The film was originally aimed for Disney+. But it was rerouted to a theatrical release and is on pace for at least $950 million in ticket sales.
Call it Stitch’s vindication.
For 23 years, the rowdy blue agent of chaos lived as a second-class citizen at Disney. The animated “Lilo & Stitch,” released in 2002, was made in near secret, partly because the character and art style didn’t fit the Disney mold. One poster for the movie depicted classic Disney characters like Pinocchio, Jasmine, Belle recoiling from Stitch in horror.
Ticket sales were so-so. Stitch got a couple of direct-to-video sequels and a TV cartoon in the 2000s. A modest Disney World ride opened in 2004 and closed in 2018, leaving the snaggletoothed character to scamper along as a consumer products property.
And now? Almost overnight, Stitch has become one of the biggest movie windfalls in years, not just at Disney but in all of Hollywood.
Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” remake — made for $100 million and initially planned as a straight-to-streaming release — has collected $610 million worldwide after just 10 days in theaters. The PG movie, which cost at least $75 million to market, should sell about $950 million in tickets by the end of its run, box office analysts said on Saturday. Depending on the response to “Lilo & Stitch” in Japan, where it opens on Friday, there may even be a path to $1 billion.
That means Disney, which splits tickets sales with theaters, will make $300 million or more in profit just from the box office.
The astounding turnout further validates a U-turn that Disney made in 2023, not long after Robert A. Iger came out of retirement to retake Disney’s helm. He cut back on streaming originals and reprioritized theatrical releases. In November, “Moana 2,” assembled from what had been planned as a Disney+ television show, collected $1.1 billion in theaters. “Lilo & Stitch” was similarly rerouted.