Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | January 26, 2026
It took six weeks to topple Avatar: Fire and Ash, but Mercy pulled it off. Well, that makes it sound as though the Chris Pratt AI movie did a lot of heavy lifting to take on the might of James Cameron. It’s more that the weekly grosses of that behemoth had to drop to a low enough point for someone to leap frog over it. Hey, a win’s a win, right?
Mercy earned $11.1 million from 3,468 locations. Not amazing given the reported budget of $60 million. Reviews were also damning, with many calling it an early contender for the worst movie of 2026. It’s good to be number one at something.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is doing fine as well. Six weeks in and it’s at a comfortable $378.4 million domestically. Worldwide, it’s brought in $1,378,692,585. I doubt it’s getting to $2 billion like its predecessors, and under normal circumstances, a $1.3 billion intake would be an undeniable hit. But things are different over there in Pandora, so we’ll need to wait and see whether or not Disney will let Cameron make the fourth and fifth installments.
Return to Silent Hill was Hollywood’s latest attempt at messing up one of the greatest horror games of all time. Why is it so hard to bring to life such an incredible world? This new attempt fizzled upon arrival and only scared up $3.25 million from 2,000 cinemas.
After the Oscar nominations were announced, Focus Features did the wide release of Hamnet, its biggest contender of the season. It’s now in just under 2,000 locations and it earned an extra $2 million for its troubles.
H is for Hawk, a biographical drama based on the story of a woman who deals with her grief by rearing a goshawk, earned $148,350 from 86 places.
In limited release news: Standout: The Ben Kjar Story, a documentary about a man with Crouzon Syndrome who found strength in wrestling and Jesus, pinned down $141,350 from 86 locations; the animated film Arco, which was just nominated for Best Animated Feature, took in $51,392 from four places; and the documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, which also just landed an Oscar nom, made $5,707 from one theatre.
This coming week sees the release of the token ‘January Jason Statham movie’ title, Shelter.
You can check out the rest of the weekend box office numbers here.
