The Children's Movie That Might End Up Making More Money Than Avatar: Fire And Ash

On December 19, 2025, "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment of James Cameron's "Avatar" franchise, hit theaters. Within three days of its release, the film had already made $88 million domestically. Barely two weeks later that figure grew to $300 million – alongside a $1 billion performance worldwide. As of early January 2026, "Fire and Ash" sits as the third highest-grossing film of 2025. However, while "Avatar" still has weeks left in its theatrical run to move up in the rankings, it currently sits behind the animated sequel "Zootopia 2," which has made over $1.45 billion at the box office. The deciding factor in this box office battle may actually come down to China. 

In a year where China's trade surplus broke $1 trillion for the first time, some might be surprised to learn just how much of an impact the country's viewership had on the American film industry in 2025. For instance, while "Zootopia 2" is American-made, it has had a significant run, with reports that the film has made almost $600 million in China alone as of the first weekend of 2026 (via Variety). Plus, the Chinese-made "Ne Zha 2," — which made $2.2 billion during its theatrical run — is currently the highest grossing film of 2025. It seems that even an outrageous markup on movie theater snacks isn't keeping movie fans out of theaters at the moment.

While James Cameron can still hang his hat on the fact that the original "Avatar" remains the highest-grossing film in history, the third installment of the franchise is chasing the coattails of a children's movie in international markets. From just January 2 through January 4, 2026, "Zootopia 2" added $17.1 million to its nine-figure earnings from Chinese theaters — bringing the films total performance in the country up to $598 million. In the same weekend, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" brought in around $15.8 million, with the film totaling just $136.3 million in China since it was released.

Granted, "Zootopia 2" came out over three full weeks before "Avatar: Fire and Ash," though it only took the former 12 days to make $436 million in the Chinese market — more than triple what "Avatar" has made in three weeks — according to Forbes. That also means there will likely be a period where "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is in theaters after the run of "Zootopia 2" comes to a close, giving Cameron's film a chance to close some of this gap in earnings. While neither of these movies will likely produce DVDs that are worth a lot of money, it's hard to ignore the box office stats for either.

The most successful movie of 2025, "Ne Zha 2," is no longer in theaters and therefore no longer increasing its box office tally. With that said, "Zootopia 2" and "Avatar" would need to maintain unprecedented momentum if either hopes to rack up enough ticket sales to surpass the Chinese film's over $2 billion in worldwide earnings. While American filmmakers and economists alike are taking note of what made this children's fantasy movie the highest-grossing animated movie in history, it's worth noting that it had been nearly six years since the original "Ne Zha" premiered, in 2019. The original, having made $742 million at the box office according to The Numbers, was well loved by audiences and had plenty of time to build momentum and hype for a sequel.

It's also worth noting the differences in cost. "Ne Zha 2" reportedly cost about $80 million, while "Zootopia 2" cost an estimated $250 million, and "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is estimated to have cost around $400 million. Notably — with the exception of "Zootpia 2" — each performed fairly poorly in the other's country: "Fire and Ash" made around $57 million in China during its opening weekend (via Variety), while "Ne Zha 2" only made about $23 million in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo.