Lilo & Stitch, Mission: Impossible Dominate Box Office

Photo: Reuters

Over the weekend, two big movies, Lilo & Stitch (a live-action remake) and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, made a total of $494.2 million in ticket sales across the world. Both films were released during the holiday weekend and were a big hit in theaters.

The new Lilo & Stitch movie broke a major record at the domestic box office (which means ticket sales in the United States and Canada). In just the first three days, it earned more money than Top Gun: Maverick did during the same holiday weekend back in 2022. This helped bring the total box office earnings in the U.S. and Canada to a record-breaking $262 million over the long weekend.

Stay informed with the latest news. Follow DXB News Network on WhatsApp Channel 

This Disney remake had one of the best starts ever for a live-action version of an animated movie. Only two movies did better when they opened: The Lion King in 2019 with $192 million and Beauty and the Beast in 2017 with $175 million. The new Lilo & Stitch movie is expected to give a fresh boost to the franchise. Just last year, Lilo & Stitch made $2.6 billion from merchandise and fans watched it for over half a billion hours on Disney+.

At the same time, Tom Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The movie made $190 million worldwide, with $63 million coming from the U.S. and Canada alone. This made it the highest-earning Mission: Impossible movie so far, beating the previous top film in the series, Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Paramount Pictures promoted the movie with a big global tour and special online campaigns. Tom Cruise himself helped promote the movie. What’s interesting is that more than 40% of the people who watched this movie were between 18 and 34 years old. This is different from before, as the Mission: Impossible films usually attracted older viewers.

Chris Aronson, who works at Paramount and helps with movie distribution, said the amazing action scenes in the film are something really special. He also praised the hard work of Tom Cruise and the movie’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, who worked together to create the film.

This great start is exciting for the movie world. The summer season is very important for theaters and usually brings in 35% to 40% of the year’s total box office earnings. With hits like Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, this summer looks very promising for movie lovers.