Avatar: Fire and Ash bowed at No. 1 at the Korean box office on opening day.
According to the Korean Film Council’s box-office tracker, the film drew 265,055 admissions nationwide on Dec. 17, its first day in theaters.
Set after the death of Neteyam, the eldest son of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the story introduces the Ash People led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), thrusting a fire-scorched Pandora into an even bigger crisis. The film continues the saga following 2022’s The Way of Water.
Touted as one of 2025’s most anticipated releases, Avatar: Fire and Ash racked up nearly 600,000 tickets in presales, signaling a major run. With 265,055 opening-day admissions, it’s off to a strong start, and turnout is expected to surge through the weekend.
Zootopia 2, which had ruled the chart for 21 straight days, slid to No. 2 with the newcomer’s arrival, yet still pulled in more than 80,000 admissions for the day in its fourth week. Its cumulative total now stands at 5,631,269 admissions.
Rounding out the top three was Korean film The People Upstairs, which drew 9,154 moviegoers the same day for a running total of 455,155.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)