Movies

The Bone Temple Can’t Keep It Up — Weekend Box Office Report for January 16h-January 18th, 2026

Do remind me again how no one likes these Avatar movies.

Our number one film–for the fifth weekend in a row–is Avatar: Fire and Ash, and you know what, there’s a possibility it will be on top next week too unless Mercy overperforms. Earlier this week I read annalists claim Fire and Ash winning the MLK frame was “virtually impossible” due to the ratio of its limited showtimes compared to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’s greater amount of them, but those reports were massively overestimating the horror sequel’s broad appeal.

Yes, The Bone Temple is a flop, which doesn’t bode well for the planned third entry in the trilogy despite it already being greenlit. This was sadly inevitable after 28 Years Later got a mixed reception last summer, and also, who thought it was a good idea to release these installments only six months apart? When the trailer for The Bone Temple played in theaters, I would hear audience members express confusion along the lines of “wait, didn’t that already come out?” From a box office standpoint, spring is looking pretty dire this year–the only films I would call surefire hits would be Wuthering Heights and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie–so it’s not like there wasn’t room for this one to come out a little later to allow the franchise more time to breathe.

Critically, The Bone Temple fare terrifically, but horror is one of those genres where reviews–good or bad–often have very little impact on how it performs financially. And once again, Sony sold audiences a different film than they were getting here. These movies are slow burns–and there’s nothing wrong with that–but when you promise people a non-stop thrill ride and then give them something else entirely, it’s going to bite you in the butt in some way. Hopefully The Bone Temple fares well enough internationally to keep Sony from pulling the plug on 28 Years Later: Zombie Dong Strikes Back.

And speaking of international numbers, Zootopia 2 has now surpassed Inside Out 2 worldwide as the biggest Hollywood animated movie ever globally. Technically, the “true” holder of that title is China’s Ne Zha 2, but let’s be real, that only made money in its native country and really no where else, so calling it a “global” hit is a bit of a stretch. Stateside, Zootopia 2 will surpass the domestic tally of the original Frozen by the end of next weekend (but won’t approach the $477 million gross of its sequel).

Other holdovers worth mentioning: The Housemaid becomes Lionsgate’s first movie to surpass the $100 million mark in the US since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Prequel Book No One Read, while Marty Supreme is now A24’s biggest release ever (and it’s still not even playing at my theater, for whatever reason).

Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline

  1. Avatar: Fire & Ash (20th) 3,300 (-400) theaters, Fri $3.2M (-37% from previous Friday) Sat $6M Sun $4.1M Mon $3.88M 3-day $13.3M (-38%), 4-day $17.2M, Total $367.4M/Wk 5
  2. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony) 3,506 theaters, Fri $5.6M, Sat $4.1M Sun $3.3M Mon $2M 3-day $13M, 4-day $15M/Wk 1
  3. Zootopia 2 (Dis) 3,100 (-100) theaters, Fri $1.9M Sat $3.9M Sun $3M Mon $3.2M, 3-day $8.76M (-12%), 4-day $12M, Total $393.2M/Wk 8
  4. The Housemaid (LG) 3,101 (-22) theaters, Fri $2.5M (-25%) Sat $3.3M Sun $2.6M Mon $1.5M 3-day $8.5M (-22%), 4-day $10.1M, Total $108.7M/Wk 5
  5. Marty Supreme (A24) 2,027 (-485) theaters, Fri $1.6M (-27%) Sat $2.1M Sun $1.7M Mon $1.1M 3-day $5.4M (-27%), 4-day $6.6M, Total $80.8M/Wk 5 
  6. Primate (Par) 2,964 theaters, Fri $1.4M (-69%) Sat $2M 3-day $5M (-55%), 4-day $6M, Total $20.5M/Wk 2
  7.  Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Fath/NL) 1,686 theaters, Fri $3.1M, Sat $272K, Sun $122K Monday $525K 3-day $3.58M, 4-day, $4.1M, total $323.7M (lifetime)/Wk 1 re-release
  8. Greenland 2: Migration (LG) 2,718 (+8) theaters, Fri $950K (-70%) Sat $1.38M Sun $1M Mon $570K 3-day $3.3M (-60%), 4-day $3.93M, Total $14.6M/Wk 2
  9. Anaconda (Sony) 2,424 (-651) locations Fri $800K, Sat $1.3M Sun $1M Mon $600K 3-day $3.2M (-36%), 4-day $3.8M, Total $59.6M/Wk 4
  10. SpongeBob (Par) 1,939 (-628) theaters, Fri $440K (-44%), Sat $1M 3-day $2.3M (-40%) 4-day $2.9M Total $67.7M/Wk 5