Memorial Day Box Office Record Breaker! ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Debuts to Massive $183 Million, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Scores Series-Best $77 Million

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It’s a Memorial Day weekend for the box office record books.

Cinemas nationwide were bustling over the Memorial Day weekend, with “Lilo & Stitch” and Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” breaking records, setting new milestones, and marking the biggest holiday box office ever.

A multitude of families flocked to cinemas for the live-action remake of Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch”, breaking box office records. In its opening weekend alone, it raked in an impressive $145.5 million, with estimates suggesting a total of $183 million by Monday. This ticket sales figure surpassed expectations and set a new Memorial Day weekend record, outdoing the 2022 release of “Top Gun: Maverick” which made $126 million over the weekend and $160 million across four days. Furthermore, “Lilo & Stitch” also claimed the second-highest earnings during any four-day holiday period, trailing only behind 2018’s “Black Panther”, which grossed an astounding $242 million over Presidents’ Day.

Simultaneously, it was the elderly demographic who turned up to catch Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” which brought in a record-breaking $63 million over the weekend and is projected to have made an additional $77 million by the following holiday. This eighth movie in the series barely surpassed 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” ($61 million) to secure the highest opening of the 29-year-old franchise.

This past weekend’s box office performance, fueled by successful counterprogramming and the continued success of movies like “Final Destination Bloodlines,” “Thunderbolts,” and “Sinners,” resulted in a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend total of $322 million across all films. The last time such a large number of people went to the cinema over this holiday was over a decade ago; the previous record, set in 2013, was $314 million, with “Fast & Furious 6,” “The Hangover Part III,” and “Star Trek Into Darkness” leading the way.

Movie theater owners are thrilled, as Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer movie season – traditionally the most lucrative period for the film industry. (In fact, this four-month span typically generates around $4 billion, accounting for about 40% of the yearly box office revenue.) This is a significant upgrade compared to last year’s lackluster start, where “Mad Max: Fury Road – The Furiosa Saga” and “Garfield” produced disappointing earnings, with a combined total of just $132 million – the poorest Memorial Day performance in over three decades.

In my opinion, the delightful movie “Lilo & Stitch” generated an impressive $341.7 million worldwide, with a staggering $158.7 million of that coming from international cinemas alone. Disney invested a hefty sum of $100 million in its production and another $100 million on marketing this heartwarming tale about an unruly alien who finds his home in Hawaii with the help of a young girl and her older sister. This film is currently under Dean Fleischer Camp’s direction, and it’s resonating strongly with audiences across generations, just two decades after the initial 2002 animated release.

Disney’s ‘Lilo & Stitch’ has proven to be one of the highest-grossing debuts for their live-action remakes, trailing only behind ‘The Lion King’ (2019) and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (2017). Interestingly, it earned more in just four days than what ‘Snow White’ made during its entire box office run. This is a positive turnaround for Disney, as their previous remake of ‘Snow White’ struggled with earnings against a high budget. Notably, ‘Lilo & Stitch’ received an “A” rating from moviegoers on CinemaScore surveys.

David A. Gross from Franchise Entertainment Research finds this ‘Lilo & Stitch’ remake to be incredibly engaging,” he notes. “It’s a hit with the masses, and the public feedback has been exceptional.

As a movie reviewer, I’m thrilled to report that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has kicked off its global run with an impressive $127 million overseas, pushing its worldwide total to a robust $190 million. With international screenings commencing a week ago, these figures have been combined for this initial tally. This powerful debut is a promising sign for the action-packed blockbuster, which requires a similarly grand box office performance to recoup its staggering production cost.

“The Final Reckoning” stands among the most expensive films ever made, boasting a mind-blowing budget of $400 million. This colossal figure soared as Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie navigated a pandemic, two production halts, and inflationary pressures. Given these challenges, this tentpole movie needs to outperform its predecessor, “Fallout,” which currently holds the series record with $791 million worldwide, just to break even. In other words, “The Final Reckoning” must become the highest-grossing Mission: Impossible film of all time to emerge from the red.

While not quite matching the acclaim of its forerunner, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” from 2023, the film struggled slightly following the release of “Barbenheimer,” it has still received a solid “A-” rating on CinemaScore. The narrative revolves around veteran agent Ethan Hunt’s pursuit against the clock to locate a menacing rogue AI named the Entity. This action-packed adventure is filled with thrilling stunts, even from our 62-year-old action hero, Tom Cruise.

In this rephrased version, I aimed to maintain the original meaning and flow while making it more accessible and easy to read for a broader audience.

According to Gross, ‘The Final Reckoning’ has a promising start with strong business overseas, but is likely to make a considerable amount of money. However, the expenses are substantial, and it may only manage to cover these costs. Unfortunately, there were unexpected delays that were beyond our control.

Finishing third, “Final Destination Bloodlines” brought in a massive $19 million over the weekend, with an additional $5.5 million on Monday. The sixth movie in Warner Bros. and New Line’s long-running horror series, featuring people meeting gruesome deaths in increasingly bizarre events, has made a robust $94.6 million in North America and $187 million globally within its first two weekends.

At the fourth spot, ‘Thunderbolts’ earned approximately $9.5 million over the weekend and an additional $12 million by Monday. After four weeks in cinemas, Disney and Marvel’s comic book adventure has made a total of $171 million domestically and $353 million internationally. However, due to theater owners retaining half of ticket sales, ‘Thunderbolts’ is having trouble making a profit theatrically with its production budget of $180 million.

The film titled ‘Sinners’ earned approximately $11.2 million through Monday, making it one of the top five earners over the weekend with an initial weekend gross of $9.1 million. This R-rated vampire thriller from Warner Bros. has become a box office powerhouse, generating a staggering $339 million worldwide. Domestically, it has amassed around $259 million, while internationally it has brought in about $80 million.

Meanwhile, “Minecraft,” another blockbuster from Warner Bros., is expected to miss the $1 billion mark by a small margin. After two months since its release, it has amassed an impressive $940 million worldwide. Currently, it holds the title of the highest-grossing movie of the year, but “Lilo & Stitch” might challenge for that position next.

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2025-05-25 18:47