Sony’s horror sequel “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” entered the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday frame as the film most widely expected to challenge “Avatar: Fire and Ash” for No. 1. But the final weekend box office picture favored James Cameron’s sci-fi holdover, which retained the domestic crown for a fifth straight weekend.
Latest box office results
Final domestic figures show “Avatar: Fire and Ash” leading the Jan. 16-18 weekend with $14.49 million, expanding to $17.93 million across the four-day MLK frame. Sony’s “The Bone Temple” opened in second place with $12.52 million for the traditional weekend and $14.42 million through Monday, giving “Avatar 3” a roughly $3.5 million holiday-frame edge.
That outcome marks a reversal from the pre-weekend narrative. Industry tracking had positioned the Sony release as the top new contender and, in some forecasts, the likely winner of the sony box office weekend conversation.
What forecasts expected
Ahead of release, Boxoffice Pro projected “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” at $15 million to $20 million for the Jan. 16-18 frame, while placing “Avatar: Fire and Ash” in a $12 million to $17 million range for its fifth weekend. The same forecast noted the horror sequel’s larger showtime share, suggesting the new release had a clear path to overtake the incumbent blockbuster.
Variety later reported that “The Bone Temple” had been expected to earn $20 million to $22 million over the long weekend, but the sequel came in below that range while “Avatar” held better than enough to stay in first place.
Why the matchup mattered
The weekend offered a clean test of two very different box office forces: a fresh R-rated horror franchise entry from Sony against a holiday-season tentpole with weeks of premium-format momentum behind it. “Avatar: Fire and Ash” had already spent four weekends at No. 1 before the MLK frame, while “The Bone Temple” arrived as the follow-up to 2025’s “28 Years Later.”
Sony’s film also had recognizable genre credentials. The studio describes “The Bone Temple” as an expansion of the world created by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, with Nia DaCosta directing and Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams and Jack O’Connell central to the story.
Context for the weekend box office
For a general audience tracking box office results, the headline is simple: “The Bone Temple” came close enough to make the race competitive, but not close enough to end “Avatar 3’s” run at the top. The horror sequel’s opening was meaningful for Sony, yet the final numbers show that Cameron’s blockbuster still had enough holdover strength to win the holiday frame.
The result also underscores how January releases can face a narrow margin for error. Even with strong awareness and franchise familiarity, a new title needs more than first-weekend curiosity to dislodge a major holdover. In this case, the weekend belonged to “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” while “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” settled for a closely watched No. 2 debut.