Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and Lilo & Stitch both opened the same day, the Memorial Day festive in the US, traditionally one of the largest weekends for cinema and "unofficial" kick-off of the summer blockbuster season. The most optimistic hoped for a new "Barbenheimer", with moviegoers flocking to the cinema to watch both movies, while most analysts feared a collapse for Mission: Impossible, suggesting it was too long (meaning less showings each day), so-so reviews, and with the precedent, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, underperforming at the box office in 2023 (precisely, because of releasing just before Barbenheimer).
Thankfully, it seems that both movies have thrived, and it's reported that in the US, movie theatres earned an overall $322M+ over the weekend, the best Memorial Day weekend ever in the domestic box office, as reported by Variety.
Unsurprisingly, Lilo & Stitch took the lead with $183m in the US, and $341m worldwide. It had the third best opening for a Disney live action remake behind The Lion King (2019) and Beauty and the Beast (2017), which went on to gross $1 billion.
But Mission: Impossible did better than expected, earning $77m in the US, the best opening of the franchise in the US, surpassing $61.2m earned by Fallout (2018). Even if we take out Monday's red day, it would still be larger, at $63 million. Globally, the movie has earned $204. A strong start for one of the most expensive movies ever, which may never break even (it would need $1 billion to do that) but could end up surpassing Fallout, the top grossing movie of the franchise, which earned $824m worldwide.