Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning dominate record-breaking box office weekend

Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake and Tom Cruise’s supposed farewell in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning have stormed the global box office, marking one of the biggest opening weekends of the year.

Disney’s live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch has surpassed expectations with an impressive $341 million in global takings, making it the second-highest opening of 2025 so far—just behind A Minecraft Movie. The film also broke the record for the US Memorial Day weekend.

The reimagining of the beloved 2002 animated classic features Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, and eight-year-old newcomer Maia Kealoha, alongside a computer-generated Stitch. While the film has earned praise from some critics as “jovial, zany, and sweet” (The Daily Beast), others were less kind, with The Times calling it a “mind-numbing abomination.”

Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth installment in the long-running franchise, opened to $190 million globally. Tom Cruise, who has played agent Ethan Hunt since 1996, hinted this would be his final appearance, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “It’s the final! It’s not called ‘final’ for nothing.” Still, fans remain skeptical that Cruise’s action days are truly over.

The film has received mixed but largely positive reviews, with The Guardian awarding it five stars and calling it a “wildly entertaining adventure,” while Vanity Fair hailed it as a “worthy send-off.” However, some critics were less enthusiastic; Mashable warned that the franchise risked ending with the “fizzled whimper of a message self-destructing in a tape deck.”

Together, the two blockbusters have reinvigorated the summer movie season, suggesting that despite mixed critical receptions, big-name franchises and nostalgic reboots continue to draw massive audiences.

Copied