Disney Is So Confident in the Live-Action Lilo & Stitch Movie That It's Already Considering Sequels

Talk astir the underdog — I mean, Stitch is technically an alien dog, right? Disney’s longstanding franchise Lilo & Stitch is backmost successful a large mode with an wholly caller live-action movie astir to deed theaters. But it seems arsenic though not lone does Disney person a batch of religion successful this revival, but the movie is presently projected to unfastened up of the aboriginal summertime blockbuster Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

Lilo & Stitch, which is an update connected the 2002 animated film, was positioned arsenic the family-friendly alternate against Tom Cruise’s past intolerable ngo during Memorial Day weekend. According to the Wall Street Journal, the movie volition unfastened to implicit $150 cardinal successful some the United States and Canada successful the Thursday nighttime done Monday run. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is expected to unfastened to astir $80 million. Lilo & Stitch besides seemingly has the Cruise conveyance bushed successful the planetary markets, wherever it is expected to deed No. 1 successful astir of them.

Disney is truthful assured successful the reboot that it is already reasoning of sequel ideas. “It feels similar it’s going to enactment precise well, and it’s the benignant of spot that lends itself to more,” Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman, who oversees the company’s movie business, told WSJ. Bergman besides noted that “we’ve seen the happening detonate from a Disney+ and consumer-products perspective” since the announcement of the remake backmost successful 2018.

Disney said retail income of Stitch products — of which determination are many, you sanction it and they person it — grew $2.6 cardinal successful the 2024 fiscal twelvemonth from $200 cardinal 5 years earlier. It’s that benignant of vertical emergence that made Disney privation to spell full-steam up with the live-action film, and it’s intelligibly astir to wage disconnected for them.

The archetypal movie grossed $273 cardinal backmost successful 2002, but its popularity continued to turn implicit the years and good into the streaming era. Nowadays, Lilo & Stitch contented streams magnitude to a whopping 546 cardinal hours (which is neck-and-neck with The Little Mermaid, according to WSJ) and the franchise is considered 1 of Disney’s apical 10 best-selling properties.

The caller Lilo & Stitch outgo conscionable implicit $100 cardinal to produce, truthful if Disney gets this container bureau triumph this weekend, it volition surely enactment immoderate smiles connected faces aft the container bureau weaponry that was Snow White. Either way, it’s ever bully to spot folks getting excited astir movies, particularly ones with cute small alien canine things.

Lex Briscuso is simply a movie and tv professional and a freelance amusement writer for IGN. You tin travel her connected Twitter astatine @nikonamerica.