Lilo and Stitch Is Shaping Up To Be Disney’s Record-Breaker…

Summary

Lilo & Stitch's pre-sale numbers are surpassing other Disney live-action adaptations.
The film could potentially become Memorial Day's top 3 biggest openers of all time.
Despite strong pre-sales, early numbers aren't the sole predictor of box office success.

With roughly two weeks to debut, marketing for the Lilo & Stitch live-action remake has ramped up. Previous tracking suggested a record-breaking opening for Disney, and that’s becoming ever more plausible given the film’s recent pre-sale numbers.

Lilo & Stitch follows an unbreakable bond formed by an orphaned Hawaiian young girl named Lilo and a dog-like alien, “Stitch” (Experiment 626), initially created for destruction. Original filmmaker Chris Sanders is involved in the project, though not as director this time—that honor belongs to Dean Fleischer Camp from Marcel the Shell with Shoes On—he is simply reprising the iconic vocals for Stitch. In mid-April, Lilo & Stitch’s early box office tracking was unexpected: a strong $100 million-plus opening on Memorial Day weekend, despite debuting alongside Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

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By Matthew Wilkinson

According to industry analyst Luiz Fernando on X, two days of Lilo & Stitch's pre-sales are above The Little Mermaid, tripling those of Aladdin, quadrupling Mufasa: The Lion King, and outperforming Wonka by over twelvefold— all Disney live-action adaptations. Such numbers not only set Lilo & Stitch in a good spot to oust The Little Mermaid as the second-biggest PG live-action opening post-Covid — only behind A Minecraft Movie— but also a place among Memorial Day’s top three biggest openers of all time.

Lilo & Stitch Will Be Disney's First Out-And-Out Success Story of 2025

It's Been A Quiet Year So Far For The Studio

Lilo & Stitch’s early pre-sales at the U.S. Box office are writing a Disney 2025 success story on the wall. The studio’s year hasn’t exactly blown minds. Captain America: Brave New World was commercially modest, as is Thunderbolts* despite solid reviews and pretty good numbers. Perhaps more importantly, Lilo & Stitch’s commercial outlook will liven Disney’s live-action ambitions after the disaster that was Snow White; the movie has grossed a mere $202 million on a $250 million production budget and reportedly cost $115 million in losses. It needs reminding that pre-sales this early aren’t the sole criterion for box office success. Lilo & Stitch’s is thrice that of A Minecraft Movie, but isn’t expected to touch the latter’s $162 million domestic debut. Still, a PG film being this impressive (PG Films are not known for heavy pre-sales) is very impressive.

There’s no one obvious factor for such high anticipation for a film — its 158 million views in 24 hours is the second best among Disney live-action trailers, behind 2019’s The Lion King. Nostalgia is surely a culprit, as is the absolute cuteness of Stitch in both animation and live-action. But those still can’t explain why Lilo & Stitch would come out the victor in a battle against a more established franchise like Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible.

A path to billion-dollar glory isn’t out of the cards. 2019’s Memorial Day weekend saw Aladdin gross $119 million domestically, finishing with $356.6 million and $1.05 billion globally. Mufasa: The Lion King debuted far lower: $35 million, but unexpected long legs saw it out to $254 million domestic and $722 million globally. Lilo & Stitch is very different from both films. On paper, it neither has the popularity of both IPs nor the star power of Will Smith. But a $100 million opener combined with Mufasa’s resilience is a recipe for a $1 billion finish.