Mission Impossible 8 vs Lilo & Stitch box office: Tom Cruise sets new record, still trails Disney film by $137 million

Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning lifted US and Canadian theatre ticket sales to $260.8 million through Sunday.

Updated on: May 26, 2025, 12:57:28 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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The extended Memorial Day weekend in the US saw the release of two big films. Tom Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt (possibly one last time) in Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning, while Disney set the screens on fire with the live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch. While collectively, the two films set a new box office record for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, it was Disney that won the battle, leaving MI 8 in the dust. (Also read: Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning earns $24 million, scores biggest opening day for franchise)

Mission Impossible 8 vs Lilo & Stitch box office: Tom Cruise's unstoppable force was met with Disney's immovable object.

Mission Impossible 8 box office collection

Paramount pulled out all the stops to promote the new Mission Impossible with premieres in Seoul, Tokyo, Cannes, London and New York. Cruise also visited moviegoers at screenings in Texas. The opening ticket sales set a record for the franchise, which has generated more than $4 billion at the global box office since the first film was released in 1996.

Figures released by Box Office Mojo revealed that Mission Impossible 8 earned $77 million domestically in its four-day opening weekend, and $204 million worldwide. This is a new opening weekend record for the Tom Cruise-led franchise. Given that the film will be releasing in China next, it augurs well for the film.

Lilo & Stitch box office collection

But it was Lilo & Stitch that won the weekend. The live-action remake of the 2002 animated film about a Hawaiian girl and her dog-like extraterrestrial pet named Stitch, who’s equally mischievous and adorable, claimed the No. 1 spot with $145.5 million in ticket sales. Box Office Mojo puts its worldwide four-day earnings at a staggering $341 million, far eclipsing Mission Impossible 8.

How Lilo & Stitch outdid the Tom Cruise juggernaut

The Stitch franchise has become a Disney juggernaut in recent years. Some $2.6 billion worth of retail products associated with Lilo & Stitch were sold in the company’s last fiscal year, Disney said, up from $200 million just five years ago. It’s now among the company’s top-ten best-selling properties and has spurred broad online fandom.

Lilo & Stitch has a commercial advantage over most films because it has a short run time of 90 minutes. Running an hour less than the Cruise picture means theatre operators can show it more times.

(With Bloomberg inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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