American Marconi Wireless News - 'Avatar: Fire and Ashe' leads in N.America for fourth week

The third installment in director James Cameron's blockbuster fantasy series has now earned a massive $1.23 billion worldwide, according to Exhibitor Relations.

"Fire and Ash" stars Zoe Saldana as Na'vi warrior Neytiri and Sam Worthington as ex-Marine Jake Sully, who must battle a new foe threatening their family's life on the planet Pandora.

It is the fourth Cameron film to pass the $1 billion mark, with the first two "Avatar" films and "Titanic."

Debuting in second place in the United States and Canada was "Primate," a horror film about a violent pet chimpanzee, with $11.3 million.

"This is a good opening for an original horror film," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

"Horror stories that feature an evil creature generally perform better at the box office than horror stories about evil humans."

Not far behind in third place at $11.2 million was "The Housemaid," an adaptation of Freida McFadden's best-selling novel about a young woman who is hired by a wealthy couple with dark secrets.

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in the Lionsgate release.

Disney's feel-good animated film "Zootopia 2" -- the other juggernaut of the holiday box office -- dropped to fourth place at $10.1 million. Its global total now stands at $1.65 billion.

Lionsgate's disaster sequel "Greenland 2: Migration" starring Gerard Butler came in fifth place at $8.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

"Marty Supreme" ($7.6 million)

"Anaconda" ($5.1 million)

"The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants" ($3.8 million)

"David" ($3.1 million)

"Song Sung Blue" ($3 million)

P.Mathewson--AMWN