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Avatar: Fire and Ash Now Up to $1.231 Billion Worldwide After 4 Weekends in Theaters

Avatar: Fire and Ash has now grossed $1.231 billion globally after four weekends in theaters, with Zootopia 2 up to $1.655 billion worldwide after six weekends.

James Cameron’s sci-fi sequel added $21.3 million domestically and $65.6 million internationally this weekend. In total, Avatar 3 has made $342.6 million domestically, leaving the majority of its box office — $888 million — coming internationally. That’s par for the course for the Avatar movies, which have tended to show staying power at theaters and perform particularly well in China. Avatar: Fire and Ash has made $149 million to date in China, and is behind only Zootopia 2 in terms of films released in 2025. Speaking of Zootopia 2, it’s made an incredible $1.276 billion internationally, with $611 million coming from China. It is Walt Disney Animation’s highest-grossing movie of all time.

The special effects-heavy Avatar films cost a huge amount of money to produce, but they have historically made billions of dollars at the box office. 2009's Avatar 1 remains the highest-grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation), and has earned a staggering $2.9 billion across several theatrical runs. 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water has earned $2.3 billion, meanwhile, cementing its place as the third-highest grossing film of all time — just ahead of Cameron's own Titanic.

We’ve spoken for some time now about Avatar: Fire and Ash’s box office performance and how well it’s doing relative to Avatar 1 and 2. Avatar: Fire and Ash is indeed trailing both its predecessors at this point in its run — by some distance, too. After weekend four, Avatar: The Way of Water had made $1.713 billion, and Avatar had made $1.335 billion. It looks increasingly unlikely that Fire and Ash will end up matching Avatar 1 or 2 by the end of its theatrical run. But the bigger question is whether it will end up doing well enough to convince Disney to greenlight Avatar 4 and 5. Disney has given both sequels release dates already: Avatar 4 currently has a December 21, 2029 release date, with Avatar 5 due out December 19, 2031. Cameron, now 71, would be close to 80 years old by the time it all wraps up.

In the run up to Fire and Ash’s release, Cameron admitted he was feeling nervous about the film’s box office performance and expressed concern about the “forces” working against theatrical releases in 2025. Speaking on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron said there was potential for “sequelitis.” He added: "people tend to dismiss sequels unless it’s the third Lord of the Rings film and you want to see what happens to everybody, which in my mind this is — this is the culmination of a story arc, but that may not be how the public sees it.” And there’s the “one-two punch” of streaming and Covid, which means fewer people are going to the movies — 75% of the number in 2019, Cameron suggested.

Disney has used Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailers to encourage repeat viewings of Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters. Four teasers have been released so far, with each going online after a week of theatrical exclusivity ahead of Fire and Ash.

Meanwhile, The Housemaid starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried is nearing the $200 million mark globally, with positive word of mouth fueling strong holds week on week. A sequel is already confirmed. Anaconda starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd is now up to $110.1 million at the global box office. And Marty Supreme starring Timothée Chalamet is on $84.1 million globally.

Photo credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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The Warhammer 40,000 Narrative Finally Looks Set for a Significant Jolt Forward After 500 Worlds Book Teases Long-Awaited Meeting of Primarchs

Warhammer 40,000 lore fans are in overdrive after a single page of a new campaign book teased something that’s never happened before in the setting: the meeting of two loyalist primarchs.

The primarchs are the overpowered, genetically-engineered demigod sons of the Emperor, the leaders of the loyalist Space Marine legions before they were broken up into chapters following the catastrophic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. Warhammer 40,000 as a narrative operated for decades with most of the primarchs either thought dead or lost in the warp.

Today, only two primarchs are confirmed alive and active in the current Warhammer 40,000 setting: Ultramarines boss Roboute Guilliman, who returned to the galaxy during the Gathering Storm event in 2017, and Dark Angels chief Lion El'Jonson, who miraculously popped back into existence as part of the Arks of Omen storyline in early 2023. These were galaxy-shaking plot developments for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and ever since Lion El'Jonson’s shock return to Warhammer 40,000, fans have wondered when he’d finally bump into his brother, Roboute. Now, it looks like that long-awaited family reunion will take place in the coming months, after a new campaign book teased a meeting of the Emperor’s sons.

Word comes from Warhammer 40,000 lore expert Arbitor Ian, who IGN has partnered with for a number of explainer videos, such as the one above. Arbitor Ian got an early look at 500 Worlds: Titus, a soon to be released Warhammer 40,000 campaign book and narrative expansion that features 80 pages of lore covering the beginning of the Ultramarian Reclamation, and published a new video on its most explosive lore reveal.

To back up briefly, Lieutenant Titus from the Space Marine 2 video game has become one of the most recognizable faces in Warhammer 40,000 following its enormous success. To capitalize on Titus’ newfound fame, Games Workshop promoted him to Captain and made him Master of the Watch, which means he’s in charge of defending the 500 Worlds of Ultramar, the realm of Space Marine poster boys, the Ultramarines. With Roboute Guilliman off gallivanting with his Indomitus Crusade, Titus is now in charge of keeping things safe and sound back home, where new Necron threats have emerged, as they always do.

According to the new video from Arbitor Ian, 500 Worlds: Titus has a crucial piece of new lore, found right at the back of the book, that teases a meeting between Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson. It is an intergalactic message written by Lion El'Jonson and intended for Roboute Guilliman that reads: “Brother. We need to talk.”

This seemingly innocuous message teases a momentous plot development for the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Never before have two loyalist primarchs met in the current setting. Of course they spent a great deal of time with each other before the 41st millennium. They were, generally, pals during the glory days of the Great Crusade, for example. All the primarchs (apart from the two we don't talk about) were active during the foundational events of the Horus Heresy, which took place 10,000 years before the current setting. And we just got our first novel set during the era known as The Scouring, which saw the loyalist primarchs enact their revenge on the traitor legions in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy.

The question now is, how will this meeting between Lion El'Jonson and Roboute go? It’s hard to tell. Some fans are speculating the Lion will be a bit miffed at Roboute, who has alarmed more than a few inquisitive minds with his Indomitus Crusade. Others think (hope?) the brothers will join forces to help drive back the forces of Chaos and rekindle the glory days of the Imperium. Given this is Warhammer 40,000 and everything is… awful, I suspect that plenty will go wrong, no matter the Lion’s feelings about his brother.

And then there’s the speculation around the message itself: “Brother. We need to talk.” That doesn’t sound aggressive necessarily, but it does suggest a matter of some importance needs to be brought to Guilliman’s attention. What does the Lion know that his brother doesn’t? Does he carry a warning? Has he discovered some grand conspiracy about their father, the Emperor? Does he bring good news? Is another loyalist primarch about to return?

Arbitor Ian speculates that the Lion may be upset with Guilliman because he believes his brother to be trying to usurp the Emperor with all this Indomitus Crusade and Ultramarian Reclamation business (there’s a whole thing about Roboute potentially doing something similar during the Horus Heresy when it looked like Chaos might win). Alternatively, Arbitor Ian suggests the Lion will reveal some new threat that becomes central to the plot of the next Warhammer 40,000 campaign book, perhaps to do with would-be fifth Chaos god Vashtorr the Arkifane.

Whatever Games Workshop has up its sleeve, it looks like we’re set for some answers over the next few months. At least, that’s the hope. Fans have been waiting three years for the Lion and Guilliman to get together. If Games Workshop just sat on this tease for another few years, well… that would be very Games Workshop, wouldn’t it?

The Warhammer 40,000 story, such as it is, is a slow moving beast. The scribes at Games Workshop sometimes take years to inch the overarching plot forward. Tantalizing plot threads are left dangling, sometimes for decades. Answers remain frustratingly out of reach. Cliffhangers seem destined to hang in a perpetual state of anticipation, never to be fulfilled. Such is the nature of Games Workshop's grimdark 41st millennium, which has exploded in popularity over the last decade. At this point any news on how the story might actually move forward is analyzed to within an inch of its life, as if under investigation by the Inquisition itself.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Games Workshop Announces Plans to Build a New Warhammer World in the U.S.

Games Workshop has announced plans to build a new Warhammer World in the United States with a late 2027 target for opening its doors.

Warhammer World, in Nottingham, England, is the focal point for Games Workshop’s various tabletop games and a social hub for the hobby. It includes an exhibition centre with dramatic, large-scale dioramas featuring everything from famous battles in the grimdark sci-fi setting Warhammer 40,000 to the fantasy world of Age of Sigmar.

For competitors, a sizeable castle-themed gaming hall lets fans play matches, often in scheduled tournaments. There’s a themed bar and restaurant, areas to paint miniatures, and an in-house store with exclusive products.

In a post on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop confirmed its plans to start work on the new Warhammer World, to be built just outside Washington DC.

“This new Warhammer World will be a flagship venue that celebrates Warhammer in all its forms: gaming, painting, modelling, storytelling, events, and community,” Games Workshop said.

“The original Warhammer World in Nottingham, UK sets a very high bar. We’re not going to replicate it brick-for-brick, but instead build something equally uncompromising on quality and experience, something worthy of Warhammer’s rich settings and of course the title ‘Warhammer World.’ And of course, at the heart of all this is creating something extraordinary for all of you — the Warhammer fans!

“Now, there’s a lot to do – but with a fair wind, and the might of the Emperor and his inexhaustible armies, we hope to open the doors late in 2027.”

With this new Warhammer World, Games Workshop is clearly hoping to reinforce its explosive success and the ever-increasing popularity of Warhammer 40,000 in particular, which in recent years has grown far beyond the confines of a tabletop game. Its loyal fandom fusses over lore, analyzes new novels for fresh insight into the setting, and speculates about future development. The smash hit video game Space Marine 2 boosted interest in all things Warhammer 40,000 — so much so that playable character Titus is now the poster boy of the tabletop game and is even at the heart of its next narrative expansion. And former Superman actor Henry Cavill’s upcoming Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Universe for Amazon will undoubtedly take it to new heights. It makes a lot of sense to have a Warhammer World in place to capitalize on the army of newcomers Cavill’s Prime Video work will surely rally together. (Cavill once visited Warhammer World in the UK and posted a video of his tour on Instagram.)

In the shorter term, Warhammer 40,000 fans are bracing themselves for an announcement and release of the 11th Edition of the game, accompanying lore developments, and new model releases. And we’re arguably in the golden age of Warhammer 40,000 video games, with Space Marine 2 still receiving updates, Space Marine 3 in the works, and Dawn of War 4 and Total War: Warhammer 40,000 waiting in the wings.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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