‘Lilo & Stitch’ Passes ‘Minecraft’ as Hollywood’s Highest-Grossing Film of 2025
There is a new leader atop Hollywood’s 2025 box office charts, as Disney’s remake of “Lilo & Stitch” has passed the global theatrical run of Warner Bros./Legendary’s “A Minecraft Movie” in its seventh weekend in theaters.
The live-action remake added $3.8 million domestically, bringing its total to $408.5 million in the U.S. and $972.7 million worldwide. “A Minecraft Movie,” which busted a multiweek drought that plagued the American box office in April, grossed $954 million worldwide.
If “Lilo & Stitch” can push just a bit more, it will become the first $1 billion hit since Chengdu Coco Cartoon’s Lunar New Year release “Ne Zha 2,” which not only became China’s first $1 billion hit but became the first animated film ever to cross $2 billion thanks almost entirely to Chinese audiences. Barring a meteoric run from “Avatar: Fire and Ash” this winter, “Ne Zha 2” stands to be the first non-Hollywood production to be the highest-grossing film in a calendar year.
“Lilo & Stitch” has been the shining spot in what has largely been a rough first half of 2025 for Disney. While the year kicked off with Disney’s holiday offering, “Mufasa,” legging out to $722 milllion worldwide, A pair of Marvel films — “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*” — had lackluster runs with global totals of $415 million and $389 million, respectively.
Then, in the past three weeks, Pixar’s “Elio” has bombed despite strong audience word-of-mouth with just $96.8 million grossed globally over three weekends, continuing the struggles of original animation in movie theaters.
The second half of 2025 will bring much better fortunes, primarily from Disney’s two big holiday offerings: “Zootopia 2,” which will try to join “Moana 2” and the first “Zootopia” in the $1 billion club; and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which is a lock to hit $1 billion and will try to make “Avatar” the second franchise alongside Marvel’s “Avengers” with three $2 billion hits.
Later this month, Disney will also have one more chance to get the MCU back in fans’ good graces with “The Fantastic 4: First Steps,” which has earned Fandango’s best first-day presales for 2025 so far and is projected for a $120 million-plus opening. Other theatrical releases on Disney’s slate include the sci-fi thriller “Predator: Badlands” and James L. Brooks’ dramedy “Ella McCay.”
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