NEW YORK (AP) โย โZootopia 2โย regained the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office with $26.3 million in its third weekend of release, according to studio estimates Sunday, as The Walt Disney Co. animated sequel became the yearโs second film to gross $1 billion worldwide.
Withย โAvatar: Fire and Ashโย arriving Friday, it was a relatively quiet weekend in theaters. There were no major new releases, leaving holdovers โZootopia 2โ andย โFive Nights at Freddyโs 2โย to duke it out for the top spot.
The edge went to โZootopia 2,โ which has quickly amassed $1.14 billion in global ticket sales thanks significantly to its enormous success in China. There, itโs grossed $502.4 million, making โZootopia 2โ the biggest Hollywood hit in the country in years.
The only other 2025 Hollywood title to surpass $1 billion worldwide was Disneyโsย โLilo & Stitchโย ($1.04 billion). The highest grossing movie of the year, though, is the Chinese blockbusterย โNe Zha 2,โย which collected nearly $2 billion just in China.
In its second weekend of release, the Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions sequel โFive Nights at Freddyโs 2โ collected $15.4 million, a brutal drop of 70% fromย its above-expectations debut.ย Still, with a domestic total of $95.5 million, the $36 million production is a big win for Blumhouse, adding another horror franchise to its portfolio.
The weekendโs most notable new release wasย James L. Brookโs โElla McCay,โย his first directed film in 15 years. โElla McCayโ earned a scant $2.1 million from 2,500 locations, making it one of the yearโs worst wide releases.
But box-office expectations werenโt high coming in from โElla McCay,โ a comic drama about a 34-year-old woman (newcomer Emma Mackey) who becomes governor of her home state. Reviews (22% โfreshโ on Rotten Tomatoes) were poor, and the kind of award-winning comic dramas movies that Brooks (โTerms of Endearment,โ โBroadcast Newsโ) has long specialized in today seldom find large audiences in theaters. โElla McCay,โ featuring a supporting cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Ayo Edebiri and Woody Harrelson, cost $35 million to make.
With overall ticket sales on the year running close to even with last year’s disappointing grosses, according to Comscore data, Hollywood will be hoping the coming holiday corridor, traditionally the busiest moviegoing period of the year, ends 2025 on a high note. Movies on tap include โAvatar: Fire and Ash,โ โThe SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,โ โMarty Supreme,โ โAnacondaโ and โSong Sung Blue.โ
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. โZootopia 2,โ $26.3 million.
2. โFive Nights at Freddy’s 2,โ $19.5 million.
3. โWicked: For Good,โ $8.6 million.
4. โDhurandhar,โ $3.5 million.
5. โNow You See Me: Now You Don’t,โ $2.4 million.
6. โJujutsu Kaisen: Execution,โ $2.1 million.
7. โElla McCay,โ $ 2.1 million.
8. โDr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmasโ (2000), $1.9 million.
9. โEternity,โ $1.8 million.
10. โHamnet,โ $1.5 million.
