"Anime-inspired film 'Lilo & Stitch' and Tom Cruise's action thriller 'Mission: Impossible' dominate Memorial Day weekend box office earnings"
Records broken as 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission: Impossible' drive Memorial Day weekend box office to new heights
In a resilient recovery from the post-pandemic slump, theater owners across the United States and Canada rejoice as the Memorial Day weekend box office reached record-breaking numbers. The exciting duo of Walt Disney Co.'s reimagined 'Lilo & Stitch' and Paramount Pictures' 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' took the top two spots, bringing relief to the struggling cinema industry.
'Lilo & Stitch' has kicked off summer 2023 with a massive opening weekend gross of $183 million, placing it at the top of the box office chart – and setting the stage for the most successful Memorial Day weekend on record. This extraordinary performance surpasses the previous title holder, 'Top Gun: Maverick', which made $160.5 million in 2022.
Behind 'Lilo & Stitch', 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' brought in $77 million, grabbing the second spot. A quartet of films, 'Final Destination Bloodlines', 'Thunderbolts', and 'Sinners', completed the top five.
Both new studio blockbusters saw impressive performances overseas as well. 'Lilo & Stitch' collected an additional $341.7 million globally, while 'Mission: Impossible' grossed $190 million outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution, expressed his excitement: "The box office thrives when there's something for everyone in the marketplace, and that's exactly what we've seen over this holiday weekend."
Box office revenue for the four-day weekend is projected to reach an estimated $325 million when adjustments for inflation are considered, marking it as the biggest Memorial Day weekend in history. This impressive figure surpasses the previous record set in 2013, which generated $314 million – thanks to films such as 'Fast & Furious 6' and 'The Hangover Part III'.
Historically, the Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest moviegoing weekends of the year, acting as a vital springboard for the upcoming summer season. However, in the wake of the 2020 pandemic and the writers' and actors' strikes of 2023, the reliability of this indicator has fluctuated.
Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital, suggests: "The calendar thinned out a bit post-pandemic, particularly, and you just didn't have the depth that you used to have. But it's good to see that there are two big event movies this year."
The successful debut of 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission: Impossible' also catered to distinct audiences, minimizing competition and maximizing potential box office earnings. Moviegoers, including younger viewers, flocked to see Tom Cruise's daring performance in the supposedly final installment of the action franchise.
'Having this be the biggest opener of the franchise is no small feat, and it speaks volumes to the spectacle that Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie put on the screen,' Aronson stated. 'This is a theatrical film, and there's no better way to see it than on a big screen.'
The strong performances of both blockbusters during Memorial Day weekend add to a promising spring at the box office. With hits such as 'A Minecraft Movie' and 'Sinners', domestic theatrical revenue for April totaled approximately $875 million, narrowly falling shy of the pre-pandemic average of $886 million for the same month from 2015-2019.
Upcoming releases like 'Thunderbolts' and 'Final Destination Bloodlines' have kept cinemas buzzing throughout May, ensuring continued stability at the box office as the summer movie season continues.
Associate professor Kimberly Owczarski of Texas Christian University shared her optimism: "This spring has been so good for the box office – it usually means the summer is going to be strong. Last year, we didn't have those big tentpoles in April and early May that usually start the season. Because we've had that, people are in the moviegoing mood."
Memorial Day weekend of 2022 grossed a mere $132 million – the worst Memorial Day weekend box office in nearly 30 years. Films like 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' and 'The Garfield Movie' brought in about $30 million each that weekend, starkly contrasting the impressive numbers gathered by this year's blockbusters.
The delayed start in 2022 to the crucial summer movie season sparked concerns among distributors and exhibitors. It wasn't until Disney-Pixar's 'Inside Out 2' debuted in mid-June that the box office began to recover.
This year, however, a robust lineup of familiar blockbusters throughout the summer has offered renewed hope to industry insiders. Anticipated releases like Sony Pictures' 'Karate Kid: Legends', Lionsgate's 'John Wick' spin-off 'Ballerina', Universal Pictures' live-action 'How to Train Your Dragon', 'Jurassic World Rebirth', Disney-Pixar's original animated film 'Elio', Warner Bros.' 'Superman', and Disney and Marvel Studios' 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' are set to bolster the overall theatrical business in 2023.
Analysts anticipate a 2025 domestic box office total of $9.2 billion to $9.5 billion – an improvement on last year's $8.7 billion and more significantly, higher than the 2023 box office total of $9 billion, indicating continued growth and a 'true recovery'. However, these numbers remain far from pre-pandemic box office totals, such as the $11.4 billion in 2019 and $11.9 billion in 2018.
Even before the pandemic, theaters were facing attendance declines, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic as consumers became accustomed to streaming platforms for movie viewings. As the number of movies in theaters decreased due to the pandemic and the strikes, as well as the shortened gap between a movie's theatrical debut and its home-viewing availability, theaters lost an increasingly proportionate share of the business from casual moviegoers. Chris Handler said, "When the content is good, people show up. The content cycle is favorable right now, and hopefully, we'll see that continue through the next two years."
- In California's Hollywood, the entertainment sector is breathing a sigh of relief as the Memorial Day weekend box office saw a significant boost with movies like 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' breaking records.
- The resurgence in the box office figures comes after the impact of COVID-19 and industry-wide strikes, making this Memorial Day weekend a historic one in the world of entertainment and movies-and-tv.
- With overseas box office collections, 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission: Impossible' have captured the attention of global audiences, lighting up the silver screens of California and beyond.
- As the summer movie season officially kicks off, the entertainment industry looks optimistically towards the future, with an abundance of highly-anticipated releases slated for the coming months, such as 'Karate Kid: Legends', 'John Wick' spin-off 'Ballerina', and 'Superman'.
