info@businessghana.com
As we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of 2025’s movie releases, we’ve seen massive franchises like Mission: Impossible, Jurassic World and Superman return, live-action remakes soar and original movies like Sinners and F1 find their place among the year’s highest earners so far. But, which Hollywood movie is the biggest hit so far? We officially have our first $1 billion hit movie of 2025, and once again the honor belongs to Walt Disney Studios.
The first Hollywood movie to officially cross $1 billion in box office cash is the live-action Lilo & Stitch movie. Walt Disney Studios made the announcement via a press release on Thursday ahead of the movie’s ninth weekend in theaters. The feature has made $416.2 million domestically and $584.8 million internationally after initially breaking Memorial Day weekend records when it opened alongside Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
Lilo & Stitch have been beloved characters since the original animated movie from 2002, and it has only become more popular as the years have gone by. The movie earned positive reactions from critics and audiences alike – our Lilo & Stitch CinemaBlend review included, and Walt Disney Studios has already announced that a sequel is in the works.
While it’s impressive to see Lilo & Stitch hit this milestone, it did take longer than usual for a single Hollywood movie to get there. Last year, Pixar achieved the milestone at the exact halfway point of the year, per Variety, but in years prior, it hasn’t taken so long. For example, The Super Mario Bros. Movie made that achievement at the end of April in 2023, and the year before that, Top Gun: Maverick reached the $1 billion mark at the end of June. But another 2025 movie got dang near close considering A Minecraft Movie has made over $950 million worldwide.
Other top earners of 2025 so far are still stuck below the $600 million mark with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoninghaving earned $584.6 million after eight weeks, and How to Train Your Dragon making $564.6 (now available to watch at home after its mid-June release). Jurassic World Rebirth has thus far sold $544.2 million in tickets worldwide already ahead of its third weekend (per Box Office Mojo).
The latest news about Lilo & Stitch marks the fourth billion dollar hit for Disney in the past 13 months, and it’s the only Hollywood studio to do so in that time. Before experiment 626 landed in Hawaii again, Moana 2 reached the milestone in January after Deadpool & Wolverine surpassed $1 billion in late August 2024, and the aforementioned Inside Out 2 started Disney on the winning streak.
This isn't to say Disney has had some disappointments over the past year, though. Both of its Marvel movies that have come out this year so far have underperformed, with Captain America: Brave New World making $413 million worldwide and Thunderbolts* earning $382 million globally – which are both close to Eternals numbers. Disney’s other live-action remake offering, Snow White, made just $205 million worldwide (with a reported production budget of around $200 million on its own). Pixar’s Elio had the worst opening weekend for a Pixar movie ever, and it has made just $119 million in its theatrical run so far.
Lilo & Stitch is the second-highest movie worldwide in 2025, with China’s animated film Ne Zha 2 being number one with over $1.8 billion to its name – and that’s a huge deal not only for Walt Disney Studios, but the movie theater business. Now the question is: what 2025 movie will be next?
