Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning both broke box office records over Memorial Day weekend, though Experiment 626 was the clear winner over Ethan Hunt.
Both movies performed well during their respective second weekends in theaters; Lilo & Stitch earned an estimated $63 million in North America, and with $113.1 million from overseas, its worldwide box office total has risen to $610.8 million. $1+ billion is inevitable, as is a sequel.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, meanwhile, earned an additional $27 million stateside, but as with most Tom Cruise movies, it's doing better internationally; so far, Hunt's final adventure has grossed $353.8 million worldwide, but there's a long way to go until the movie reaches profitability. Why? It's estimated to have cost $400 million to shoot.
That was a result of delays caused by 2023's Hollywood strikes. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One similarly underperformed and was another pricey effort, that time due to COVID. If the IMF agent does ever return, it will be with a much smaller budget.
Both that and Lilo & Stitch faced competition from Karate Kid: Legends, which has earned $47 million globally since opening last Friday.
A Minecraft Movie will likely fall short of $1 billion, but it has made $947.1 million. Sinners, meanwhile, has reached $350.1 million, an impressive feat for an original movie from Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
When it comes to Marvel Studios' latest movie, Thunderbolts*, its run is beginning to wind down, and $400 million appears unlikely. As of this weekend, *The New Avengers has earned $369.6 million worldwide. This one will lose money, but it's also the MCU's best-reviewed title in quite some time.
"Thunderbolts* redefines superhero storytelling to deliver a moving and powerful story that does for the 'Multiverse Saga' what The Avengers did for the 'Infinity Saga' in 2012," we said in our review. "These heroes have earned their place on a Wheaties box."
Can The Fantastic Four: First Steps do better in a month where it will face stiff competition from Jurassic World Rebirth and Superman? That remains to be seen.
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
Lilo & Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning; our lives are the sum of our choices.
Which of these movies did you watch in theaters this past weekend?