Box Office Breakdown for Weekend of 5/25/25
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Lilo and Stitch (2025) Opens With Massive Box Office Take
As the summer box office officially launches this Memorial Day weekend, the clear winner is without a doubt (and to no surprise) Disney’s latest live-action adaptation of one of their successful original animated movies, Lilo and Stitch. Though it has divided fans of the animated film, the general family audience is clearly taking this movie in and sending it to the proverbial box office moon. Not only did Lilo and Stitch open to $145,500,000 domestically and over $300 million globally, but it also put itself as one of the biggest live-action adaption releases the company has seen in the past five years. Though this is not saying much with movies like Beauty and Beast (2017) seeing roughly $220,337,733 domestically in its opening weekend when you adjust for inflation and the “live-action” Lion King from 2019 netting an adjusted $236,782,455 in its domestic opening, it’s clear that Disney has a real box office winner on their hands, which they have desperately needed after recent flops Thunderbolts* and Brave New World costing them 100s of millions of dollars.
With a reported budget of only about $100 million, Lilo and Stitch has already flown past its projected break-even point of roughly $300 million. Since the film was initially made for Disney+ and only shifted to a theatrical release in 2024, we do not know how much extra money Disney spent to make it theatrically ready or how much they spent on marketing, which, as a Disney film, likely cost them at least another $100 million. Without having that data on hand, however, all we can say is that Lilo and Stitch is currently a massive hit and will likely bring in 100s of millions in net profits by the end of its run. As usual, we will have to wait until the global numbers are released next weekend to know for sure what the range of its profits and total box office will look like. For now, we can say that, on average, most movies triple their global box office after their opening weekend, which would put the likely final range of Lilo and Stitch somewhere between $850-$1.3 billion, depending on how well it holds as the weeks move forward. With a 63% “Rad” score based on 27 reviews on Criticless as of the writing of this article, the chances for its success are quite high.
According to the-numbers.com, the top 5 this weekend domestically were:
- Lilo and Stitch ($145.5 million as a new release)
- Mission: Impossible –The Final Reckoning ($63 million as a new release)
- Final Destination Bloodlines (62% drop in 2nd weekend)
- Thunderbolts* (45% drop in 4th weekend)
- Sinners (42% drop in 6th weekend)
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Flops… and Proves Why People Need to Understand How the Box Office Works
Once again, I am reminded of how little people understand when it comes to the box office and how it works. A great case study of this fact is how people are reacting to the box office opening for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which, many are trying to argue, means that the film is a smash hit success. Let’s talk about the various reasons why the people behind the project should be concerned about its financial prospects. With a global opening of only $190,000,000, The Final Reckoning is currently already behind the global opening weekend for its immediate predecessor, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, by roughly $50 million (it opened to $235,000,000 globally back in 2023… without adjusting anything for inflation). Even if you only look at the domestic comparison, the 2023 film still holds a clear edge. Now, some might argue that since Dead Reckoning technically got a head start by opening on the Monday/Tuesday of its premiere week, one need only remind them that the $291 million budget of Dead Reckoning is nothing compared to the $400 million reported budget of The Final Reckoning. Even with insurance kickbacks for the last film, Dead Reckoning still ended up over -$100 million in the red. Even if the budget comes down for a similar reason, the fact remains that The Final Reckoning needs to make well over $1 billion globally just to break even. With how little of that is coming from the domestic market, which gives the studios about 55% of the ticket sales, and how much more is coming from the international markets, where studios get only 40% at best and, in the case of China, only 25%, it is clear to any reasonable person that, regardless of how anyone feels about the latest Tom Cruise action flick, the movie is in serious trouble and has very little hope of financial success. With 55 reviews over on Criticless, The Final Reckoning currently stands at a 75% “Rad” score. Even with this kind of positive reaction, the roughly 3-hour movie is not going to be making a profit at the box office when all is said and done.
For a follow-up to the massive success of Final Destination Bloodlines and more, check out my latest box office video HERE!
Check out my latest box office videos on my YouTube channel HERE!
If you want further analysis on these or any other films, check out the full charting I do over at my website. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and, as always, God bless!
(If you ever want further insight into my methodology, see my previous articles HERE and HERE and the RCC method I use to break down movies internationally HERE.)
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