“Avatar: Fire and Ash” is towering over the domestic box office during the first weekend of the new year.

James Cameron’s latest Na’vi adventure has collected $40 million from 3,825 North American theaters in its third weekend of release, declining 35% from the busy post-Christmas frame. Those ticket sales are pushing the third “Avatar” to $306 million domestically and $1.08 billion globally after just 18 days in theaters. “Fire and Ash” crossed the coveted billion-dollar benchmark slower than 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which took 14 days, and the original “Avatar,” which took 17 days. Now it’s a matter of where “Avatar: Fire and Ash” will top out at the box office — and whether the third installment has the stamina to surpass $2 billion like its predecessors.

Since January is often glacial in terms of movie theater attendance, Hollywood studios barely release anything new around the dawn of the new year. That means a smattering of Thanksgiving and Christmas leftovers, such as “Zootopia 2,” “The Housemaid” and “Marty Supreme,” were behind “Avatar: Fire and Ash” on North American charts.

Disney’s “Zootopia 2” remained a force at No. 2 with $19 million from 3,285 venues, marking a minimal 4% drop from the previous weekend. After six weekends of release, the beloved animated sequel has grossed a mighty $363 million domestically and $1.588 billion globally. “Zootopia 2” recently outperformed “Frozen 2” ($1.45 billion) to become Walt Disney Animation’s highest-grossing movie of all time. That means the announcement of a third trip to the animal-filled metropolis can’t be too far off.

Lionsgate’s psychological thriller “The Housemaid” rose to No. 3 with $15.2 million from 3,070 screens, a barely-there 1% dip from the prior weekend. The R-rated film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, has earned an impressive $75.7 million in North America and $133 million worldwide against a $35 million budget.

Fourth place went to A24’s “Marty Supreme” with $12.5 million from 2,887 locations, declining just 30% from the post-Christmas frame. So far, the Timothee Chalamet-led ping-pong dramedy has generated $56 million in North America, a great result for the original arthouse release. With those ticket sales, “Marty Supreme” has outgrossed the director Josh Safdie’s prior film “Uncut Gems” ($50 million globally) and ranks among A24’s biggest movies of all time. However, “Marty Supreme” cost $70 million to produce, making it the most expensive film to date for A24. It’ll need to remain a draw into the new year to justify its budget.

Sony’s action comedy “Anaconda” remained in fifth place with $10 million from 3,509 theaters, a drop of 31% from the prior weekend. After two weekends of release, the meta reboot of 1997’s “Anaconda, this one starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, has grossed $45.8 million in North America and $88 million globally against a $45 million production budget.

Another Christmas release, the Focus Features musical drama “Song Sung Blue,” slid to the No. 8 spot with $5.87 million from 2,705 venues, a scant 17% drop. So far, the tear-jerker, led by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as performers in a Neil Diamond cover band, has grossed $25 million domestically and $30 million worldwide against a $30 million budget.

Although the year is very young, 2026 is already pacing ahead of 2025 by 26.5%, according to Comscore. Last year’s revenues hit $8.9 billion across 12 months, a modest 1.5% increase from 2024, though just short of the $9 billion that analysts had expected the industry to generate. As studios prepare to unveil major blockbusters — including “Avengers: Doomsday,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” — will this year’s grosses manage to return to pre-pandemic heights?

“With a killer slate on the docket, there’s confidence that 2026 will be the biggest year for theaters since 2020,” predicts Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian.

Now, Hollywood just needs audiences to show up at multiplexes.

The day after elite U.S. forces captured wanted narco-terrorist and former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah will no longer have operations in the South American state.

The Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization is responsible for both the bombing of the U.S. embassy, which killed 63 people, and the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut in 1983, when 241 U.S. military personnel were killed.

Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, Rubio said, “It’s very simple, okay? In the 21st century, under the Trump administration, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere, in the sphere of control and the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran and for every other malign influence in the world. That’s just not gonna exist.” He also told NBC’s Meet the Press that, in regard to Venezuela, that meant, “No more Iran/Hezbollah presence there.”

GOP SENATOR PREDICTS TRUMP’S NEXT MOVE IN VENEZUELA AMID HEZBOLLAH’S INFLUENCE: ‘LONG PAST DUE’

Walid Phares, who has advised U.S. presidential candidates and is a leading expert on Hezbollah, told Fox News Digital that “Hezbollah has a long history in Venezuela and has emerged as a significant security concern in Latin America, particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The origins of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela date back to the mid-1980s, when the organization began recruiting members from segments of the local Lebanese diaspora.”

He noted that Hezbollah gained greater traction following the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s consolidation of power in 2002. “During this period, Hezbollah’s presence became more visible, with reports indicating that some of its members gained access to Venezuelan state institutions, including security agencies, often through the acquisition of Venezuelan passports and legal documentation. These developments facilitated the expansion of Hezbollah-linked networks throughout Latin America, extending into Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and reportedly reaching as far as the U.S.–Mexico border.”

Phares said, “Hezbollah is believed to maintain a substantial presence across Venezuela, including command-and-control elements in Caracas. Margarita Island has been frequently cited in open-source reporting as a logistical hub used for activities ranging from financial operations to intelligence gathering and alleged narcotics trafficking. Additional public reporting has suggested Venezuelan cooperation with Iranian and Hezbollah-linked operations targeting Iranian dissidents abroad, including attempted kidnappings and intimidation campaigns in the Western Hemisphere.”

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The U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah lashed out at the U.S. after it captured Maduro. Hezbollah said it “condemns the terrorist aggression and American thuggery against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” and “further affirms its full solidarity with Venezuela — its people, presidency and government — in confronting this American aggression and arrogance.”

The thorny challenge of how to purge the Venezuelan state and society of embedded Hezbollah operatives was addressed by Phares. He said, “One option would be to rely on a post-Maduro transitional authority that has pledged to dismantle terrorist networks. In practice, however, it is likely that U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism agencies would play a leading role in identifying and disrupting pro-Iranian networks operating within Venezuelan territory.”

Matthew Levitt, a scholar on Hezbollah from the Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital that “It will all come down to what kind of regime comes next. Trump’s statements leave that wide open. There is, however, an opportunity to address the longstanding Hezbollah presence in Venezuela, and the strategic relationship between Venezuela and Iran more broadly.”

Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, and a former deputy assistant Secretary of State during Trump’s first administration, told Fox News Digital, “Among the many ways in which the Iranian regime and Maduro regime coordinated until Maduro’s arrest was providing a safe haven for Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah took advantage of the lack of rule of law in Venezuela and parts of Latin America more generally to engage in money laundering connected to the drug trade. They are also believed to have used connections within the Maduro regime to secure Venezuelan passports for members of Hezbollah.”

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She noted that “It isn’t a surprise that the plot to kidnap Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad involved taking her by speedboat to Caracas. Hezbollah and Iran knew under Maduro, they could operate with impunity there, spread anti-American propaganda, and plan anti-American attacks. Whether there are any implications for the Maduro- Hezbollah relationship now that Maduro is gone will depend on whether regime insiders are allowed to remain in power or not.”