A brutal winter storm sweeping across the United States has delivered a deep chill to Hollywood’s box office, triggering widespread theater closures and pushing ticket sales to their lowest weekend total of the year so far.
More than 400 movie theaters across the country were forced to shutter as ice, snow and power outages stretched from Texas to New England – a disruption that dragged the entire domestic box office down to an estimated $58.4 million, marking the weakest weekend of 2026 to date and a 9% dip compared to the same period last year, according to Variety.
Despite the treacherous conditions, Chris Pratt’s sci-fi thriller Mercy managed to debut at No. 1 with an estimated $11.2 million, narrowly ending Avatar: Fire and Ash’ five-week reign at the top of the charts.
Industry insiders note the opening, while modest for a $60 million production, landed within expectations given the unprecedented weather conditions.
The storm’s impact intensified as the weekend wore on.
More than 220 million Americans across 34 states are covered by winter weather warnings – almost two-thirds of the population – as Storm Fern moves from the southern Rocky Mountains towards New England.
A brutal winter storm sweeping across the United States has delivered a deep chill to Hollywood’s box office, pushing ticket sales to their lowest weekend total of the year so far
New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington DC could be hit by one inch of snow every hour from Sunday morning, while the South could see a rare thunder sleet – when lightning and thunder coincides, creating large ice pellets.
Cinemark shut down 24 theaters in cities including Louisville, Plano, Huntsville and Little Rock, while Regal closed 22 sites, with dozens more independent circuits also going dark.
Mercy, which earned nearly $5 million from previews and Friday alone, is now tracking toward a $12.6 million three-day total from 3,468 theaters.
Meanwhile, Avatar: Fire and Ash slipped to second place with $7 million in its sixth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $378.4 million and its global haul to $1.378 billion.
While still a juggernaut, the third Avatar installment has not matched the sustained dominance of its predecessors, Avatar (2009) and The Way of Water (2022).
Disney’s Zootopia 2 held strong at No. 3 in its ninth weekend with $5.9 million, pushing its domestic total past $401 million and cementing its status as the highest-grossing animated Hollywood film of all time.
The box office update comes after 802,000 households were left without power across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, where the storm hit first, and more than 13,000 flights were cancelled over the weekend.
The epicenter of the chaos is expected to hit the northeast by mid-morning Sunday, with up to 16 inches of snow forecast for much of the tri-state area.
Despite the treacherous conditions, Chris Pratt’s sci-fi thriller Mercy managed to debut at No. 1 with an estimated $11.2 million, narrowly ending Avatar: Fire and Ash’ five-week reign at the top of the charts
Disney’s Zootopia 2 held strong at No. 3 in its ninth weekend with $5.9 million, pushing its domestic total past $401 million
A worker clears snow from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in New York City on Sunday
Forecasters have warned the damage to infrastructure could be even worse than the typical aftermath left by a hurricane.
Many people have already started panic-buying frozen food and tinned goods as they get ready to hunker down for several days of extreme cold and torrential snow.
Temperatures of 18F are predicted in Pittsburgh, 11F in Manhattan, 9F in Boston, and 3F in Portland, Maine.
‘We are expecting a storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in years,’ New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Saturday while announcing restrictions on commercial vehicle travel and a 35 mph (56 kph) speed limit on highways.
‘It’s a good weekend to stay indoors,’ she added.
‘The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,’ said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
President Donald Trump had approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday, with more expected to come.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned commodities, staff and search and rescue teams in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
‘We just ask that everyone would be smart – stay home if possible,’ Noem said.
Pictured: Shoppers brave cold weather amid winter Storm Fern as they walk in the parking lot of a store during a winter storm Saturday, January 24, 2026, in Arlington, Texas
There have been reports of vehicles hitting fallen trees and trees falling onto houses in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, where more than half of all electric customers lost power.
‘We got limbs that are dragging the ground,’ said Mark Pierce, a spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office. ‘These trees are just completely saturated with ice.’
Sunday’s flight cancellations, which are still growing, are already the most on any single day since the coronavirus pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
All Saturday flights were canceled at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, and all Sunday morning flights also were called off, as officials aimed to restart service Sunday afternoon at Oklahoma’s biggest airport.
Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, a major hub, saw more than 700 departing flights canceled on Saturday and nearly as many arriving flights called off.
Disruptions have also been piling up at airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
There have been reports of vehicles hitting fallen trees and trees falling onto houses in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, where more than half of all electric customers lost power (fallen branches and trees pictured above laying across roadways in Nashville)
By late Saturday afternoon, nearly all departing flights scheduled to leave Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday had already been canceled.
The Midwest saw windchills as low as minus 40F, meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes.
The minus 36F reading in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, on Saturday morning was the coldest in almost 30 years.
More than 23 inches of snow were recorded in the Rockies close to Crested Butte in Colorado on Saturday, while eight inches hit north-central Kansas and Gibson, Arkansas.
Experts have advised preparing for the worst, by stocking up on ice, heat sources, blankets and warm clothing in case a prolonged power cut hits.
The Red Cross recommends buying cheap Styrofoam coolers and ice to keep food fresh in the event of refrigerators being out of action.
The Red Cross is also urging Americans to fill up their vehicle’s gas tank in case they are told to evacuate due to dangerous storm conditions in their neighborhood.
