Disney Just Got Schooled By Its Own Alien—and Everyone’s Watching
Lilo & Stitch just did what no blue alien has done before—pulled a $180 million domestic haul over Memorial Day and obliterated the box office like Stitch on a caffeine bender. This wasn’t just a win. It was a correction. A cosmic one. The kind that slaps execs across the face with the back of their own branded merch.
This remake wasn’t even supposed to hit theaters. Like Moana 2, it was set for a quiet Disney+ debut until someone upstairs finally remembered that, oh yeah—people still like movies in theaters. Cue the last-minute pivot. Cue the chaos. Cue the money.
And Hollywood? It’s foaming at the mouth.
Why This Changes Everything (Or Should)
Let’s talk numbers. Because they’re disgusting—in the best way.
$183 million domestic. $341.7 million global. In three and a half days.
The original 2002 Lilo & Stitch? Topped out at $273.1M over its entire run.
Also, this:
It now holds the biggest Memorial Day opening in history—beating Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise is somewhere in a hangar whispering, “What the hell just happened?”
And yet, the craziest part isn’t how much money it made—it’s how close it came to never making a dime. Disney was fully prepared to stuff this remake into the algorithm abyss. Like a Netflix original but with ears.
Instead, it outgrossed the total box office of Snow White (the remake Disney did hype) in 72 hours.
That’s not just irony—it’s corporate malpractice.
The Hidden Story: A Stitch in Time Saves Disney
Live-action remakes aren’t new. Hell, they’re practically Disney’s religion at this point. But Lilo & Stitch isn’t like the others. It’s weirder. Sadder. Set in Hawai’i without the colonial fantasy sheen. And unlike The Little Mermaid or Aladdin, it didn’t lean on legacy actors or hit songs—just emotional depth and pure visual chaos.
The result? Not only did it open stronger than The Jungle Book, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, it’s now breathing down the neck of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The billion-dollar club is beckoning.
Sure, critics are lukewarm (69% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences? A 94% audience score. That’s “Verified Hot” on Rotten Tomatoes, and hotter than half of 2025’s summer slate. A Disney rep allegedly told Variety, “We knew it would perform.” Translation: “We had no idea.”
Meanwhile, other studios are squirming. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning pulled in a franchise-best $75M… but still got left in the sand. Final Destination: Bloodlines tanked 63% from last week. A24’s Friendship scored a modest indie win, but this weekend belonged to a genetically engineered koala-rat who eats everything and breaks laws of physics.
This isn’t a fluke. It’s a reckoning.
Pick a Side: Nostalgia Machine or Box Office God?
So now what? Disney could take the wrong lesson (again) and greenlight Bambi: The Vengeance Years. Or maybe—just maybe—it’ll realize that giving a damn about storytelling and theatrical releases is a better investment than another half-baked straight-to-streaming disaster.
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: Lilo & Stitch didn’t succeed in spite of being weird—it thrived because of it. It’s E.T. with an espresso shot. A TikTok fever dream wrapped in found family trauma.
And you either loved every second—or wondered why Stitch sounds like a gremlin who ate a kazoo.
Either way, it made you care.
