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‘Lilo & Stitch’ Blows Up Memorial Day Box Office With $183M Bow, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Nabs Series-Best $77.5M
‘Lilo & Stitch’ Blows Up Memorial Day Box Office With $183M Bow, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Nabs Series-Best $77.5M
The Memorial Day box office is on fire.
Disney’s live-action redo of Lilo & Stitch and Tom Cruise‘s final Mission: Impossible movie from Paramount and Skydance fueled the biggest start-of-summer holiday weekend of all time, based on Monday estimates. Lilo & Stitch blew away all expectations with a record-smashing, four-day domestic debut of $183 million, and a jaw-dropping $341.7 million globally, while Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opened to a series-best $77.5 million domestically and $191 million worldwide. The domestic numbers include a three-day weekend tally of $145.5 million for Lilo and $64 million for Final Reckoning.
The female-fueled Lilo was always expected to beat the latest M:I title, but no one imagined it would hit these heights and, in an ironic twist, see Lilo & Stitch supplant Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick ($160 million) to rank as the biggest Memorial Day opener of all time, not adjusted for inflation. That’s not the only irony: Cruise-starrer Minority Report barely beat the original animated Lilo & Stitch when they opened opposite each other in June 2002. In North America, Lilo also zoomed to the second-biggest gross of all time for any four-day holiday weekend behind the $242 million opening of Marvel and Disney’s Black Panther ($242 million) and the third biggest debut ever for a Disney live-action title, both domestically and globally, behind Beauty and the Beast and crown-holder The Lion King, not adjusted for inflation.
Three weeks ago, Lilo & Stitch was tracking to open to $120 million. On Thursday, that number had grown to $165 million. But it came in even higher. The reason?
Stitch isn’t just drawing interest from families; to the contrary, 60 percent of ticket buyers were non-parents and kids, far higher than the norm. Interest exploded among teenage girls and younger women adults — i.e., Gen Z and younger millennials — who grew up on the first movie and resulting TV show about a Hawaiian girl with a fraught family life who adopts an adorable, albeit trouble-making, dog-like alien. Box office pundits say the nostalgic factor is running high, just as it did among millennials and Gen Z’ers for Disney’s live-action Aladdin, which made $1.1 billion in global ticket sales after getting families, teens and younger adults. Rideback produced both Lilo and 2019’s Aladdin.
It also plays to a notably diverse audience. Latinos, the most frequent moviegoers in the U.S., made up 33 percent of ticket buyers, while the film scored the biggest opening ever for a live-action Disney reimagining across Latin America.
For a minute, the live-action Lilo & Stitch was originally intended to go straight to Disney+, helping to explain its modest $100 million production budget before tax incentives and rebates.
Both films benefited from strong scores from critics and glowing audience exits, including five-out-of-five stars from moviegoers polled by industry-leading service PostTrak. Lilo has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 70 percent and nabbed an A CinemaScore from audiences.
Lilo & Stitch began its historic run by grossing a huge $55 million Friday from 4,410 theaters, including a record $14.5 million in Thursday previews, the largest preview gross of the year to date and a Memorial Day record for Disney’s live-action studio after besting The Little Mermaid ($10.3 million) and Aladdin ($7 million), not adjusted for inflation. Regarding Disney’s larger film empire, Thursday’s previews also beat Memorial Day entry Solo: A Star Wars Story ($14.1 million). Overall, it repped the seventh-biggest preview gross of any PG title, including Disney’s recent animated blockbuster Moana 2 ($13.8 million).
Final Reckoning — which had a lock on Imax screens — more than made up for the lackluster $54.7 million five-day bow of Dead Reckoning, as well as supplanting the $61.2 million three-day launch of Fallout to set a new franchise opening record. M:I movies have never been big openers since diehard fans are usually older adults, and particularly older males. Ticket buyers over the age of 55 made up the largest chunk of the audience, followed by the coveted 18 to 24 demo. It boasts a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 80 percent and earned an A- CinemaScore.
“Mission accomplished,” says Paramount domestic chief of distribution Chris Aronson. “This is a remarkable result for the eighth title in a franchise that’s 30 years in the making.”
Cruise’s film, directed by his go-to partner Christopher McQuarrie, began its run with a Friday gross of $24.8 million from 3,857 theaters, including Thursday previews. The film set its own preview record in earning a franchise-best $8.3 million, ahead of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ($7 million) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($6 million).
A major challenge in terms of Final Reckoning‘s financial success is its $400 million net budget before marketing — making it one of the most expensive films ever made — although Paramount insiders note that each new installment increases the value of the entire library, including a spike in home entertainment sales and rentals of previous titles.
Thanks to the might of the two films, overall ticket sales for the holiday weekend will come in north of $326 million, according to Comscore (the final stat won’t be tallied til Monday). The previous Memorial Day revenue crown belonged to the $306 million in ticket sales collected in 2013 when Fast & Furious 6 zoomed to $117 million, followed by The Hangover Part III with $50 million. It would also mark the best showing for two Memorial Day titles going up against each other. In 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End opened to $140 million over the holiday frame, followed by Shrek the Third with $67 million.
While the mashup isn’t expected to become quite the same cultural phenomenon that Barbenheimer was in July 2023, the potent combo of the two movies can’t be ignored (as for a moniker, how about “Stitchin: Impossible”?)
Overseas, Lilo & Stitch likewise went up against Final Reckoning, although the M:I movie began rolling out in a handful of major markets last weekend via previews.
Lilo is reporting an international opening of $158.7 million, ahead of expectations. In a number of territories, it has scored the highest opening day of the year so far, including in China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, France and Italy.
Final Reckoning is reporting an international start of $127 million through Sunday. Both its domestic and international openings were in line with expectations. The movie doesn’t open in China until May 30.
Also stocking the Memorial Day blaze in North America was the second weekend of New Line and Warner Bros.’ Final Destination: Bloodlines, which placed third with an estimated $24 million for the four days for an early domestic cume of $94.1 million and $186.7 million globally.
Marvel and Disney’s Thunderbolts* came in fourth with an estimated $12 million in its fourth weekend for a domestic cume hovering around $174 million through Monday and $335 million globally, followed by Ryan Coogler and Warners’ sleeper sensation Sinners, which earned another $11 million in its sixth weekend. Sinners will finish Monday with an estimated domestic cume of nearly d$259 million and $341 million worldwide.
The holiday’s other new nationwide offering, Angel Studios’ The Last Radio, only managed a sixth-place domestic finish with a four-day debut of $6.2 million.
Weekend actuals will be released Tuesday morning.
May 23, 4:10 p.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates based on early Friday returns.
May 24, 7:45 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates.
May 25, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates.
May 26, 12 p.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates, including a four-day number for The Last Rodeo.
This story was originally published May 23 at 8:04 a.m.