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Credit: Disney Disney has high hopes for this Memorial Day weekend. Its latest live-action film, Lilo & Stitch (2025), drops today, hoping to remove some of the stench from Disney’s live-action performances.
With Snow White (2025) tanking and costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars, Disney began to rethink its live-action strategy, even reportedly postponing the live-action Tangled film as a result.
Early reviews for Lilo & Stitch were primarily positive, but as the release date approached, some reviews started to sour on the film, even questioning its necessity. Despite the mixed reviews, early numbers indicated that its latest live-action film will be a monster hit for Disney.
Early estimates suggest that it could join other Disney live-action films in surpassing the $1 billion mark, becoming the first film of 2025. Lilo and Stitch has already surpassed Minecraft (2025) for the most presales for a PG film this year.
Minecraft earned over $160 million domestically and $313 million worldwide on its opening weekend. Lilo & Stitch is about to break that record and become the year’s highest-grossing film.
‘Lilo & Stitch’ Expansion
Like many of its other successful properties, Disney is already considering how to further monopolize its newfound success with Lilo & Stitch, and that appears to include a sequel and more exposure in the theme parks.
Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Alan Bergman told The Wall Street Journal:
It feels like it’s going to work very well, and it’s the kind of property that lends itself to more. We’ve seen the thing explode from a Disney+ consumer products perspective.
It sounds like Disney is working on some kind of Lilo & Stitch sequel or property for Disney+ even before the film hit theaters. With Stitch’s popularity, it only makes sense for Disney to continue to cash in with a sequel, similar to what it’s doing with the Frozen and Pixar’s Toy Story franchises.
With Stitch being such a big hit among Disney fans, it is surprising that the film doesn’t have more of a presence in Disney’s parks. Unlike Froze and The Princess and the Frog, both post-2000 Disney hits, Lilo & Stitch doesn’t have its own dedicated land or major ride at any of Disney’s theme parks. (Unless you count Stitch’s Great Escape at Magic Kingdom, but that’s never open).
