EXCLUSIVE: Thursday night was beyond cute for Disney: Their live action take of 2002 toon classic Lilo & Stitch is grabbing around $14M in previews that started at 2PM, which is possibly a Disney record as far as previews go over Memorial Day weekend.
Lilo & Stitch would need to unseat 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story which, though one of the lowest grossing movies in the Star Wars franchise, racked up $14.1M in its Thursday before a $35.3M Friday and $103M 4-day. As we always say, don’t be surprised if Lilo & Stitch‘s cash is substantially higher by the time Hollywood wakes up. Many are expecting this $100M Rideback co-production to come in at $150M.
Disney’s biggest opening for Memorial Day weekend is 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End which did $139.8M if you don’t include its $13.2M Thursday preview (Disney rolled that money up in the first week gross, not the opening weekend. It was at a time when the whole notion of Thursday previews were new. Including the opening weekend, the first five days of At World’s End made $153M). Already, Lilo & Stitch is tap-dancing on top of previous Disney previews, i.e. Moana 2‘s Tuesday ($13.8M), Memorial Day weekend’s Little Mermaid ($10.3M), and Aladdin ($7M). The Dean Fleischer Camp directed movie is 72% fresh with Rotten Tomatoes critics and winning with audiences at 93%. Lilo & Stitch is rich in 900 PLFs and 2,500+ 3D locations and 300 D-Box/4D motion screens.
In the second face-off for Tom Cruise with Lilo & Stitch (his Minority Report inched out the blue alien at the June 21-23, 2002 weekend box office, $35.6M to $35.2M). However, Lilo & Stitch, will have the last laugh. Still, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning is deepening the marketplace, appealing to adults over 25. On Thursday we hear that Final Reckoning grossed around $8M. If that number holds, well, then it’s a record preview night for a Mission: Impossible movie ahead of 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning ($7M Tuesday) and 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($6M). Outlook heading into the weekend with Imax and 900 PLFs is $75M-$85M over four days. Critics love it at 80% certified fresh and audiences do too at 93%. Biggest 3-day for a Mission: Impossible movie goes to Fallout with $61M. The last Mission movie to open over Memorial Day weekend was John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II in 2000 with a $91.8M six-day opening from Wednesday, and a $70.8M four-day. Mission 8‘s Thursday is just under that of Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 which did $8.9M before a $29.4M Friday and 3-day of $73.8M. Remember, numbers can fluctuate by the AM as previous night ticket sales pour into Comscore by sunrise.
Numbers tonight are per industry sources.
The post ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Wild $14M Thursday Eyes Potential Disney Memorial Day Preview Record; ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ At $8M A Franchise Best – Box Office appeared first on Deadline.
