Sorry, Vin Diesel... There's a new Memorial Day Weekend box office champ. Though Tom Cruise had a great showing, it was a blue alien from Disney who set theaters alight.
For years now, the Memorial Day Weekend box office crown has belonged to the year of 2013. That year, Fast & Furious 6 came roaring out of the gates on the way to over $117 million in the United States alone. Vin Diesel and family weren't the only game in town, though. The Hangover Part III, Star Trek Into Darkness, Epic, Iron Man 3, and The Great Gatsby all did big numbers, fueling the domestic box office to over $314 million. Memorial Day Weekend is usually highlighted by huge tentpole movies that drive business, including Aladdin in 2019, X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008. It's not uncommon for the highest-grossing movie of the weekend to rake in over $100 million. What a weekend needs to drive it over the top is multiple movies doing well, and that's what is happening here in 2025.
Lilo and Stitch Is Shaping Up To Be Disney’s Record-Breaker For 2025
Seemingly against all odds, Lilo and Stitch's pre-sales are impressive, especially for a PG film.
With early numbers coming in, Deadline is reporting that 2025's Memorial Day Weekend is now the highest-grossing in history, with an estimated $322+ million being spent on films by hungry moviegoers. With the industry at large desperate for good news post-COVID, studios have to be hoping that a renewed interest in heading to theaters is more than just a blip. With streamers like Netflix seemingly jacking up subscription prices whenever they can, heading out to the theater for a film isn't as expensive a prospect as it has seemed in the past.
Lilo & Stitch And Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning Are Fueling Record-Setting Box Office
Lilo & Stitch is leading the charge, with an $180+ million total in range. This'll be music to Disney's ears after an off year thus far, with Captain America: Brave New World, Snow White, and The Amateur all struggling to live up to expectations at the box office. Snow White bombed so hard, it's been rumored that the Mouse House is scaling back its live-action remake business. Granted, that could easily turn around if Lilo & Stitch manages to be the hit it's looking like.
In second place is Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning with around $77+ million over the four-day weekend, besting the franchise record set by 2018's Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Selling Final Reckoning as the last film in Tom Cruise's mega-franchise certainly helped the picture put butts in seats, even if that doesn't end up being the case. As Top Gun: Maverick proved, Cruise can return to any franchise he wishes, and people will usually show up.
Also helping overall box office numbers this weekend are Sinners, Thunderbolts*, and Final Destination Bloodlines, each of which has been holding up well week after week. Ryan Coogler's Sinners in particular has been a massive success for Warner Bros. Pictures. Its ongoing business has been driven by positive word-of-mouth and proves that adult-oriented original content still has a place in movie theaters, provided the product is good enough.
For their part, Disney will be hoping they can continue the box office triumph of Lilo & Stitch later in the year with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Tron: Ares, Zootopia 2, and Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Source: Deadline