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Stitch (voice of Chris Sanders) in “Lilo & Stitch” and Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible – The … More
Disney Enterprises, Inc./Paramount Pictures
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch is crushing Memorial Day weekend box office records while Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is running in a distant second.
That’s according to Deadline, which on Friday night projected that the live-action adaptation of the 2002 classic animated movie Lilo & Stitch will make anywhere from $170 million to $180 million from 4,410 theaters domestically. Ironically, if the tally holds, Lilo & Stitch will ground another Cruise movie — Top Gun: Maverick — for the four-day Memorial Day weekend box office record.
In addition, with Deadline’s projected Friday take of $56 million to $59 million, Lilo & Stitch will break Top Gun: Maverick’s previous record of $52 million for the biggest Friday for a Memorial Day weekend.
Cruise’s Top Gun sequel earned a hefty $160.5 in its opening frame in 2022. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, meanwhile, is projected by Deadline to earn $78 million from 3,857 North American venues.
It’s not a big surprise that Lilo & Stitch is dominating Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at the box office. First of all, Lilo & Stitch is a PG movie that’s attracting a broader family audience, its run time is an hour shorter than Cruise’s movie (which allows for more showtimes) and it is playing on 553 more screens than Paramount Pictures’ PG-13-rated Final Reckoning.
The big headline, though, is that Lilo & Stitch is having A Minecraft Movie-like opening weekend that is defying all pre-release projections.
Tracking information from The National Research Group (via The Hollywood Reporter) on May 1 projected a $120 million Memorial Day weekend opening for Lilo & Stitch, while the next day Box Office Pro forecasted a $135 million to $165 million four-day opening frame.
Earlier this week, Variety projected a $150 million to $160 million opening for Lilo & Stitch.
While Lilo & Stitch is defying its pre-release projections, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is performing as expected with its projected $78 million take. Per THR, The National Research Group pegged a $72 million to $88 million holiday weekend for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, while Variety estimated a four-day opening take of anywhere from $75 million to $85 million.
Box Office Pro’s early projections for the film were, as it turns out, overly generous. The industry tracker reported on April 25 that Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning was tracking to open with anywhere from $90 million to $100 million over the four-day holiday frame.
Scene from “Final Destination Bloodlines.”
Warner Bros. Pictures
‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ In Line For No. 3 Finish
Not surprisingly, Warner Bros. Final Destination Bloodlines — which exceeded projections on its way to a $51.6 million No. 1 finish last weekend — is projected by Deadline to drop to No. 3 with $26 million from 3,523 North American venues through Memorial Day.
Deadline projects that Disney-Marvel’s Thunderbolts* and Warner Bros.’ Sinners will both make about $11 million apiece this weekend, with the trade publication giving the nod to Thunderbolts* for the No. 4 slot.
Next week, Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will face a new competitor with the release of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Karate Kid Legends, starring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan.
Note: This box office report will be updated throughout the weekend with the most current numbers when they become available. The final numbers for the four-day Memorial Day weekend will be released on Tuesday.
