Disney’s latest live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch is reportedly on track to break the Memorial Day weekend box office record.
The new film adaptation of the beloved 2002 animated classic stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Sydney Agudong as her older sister Nani, and original Lilo & Stitch creator Chris Sanders as the voice of the titular blue alien, Stitch.
Released in theaters on Friday, the movie has already made $55 million at the domestic box office, bringing its worldwide opening day total to $111 million.
While 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick currently holds the three-day Memorial Day weekend box office record at $160 million, Lilo & Stitch is estimated to surpass that at $175-180 million after Monday, according to TheWrap.
The movie’s box office success comes in spite of negative reviews from critics, with The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey labeling it a “travesty” in her one-star review.
“This pointless remake saps the original film of its humor, satire and queerness — and sands down the titular alien into a blander, more easily marketable CGI rascal,” she argued.
Lilo & Stitch currently holds a middling critics’ score of 69 percent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Theatergoers, however, have been much more enamored with the remake. It currently sits at a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
“Yes, they changed a few things about Lilo & Stitch. No it wasn’t the end of the world nor did it ruin the movie overall,” one fan said on X, declaring that “this is honestly the best live action remake @Disney has done and if you liked the original, you’ll like this too.”
A second found the movie to be “cute,” saying that it “made me tear up.”
“I personally loved it,” another wrote. “I think they got it spot on with MOST of the casting. Lilo & Nani are FAN. TAS. TIC. what a combo.”
They argued that “most of the scenes are identical to the animation, which was pleasing to see as it made it more emotional for those who watched it YEARS ago.”
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), Lilo & Stitch closely follows the same premise as the 2002 original, which centered on the story of a lonely six-year-old girl, who adopts what she thinks is a dog but actually turns out to be an extraterrestrial entity that has escaped from prison.
Speaking to The Independent ahead of the film’s release, producer Jonathan Eirich predicted the remake could produce sequels, depending on its success.
“I think it’s such a rich world that Chris Sanders and others have built out, which is exciting,” Eirich said. “You’ve got the space opera element, which is so fun. We sort of start the movie in that world. You have other characters — we do a quick little nod to Angel and Leroy in the movie that fans might catch, when Jumba is scrolling through the other experiments. So there are other things you could touch on.”
He added: “I’m always just nervous that people love this one, so I just want this one out in the world first! Hopefully audiences love it, and if they tell us they do then it would be exciting to explore more stories in this universe.”
Lilo & Stitch is playing in theaters now.
