Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Deliver Record-Breaking Memorial Day …

The big box office clash between Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning — billed as this year’s “Barbenheimer” — delivered on its promise. Total business over the Memorial Day frame is expected to pass the $300 million mark, thanks to both movies dismantling projections. Lilo & Stitch, in fact, set a new Memorial Day record, overtaking the Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick from a few years ago. Incidentally, while setting this record, it faced off against Cruise’s latest (and purportedly final) film in the long-running Mission: Impossible series.

Lilo & Stitch is projected to generate $180 million across the extended four-day frame, after grossing around $145 million across the traditional three-day frame; Maverick made $160 million over the Memorial Day holiday frame in 2023. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who previously made A24’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Lilo & Stitch opened to mixed reviews — it holds a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score — but was embraced wholeheartedly by audiences, who awarded it an A CinemaScore grade, and a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Produced on a reported budget of $100 million, Lilo & Stitch could be Disney’s first billion-dollar hit since Moana 2 last year.

In second place, The Final Reckoning is projected to generate a franchise-topping $77 million across the extended four-day frame, after grossing just under $65 million during the traditional three-day weekend. The movie needs every last penny, considering its reported budget of $400 million — a figure that became this bloated due to pandemic-induced and strike-related delays. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie — it’s his fourth Mission: Impossible movie in a row — the film opened to mostly positive reviews, but its Rotten Tomatoes score (80%) is notably lower than those of its immediate predecessors. Audiences, however, awarded it an A- CinemaScore and a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A Host of Holdover Titles Held Firm Despite the Competition

The arrival of two massive new movies pushed last week’s champion, Final Destination Bloodlines, down to the number four spot. The latest installment in the long-running horror franchise is projected to generate around $23 million across the extended frame, after earning around $20 million this weekend. This should take its running domestic total to over $90 million, and Bloodlines will safely become the franchise’s first film to cross the coveted $100 million mark by early next week. Produced on a reported budget of $50 million, Bloodlines took less than a week to emerge as the franchise’s top-grossing hit at the domestic box office, thanks to its excellent reviews.

The fourth spot was claimed by Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, which now finds itself in the same position as Captain America: Brave New World from a few months ago. Produced on a reported budget of $180 million — the same as Brave New World — the movie is in a race to hit the $200 million mark domestically and the $400 million mark worldwide. With the projected $11.5 million haul that it is expected to generate this weekend, the film’s running domestic total should pass the $170 million milestone. Despite having lower brand recognition than a Captain America movie, it’s still a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has been struggling with consistency in recent years.

The top five list was rounded out by Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which is expected to add around $11 million across the extended frame, pushing its running domestic total to just under $260 million after a full month of release. The movie made $8.7 million across the three-day weekend. Debuting just outside the top five, Angel Studios’ The Last Rodeo, starring Neal McDonough, generated $5 million across the traditional three-day weekend. The movie debuted to an excellent audience response. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Source : collider.com