'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission Impossible' break records this memorial weekend (updated)

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July Fourth fireworks are coming early to the summer box office, thanks to the combo of Disney’s live-action redo Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s latest Mission: Impossible movie, which marks Tom Cruise’s swan song as stealth spy Ethan Hunt.

The two movies are expected to fuel the biggest Memorial Day of all time in terms of ticket sales, as well as set numerous records in their own right. While the mash-up isn’t expected to be quite the same cultural phenomenon that Barbenheimer was, the potent combo of the two movies can’t be ignored. Parents may take their kids to see Lilo one day, then ditch them and go see Mission sometime else over the long holiday weekend (as for a moniker, how about “Stitchin: Impossible”).

The biggest headline of Thursday’s latest tracking report from the National Research Group was Lilo & Stitch. Three weeks ago, NRG’s four-day opening number was $120 million. Now, it’s $165 million, a jaw-dropping gross that would, in an ironic twist, see Lilo & Stitch supplant Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick ($160 million) as the biggest Memorial Day opener of all time, not adjusted for inflation.

The live-action Lilo & Stitch — originally intended to to go straight to Disney+, helping to explain its modest $100 million production budget — would mark one of the better openings for a Disney live-action film. It has a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 72 percent.

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Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, with a current RT critics score of 79 percent, is expected to more than make up for the lackluster $54.7 million bow of the previous film in the series, as well as supplant the $61.2 million three-day launch of Mission: Impossible — Fallout to set a new franchise opening record by a mile.

A major challenge in terms of the film’s financial success is its $400 million net budget before marketing — making it one of the most expensive films ever made — although Paramount insiders note that each new installment increases the value of the entire library, including a spike in home entertainment sales and rentals of previous titles.

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Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” the eighth installment in Tom Cruise’s action series, should also start strong with $75 million to $85 million from 3,800 venues for the four days.

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