‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Smashes $1B Box Office Mark — Is This The Catalyst Disney Stock Needs?

• The latest Avatar movie joined its two prequels in crossing $1 billion at the global box office.
• Disney’s 2025 releases, Zootopia 2 and Lilo & Stitch, also racked in more than $1 billion.
• Investors are looking for blockbuster performances to power DIS stock, which rose a mere 2.2% last year.

Walt Disney Co. said on Sunday that “Avatar: Fire and Ash” crossed $1.1 billion in gross box office collections. The movie, released worldwide on Dec. 19, is the third in the Avatar franchise and the fourth by director James Cameron to cross that threshold.

“The milestone makes Avatar: Fire and Ash the third film in the franchise to surpass $1 billion globally, establishing Avatar among the most elite franchises in cinema history,” Disney said in a statement on Sunday. It is also the third $1 billion title released by The Walt Disney Studios in 2025 alongside “Zootopia 2” and “Lilo & Stitch.”

Cameron's first billion-dollar blockbuster was "Titanic," released in 1997, which grossed nearly $2.3 billion worldwide.

Stocktwits previously reported that past blockbuster releases have had a mixed impact on Disney stock immediately after release. The latest Avatar, however, pushed DIS 2% higher in the week after its release. 

The original “Avatar,” which came out in 2009, grossed only $77 million in its opening weekend, only to become one of the top-grossing films of all time later, with a lifetime total of $2.9 billion. Interestingly, it overtook “Avengers: Endgame” as the top-grossing movie of all time in March 2021, thanks to a fresh theatrical release in China.

The top-grossing movie in 2025 was the Chinese animated film “Ne Zha 2,” which earned $2.2 billion, followed by “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” at second and third, respectively, according to Box Office Mojo. The latest Avatar racked up $306 million in the U.S. and Canada and $777.1 million internationally, Disney reported.

It’s a welcome development for Disney, which has been grappling with weakness in some core businesses and pressure on its stock. The media giant took a hit after disappointing results in its experiences segment for the September quarter. However, a partnership-cum-investment in OpenAI in December has since revived investor interest. DIS had a largely poor last year, gaining only 2.2%.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the ticker was ‘bearish’ as of late Sunday, unchanged from the past week, with some members expecting the stock to bounce in the near term. Those expectations are shared by analysts, with 24 of 31 recommending ‘Buy’ or higher and only one ‘Sell’ rating, according to Koyfin.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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