All hail Stitch!
Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” remake is the year’s first Hollywood release to hit $1 billion at the worldwide box office. After eight weekends in theaters, the family comedy has grossed $416.1 million in North America and $584.8 million internationally for a global tally of $1.001 billion. China’s blockbuster “Ne Zha 2,” however, remains by far the biggest film of 2025 with $1.899 billion in the bank.
Originally planned as a straight-to-streaming release, “Lilo & Stitch” is the latest example of the outsized returns that Disney can mine from theatrical with the right property at the right time. “Moana 2” was also developed for Disney+, as a television show, and became a billion-dollar box office smash last Thanksgiving after the studio first routed the animated sequel to the big screen. With those achievements, Walt Disney Studios has released four billion-dollar films in the past 13 months alone, including Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.”
“We knew there was a lot of love for ‘Lilo & Stitch’ with audiences around the world, yet we never take that for granted, and we’re proud of how this new film has connected with people,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman said. “I’m thankful to our filmmakers, our cast and all on our studio team who have made this film such a success, and we look forward to more adventures with these characters ahead.”
“Lilo & Stitch” opened in late May to $183 million domestically and $341 million globally in four days, setting the biggest Memorial Day weekend debut in history. It remained No. 1 for three consecutive weekends and became one of only two films this year (the Warner Bros. video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” is the other) to surpass $400 million at this domestic box office. At one point, “Minecraft” was poised to be the year’s first billion-dollar blockbuster but the tentpole ended up falling just short of that milestone with $955 million worldwide. In the case of “Lilo & Stitch,” top international territories include Mexico ($67 million), the United Kingdom ($49 million) and France ($42.5 million).
Though 23 years have passed since the 2002’s animated “Lilo & Stitch” arrived in theaters, the character has never waned in popularity on the shelves of toy stores. In 2024, Disney sold $2.6 billion in consumer products featuring the “Lilo & Stitch” duo. Now that a whole new generation has been introduced to the mischievous agent of chaos, merchandise sales are likely to keep soaring through the holiday season.
Then there’s Disney+ viewership, which has grown significantly every year on the streaming service, according to studio insiders. The franchise, which includes several direct-to-video movies and television shows, has driven more than 680 million hours of streams, with the original film accounting for more than 280 hours.
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and produced by Rideback, “Lilo & Stitch” follows an adorable blue extraterrestrial creature who crash-lands in Hawaii and gets adopted by a young girl and her older sister. Disney already announced a live-action sequel is in the works, so get ready for more Stitch mayhem.
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