Christmas Eve Box Office: ‘Avatar 3’ Leads With $10.7 Million, ‘Marty Supreme’ Earns $2 Million in Previews

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” dominated at the box office on Christmas Eve.

James Cameron’s third sci-fi epic unwrapped $10.7 million on Wednesday from 3,800 North American theaters. That’s less than its predecessor, 2022’s $2 billion behemoth “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which earned $14.8 million on Christmas Eve. However that year, Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday, which is a much more popular day of the week for moviegoing.

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“Avatar 3,” from Disney’s 20th Century Studios, is projected to collect $75 million to $80 million between Thursday and Sunday. So far, the big-budget film has grossed $129.6 million domestically and $353.7 million overseas, bringing its global tally to $483.3 million after a week of release.

Three new films — A24’s Timothée Chalamet-led sports dramedy “Marty Supreme,” the Focus Features musical drama “Song Sung Blue” and Sony’s disaster comedy “Anaconda” — were playing in previews ahead of their Christmas Day debuts.

“Anaconda” made $2.1 million from 2,808 theaters during Wednesday’s previews. The PG-13 adventure is expected to secure around $20 million between Thursday and Sunday. A $45 million-budgeted meta-reboot, “Anaconda” follows best friends who travel to the jungle to pursue their childhood dream of remaking their all-time favorite movie (you guessed it!) 1997’s “Anaconda.” The project starts to unravel when life imitates art and a real anaconda begins hunting them down.

“Marty Supreme” was ever-so-slightly behind “Anaconda” on box office charts with $2.01 million from 2,668 venues during Wednesday’s previews. After one weekend in limited release, the R-rated film has generated $3.15 million to date. “Marty Supreme” is targeting a launch above $20 million through the four-day holiday frame. That’s a great start for the arthouse film, which carries a hefty $70 million budget. It helps that Chalamet, who stars as the fictional table tennis champ Marty Mauser, has been a one-man marketing machine, going to great lengths — and heights — to get out the word about the original film, directed by Josh Safdie of “Uncut Gems” fame.

“Song Sung Blue” didn’t report Wednesday previews. The film is projected to earn $10 million to $14 million from 2,400 theaters in its first weekend of release. Brewer directed the $30 million-budgeted movie, featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in the true story of two down-on-their luck musicians who form a Neil Diamond tribute band.

Meanwhile Disney’s animated juggernaut “Zootopia 2” outpaced the other newcomers in second place on Wednesday charts with $3.2 million from 3,540 cinemas. Since its debut around Thanksgiving, the PG film has generated $296 million domestically and $1.3 billion globally, making “Zootopia 2” the highest-grossing Hollywood release of the year.