicked: For Good' ($5.2 million); and 'Five Nights at Freddy's 2' ($4.4 million).