5 Takeaways From a Record-Breaking $328 Million Memorial Day Box Office Led by ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Mission: Impossible’

Disney's live-action redo and Paramount's blockbuster sequel combined with holdovers to lead the holiday weekend to levels not seen in over a decade The post 5 Takeaways From a Record-Breaking $328 Million Memorial Day Box Office Led by ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Mission: Impossible’ appeared first on TheWrap.

May 27, 2025 - 15:40

5 Takeaways From a Record-Breaking $328 Million Memorial Day Box Office Led by ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Mission: Impossible’

It has been more than 10 years since movie theaters have seen a Memorial Day weekend this huge for the box office, but thanks to the combined efforts of Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” and multiple holdovers and specialty titles, 2025 has set a new record for the holiday.

Overall totals for the 4-day weekend are estimated to finish at $328 million, passing the previous Memorial Day record before inflation adjustment of $314 million set in 2013, a year in which “Fast & Furious 6” led the charts while the rest of the top 5, which included “The Hangover Part III,” “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” “Epic” and “Iron Man 3,” all grossed more than $20 million that weekend.

While not an exact copy of that weekend 12 years ago, 2025 was able to set a new record thanks to “Lilo & Stitch” beating the Memorial Day record set three years ago by “Top Gun: Maverick” by a significant margin, “Final Reckoning” performing like a “Mission: Impossible” film, and Warner Bros. continuing its torrid pace with films like “Final Destination: Bloodlines” and “Sinners.”

“When there is something for everyone in the marketplace, that’s when it really hums,” Paramount domestic distribution president Chris Aronson told TheWrap. “And at the top, there are two films that account for $500 million in ticket sales worldwide, which is pretty remarkable.”

mission-impossible-the-final-reckoning-tom-cruise — Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (Paramount Pictures)

A “Barbenheimer”-level feat

Releasing a new Disney remake and a “Mission: Impossible” sequel on the same weekend may not have inspired memes about seeing them as a double feature, but “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” are having an impact on the box office quite similar to the one that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” famously had two years ago with a combined 4-day $260 million grossed domestically.

Even the 3-day results — $145 million for “Lilo” and $64 million for “Mission” — mark only the third time in box office history where two films earned more than $60 million on the same weekend. Along with “Barbenheimer,” the only other time this has happened was in June 2013 with the $82.4 million opening of Disney/Pixar’s “Monsters University” and the $66.4 million opening of Paramount’s “World War Z.”

As we saw last November with the concurrent success of “Moana 2,” “Wicked,” and “Gladiator II,” counterprogramming is back, especially during holiday periods. Studios are consistently picking their shots well, placing films against competition that doesn’t have a significant core audience overlap and enabling multiple titles to benefit from the most lucrative spots on the calendar.

That should give Hollywood plenty of encouragement as it tries to work around Disney’s bombshell announcement this past week that Marvel’s flagship series, “Avengers,” will leave its customary summer kickoff slot in May and become a holiday title with “Avengers: Doomsday” moving to December 2026 and “Avengers: Secret Wars” moving to December 2027.

Some movies that benefit heavily from premium format screens, namely Warner Bros.’ “Dune Messiah,” will surely have to move lest they risk too much overlap with “Avengers.” But there’s a case for others to stay put, like Sony’s next “Jumanji” film, which performed against the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, and Universal/DreamWorks’ “Shrek 5,” which will come four years after “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” legged out well despite competition from “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Hit franchises can coexist, and that will continue to be proven in the years ahead.

Disney shrugs off its early-year slump

The first half of 2025 wasn’t too kind to Disney at the box office. “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*” haven’t shined bright for Marvel, with each falling short of $500 million worldwide. “Snow White” was the biggest bomb of Disney’s remake series, and 20th Century’s “The Amateur” couldn’t crack $100 million globally.

“Lilo & Stitch” firmly puts that all in the rear-view mirror with its $353 million global launch, which combined with its strong audience reception makes it a lock to reach $1 billion. Nearly a quarter-century after his debut, Stitch remains one of the biggest merchandise sellers in the Disney canon, and the chance to see the blue alien in CGI form was more than enough to get the world to turn out.

If “Snow White” created any doubt that the Disney remake machine had run out of fuel, “Lilo & Stitch” proved there’s more in the tank. “Moana” will be next to get the remake treatment next year, and given how Dwayne Johnson found new fire with last year’s $1 billion-plus hit animated sequel, he will likely rediscover his 2010s box office fire singing “You’re Welcome” in front of a camera instead of from a recording booth.

2000s and 2010s nostalgia can keep Disney’s live-action remake series going for a little longer, and no one should be surprised if the crown jewel of Disney from that period, “Frozen,” soon gets its own remake announced to coincide with the animated “Frozen 3” and “Frozen 4” that are in development.

Ethan Hunt glides to a smooth landing

The underperformance of “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” two years ago prompted questions of whether it could be attributed to the stiff competition from “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” or if it was because of a fatigue for the Tom Cruise franchise that not even the historic success of “Top Gun: Maverick” could boost.

Paramount attributed it to the former, and “The Final Reckoning” has proved it right with a $204.5 million global launch that includes two weekends of theatrical play in 15 overseas countries.

The $63 million 3-day domestic opening is the best for the “Mission” series before inflation, just a tad above the $61 million launch of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” in 2018. Minus Russia and China, that film grossed $634 million worldwide, and “The Final Reckoning” should be on pace for a similar, if not slightly better, total.

In other words, the final “Mission: Impossible” film is maintaining the consistency of this hallowed action series all the way to its conclusion, and that should make it a success for Paramount even when the production cost overruns from the 2023 actors strike are taken into account.

That’s because “Mission: Impossible,” like other long-running series such as “Fast & Furious” and James Bond, also attracts interest in past installments whenever a new chapter comes out. Along with “Final Reckoning,” Paramount has been promoting the entire “M:I” saga’s availability on digital rental and on Paramount+, looking to boost the series on home platforms even as it looks to a long run in theaters over the coming months. According to sources, Paramount has seen a 139% year-over-year increase in viewership of “Mission” films since the seven-week marketing campaign began, with a 49% average across the seven previous films.

Michael B. Jordan in “Sinners” (Warner Bros.)

Plenty of support

Of course, the box office couldn’t have set a new Memorial Day record with “Lilo” & “Mission” alone. The films that have been keeping the box office riding high since the start of April continue to deliver.

Warner Bros.’ two-month hot streak is still running with a $24 million 4-day second weekend for “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” which has already surpassed the box office runs of its five predecessors released between 2000 and 2011. Meanwhile, it’s original horror offering “Sinners” has passed $300 million worldwide, making $11 million in its sixth weekend while Disney/Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” contributed $11 million as well.

Even the indie distributors got in on the riches, as Angel Studios’ bull riding drama “The Last Rodeo” made a decent $6.3 million from 2,205 locations. A24’s “Friendship” also earned an impressive $5.7 million from 1,055 locations in its first weekend in targeted wide release.

It’s not stopping here

In the wake of this huge boom for the industry he represents, Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary declared that things were just getting started.

“Millions of moviegoers this holiday weekend proved once again that going to the cinema is a true American pastime,” he said in a statement. “Records aside, it’s clear that movie theaters are cultural and economic hubs in cities and towns of all sizes, uniting communities across the country in the singular thrill of seeing a movie on the big screen. This weekend is just the start of what will be a great summer for movie fans around the world.”

Indeed, “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible 8” are set up for lengthy box office runs, and even if films in the coming weeks like Sony’s “Karate Kid: Legends,” Lionsgate’s “Ballerina” and Disney/Pixar’s “Elio” don’t reach the heights of those two blockbusters, they are still expected to provide theaters with consistent turnout and keep the baseline for daily and weekend grosses high.

It’s the sort of consistency that has only been seen in fits and starts since the pandemic, and which was completely lacking in the first quarter of this year. Now theaters are off and running, and the bonanza that began in April should last all the way through the summer.

The post 5 Takeaways From a Record-Breaking $328 Million Memorial Day Box Office Led by ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Mission: Impossible’ appeared first on TheWrap.