Even as Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White was struggling at the box office recently, the Mouse House knew that it could on Lilo & Stitch to turn the narrative around. The movie debuted this week to stellar box office response, breaking Memorial Day records and setting itself up for massive success in the long run. It could even end up becoming Disney’s first billion-dollar hit since Moana 2 last year. The studio has been having a rough time at the box office this year, with Snow White tanking horribly, and its two Marvel offerings — Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* — underperforming both domestically and worldwide.
With $145 million domestically and around $158 million from overseas markets, Lilo & Stitch grossed around $304 million in its global box office debut. It took just a weekend to out-gross Snow White’s lifetime haul by over $100 million. By comparison, Top Gun: Maverick made just under $250 million across the Memorial Day frame a couple of years ago; Moana 2 made just under $400 million in its global box office debut last year, and ended up grossing over $1 billion worldwide. Shortly afterward, Mufasa: The Lion King made an excellent comeback as it generated over $700 million worldwide despite a soft debut during the holidays. But Disney’s live-action remake pipeline appeared to have become clogged, with The Little Mermaid and Dumbo failing to attain the level of success that Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin had previously.
Produced on a reported budget of $100 million, Lilo & Stitch is directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who broke out with the acclaimed A24 movie Marcel the Shell with Shoes On a couple of years ago. The film’s best comp could possibly be Warner Bros.’ A Minecraft Movie, which successfully tapped into the Gen Z market and made nearly $1 billion worldwide against a reported production budget of $150 million. Lilo & Stitch, on the other hand, is aimed at the millennials who grew up on the original animated movie, which was released in 2002.
The ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Remake Has Already Out-Grossed the Original
The original Lilo & Stitch made $270 million worldwide against a reported budget of $80 million, but it has become something of a home video staple in the years since. The original was co-directed by Dean DeBlois, who has his own live-action remake coming out soon, and Chris Sanders, who scored an Oscar nomination for directing The Wild Robot last year. The Lilo & Stitch remake opened to mixed reviews — it holds a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score — but seems to have been embraced by audiences, who awarded it an A CinemaScore and a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating. You can watch the movie in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Source : collider.com
