Box Office: Can Lilo and Stitch replicate its expected North American success in India?
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, Lilo & Stitch is releasing in cinemas on May 23, 2025. The upcoming live-action movie marks the remake of the 2002 animated film of the same name. It stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai, the six-year-old orphaned Native Hawaiian girl. While Lilo & Stitch is expected to perform extraordinarily in North America, can it replicate its expected success in India too? Let's decode.
Lilo & Stitch looks to be one of Disney's biggest live-action debuts in recent years. Produced under the banner of Walt Disney Pictures, it will compete with Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and Final Destination: Bloodlines.
Disney's upcoming science fiction comedy is likely to earn over USD 100 million in its opening weekend in the United States. It will surpass the entire domestic gross business of 2025 release, Snow White, which stood at USD 83 million. The advance bookings for Lilo & Stitch are historic in North America.
Lilo & Stitch will be a profitable business within the first two days of its theatrical run. Going by the projections, the live-action film will collect USD 400 million worldwide on its debut. As far as the lifetime business is concerned, it is targeting over USD 1 billion at the worldwide box office. In a nutshell, it is a surefire blockbuster.
The advance bookings of Lilo & Stitch aren't much in India as compared to its pre-sales in North America. Generally, Indian markets aren't big for animated movies or live-action remakes. If it works out, the Disney-backed movie can earn Rs 10 crore net or so in the full run here.
Going by the pre-sales trends and expected lifetime earnings, Lilo & Stitch will find it difficult to replicate North America's expected successful run in India.
Lilo & Stitch also features Chris Sanders, who directed and wrote the original movie. Sanders has reprised his role as a voice artist for the character, Stitch. The other star cast of the upcoming movie includes Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, Hannah Waddingham, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, and Courtney B. Vance.
The plot of the movie revolves around the orphaned girl, Lilo Pelekai, adopting a dog-like alien, Stitch, who is engineered to be a force of destruction. Are you planning to watch it in theaters?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Live-action remakes recycle the OG magic. Disney needs a plot twist
'If it ain't broke, why fix it?' seems to be the reigning sentiment in the era of Disney remakes. As the studio house takes apart its classics to reinvent, in some cases, and recreate its timeless stories, Disneyheads are not too impressed. Over the weekend, the live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch became the second-highest-grossing Hollywood release worldwide in 2025. Critics, however, have dismissed it as an 'unnecessary' and 'soulless copy' of the original 2002 film. This comes on the back of the disastrous remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that remained mired in controversy and outrage. The pushback begs the question: Are the audiences tired of Disney's needless attempts to revive its biggest hits? Has Disney lost its magic? And if so, can it be restored? Disney's journey into the world of live-action has been tumultuous to say the least. The 1996 release 101 Dalmatians failed to capture the audience's imaginations. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010) bedazzled the audiences but received criticism for dispensing with the nonsensical pursuit of the original literature. A turning point came in 2014 with the release of Maleficent, which strayed from the traditional fairy tale take, choosing instead to focus on the villain. The movie junked moral binaries to present a greyer protagonist. What followed was a surplus of high-budget remakes of beloved stories like Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), and The Little Mermaid (2023). Some of these movies were huge hits, commercially and critically, while others failed to resonate with the fans. At the heart of these remakes, however, is Disney's attempt to leverage nostalgia, recycling the original magic, which defined millions of childhoods, birthday themes, cakes, bedtime stories, and family time, into CGI-fuelled visions. The kids who grew up watching Ariel comb her hair with a fork or Tramp and Lady share a spaghetti dinner are now adults, and still feel a connection. So, when Disney announces a remake, it's met with curiosity, even from sceptics. Will it be a failure or surpass the original animation? Despite mixed reviews from critics, these movies generally perform well in the long run because of their curiosity. When done right, these remakes can be spellbinding and spectacular. Take The Jungle Book, for example. The Jon Favreau directorial was not just a skeleton of the original 1967 classic. It seamlessly blended CGI with the storyline, making the jungle and its inhabitants super realistic and even more expansive. Disney tends to avoid risk, relying on an established fan base, which ensures pre-release buzz and merchandise sales, for guaranteed success. However, it doesn't always hit the mark. Remakes like The Lion King, despite earning big, have been called visually unimpressive. While actor Will Smith delivered a great performance as Aladdin's genie, some felt he failed to match the charm of the original 1992 genie, voiced by the legendary Robin Williams. Meanwhile, a realistic CGI version of a warthog, meerkat and a lion cub singing 'Hakuna Matata' barely feels the same. It's time Disney turned to overlooked films. Several 2000s releases flopped back then but now enjoy cult followings. With a diverse global audience demanding unique content, one could say the best time for these movies to shine as live-action remakes is now. Take, for instance, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), a film that tackled themes of identity, faith, and justice but was deemed too dark back then. A live-action version today could be both powerful and timely. A sci-fi rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, released in 2002 as Treasure Planet, was an ambitious project that could do better with today's technological advancements. Rumours of a live-action remake of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) never took fruition. But the film, inspired by the works of both Jules Verne and the art style of Mike Mignola, would make for a thrilling cinematic universe. Unlike Snow White, these new movies won't be trying to make the stories into something they are not. Sleeper movies like these deserve a second chance rather than movies that have already proved their potential and set the bar in the first try. Another live-action remake, Moana, will release next month, while Hercules is in the pipeline, and an Aladdin 2 is rumoured. Clearly, Disney's remake spree isn't slowing down anytime soon. The Disney magic isn't dead. It's just buried, waiting to be rediscovered. To recapture it, the studio must take the necessary risks. While fans may groan at another remake, they will still show up. All they need is a reason to believe again.
Pink Villa
an hour ago
- Pink Villa
Box Office: Holdover Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning tops newcomer Karate Kid Legends with USD 27.3M in 2nd weekend
Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning continued to hold steady at the US box office, pulling in USD 27.3 million in its second weekend. Despite the arrival of Karate Kid Legends, the action-espionage thriller remained in the No. 2 spot, proving once again the enduring, albeit slightly injured, appeal of the Mission: Impossible brand and Cruise's unmatched box office power. The film witnessed a 57.3 percent drop from its Memorial Day-aided opening weekend, a better hold than its predecessor, Dead Reckoning Part One, which waned 64.6 percent in the same frame with a smaller USD 19.4 million take. With a current US total of USD 122.6 million, The Final Reckoning is eyeing a domestic take between USD 190 million and USD 210 million. Its second-weekend numbers rank among the top Memorial Day sequels of all time, placing just behind major hits like Top Gun: Maverick (USD 90 million, -28.9 percent) and Lilo & Stitch (USD 63 million, -56.8 percent). The film outperformed legacy titles, including Solo: A Star Wars Story and X-Men: Days of Future Past, despite having fewer screenings, a longer runtime, and the lowest theater count for a Mission: Impossible film since Ghost Protocol. The two aforementioned films had raked in USD 29.4 million and USD 32.6 million, respectively. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, The Final Reckoning is the final entry in the franchise and a direct sequel to 2023's Dead Reckoning Part One. It features Ethan Hunt and his IMF team in a high-stakes race to stop a rogue AI known as the Entity from unleashing a global catastrophe. Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, and more return for their last mission. Production on the film was extensive and expensive. With an estimated budget of USD 300 to USD 400 million, the shooting spanned multiple countries, including England, Malta, Norway, and South Africa. Originally intended to be Dead Reckoning Part Two, the film was retitled The Final Reckoning ahead of its May 2025 release. Following its May 5 world premiere in Tokyo and an out-of-competition May 14 screening at Cannes, the film launched theatrically across the globe on May 23. It has since grossed USD 352 million worldwide to become the eighth highest-grossing film of 2025 by delivering the franchise's biggest opening weekend to date.
Pink Villa
an hour ago
- Pink Villa
Justin Baldoni's Stunt Double Reveals Blake Lively's True Personality on 'Tense' It Ends With Us Set: 'Closed Off...'
Thomas Canestraro, who worked as Justin Baldoni's stunt double in It Ends with Us, has opened up about the tense atmosphere on set. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Canestraro said, 'You could tell that the set was tense. There was some discomfort from everybody.' The actor and stuntman joined the production in early 2024 for what was supposed to be a five-day shoot. Instead, he stayed on set for two weeks. 'What I did experience was filming that was taking longer than expected,' he shared. 'Why are we taking so much time to film all of this scene? Why are we not on schedule?' Canestraro also spoke about Blake Lively's behavior during filming. He previously worked with her on A Simple Favor in 2018 and remembered the experience as easy and pleasant. However, in It Ends with Us, he noticed she was more closed off. During a promotional shoot years earlier, Canestraro had posed nearly nude for marketing images with Lively and found her to be very professional and considerate. 'It was an extremely easy time,' he said. 'She even made sure I had a bathroom after the shoot wrapped.' When he reunited with her for this film, he said that he was comfortable working with her again, but she seemed different. Canestraro didn't realize what was happening behind the scenes until Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Baldoni later filed a USD 400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, claiming defamation and interference. Looking back, Canestraro said the filming delays and on-set tension made more sense in hindsight. He mentioned that once the scandal became public, it helped to understand why production had taken longer than expected. He also reflected on Ryan Reynolds' presence on set, saying that while he initially thought it was a supportive gesture, he later wondered if Reynolds had been there because Blake Lively was already going through a difficult time. Canestraro shared that he hasn't kept in touch with Baldoni but remembered him as being extremely friendly during the shoot. He acknowledged that Baldoni has a family and suggested that the situation must be difficult for him. The stuntman made it clear he wasn't choosing sides. With a trial scheduled for March 2026, the legal dispute between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively continues to attract attention and raise questions about what truly happened during the filming of It Ends with Us.
