(Image source: Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures)
Last week, global cinemas saw two box office titans clash as "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" and "Lilo & Stitch" opened simultaneously, and the results are now in.
Buoyed by a massive family market and the original animated film's immense popularity, "Lilo & Stitch" unsurprisingly claimed the top spot at both the North American and global box offices last week. The film raked in over $180 million domestically, adding $158 million internationally for a current global total of $341 million. This figure already surpasses the 2002 animated "Lilo & Stitch" film's total box office of $273 million.
(Image source: Walt Disney Pictures)
While "The Final Reckoning" came in second, its overall performance was still solid. The film pulled in $77 million over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, with its global opening weekend gross reaching $204 million, setting a new North American opening record for the entire franchise.
The awkward truth, however, is that "The Final Reckoning" also boasts the highest production budget in the series, reportedly exceeding $400 million (not including marketing costs). This means the film would need to gross at least $900 million to $1 billion worldwide just to break even or turn a profit. Given that no "Mission: Impossible" installment has ever crossed the $800 million mark, Paramount Pictures' financial outlook for the film appears grim.
In contrast, Walt Disney Pictures' "Lilo & Stitch" had a production budget of just over $100 million, completely alleviating any concerns about losses. Factoring in the boost in merchandise sales driven by the film, Disney is undoubtedly set to profit handsomely from this release.