Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” opened at £9.5 million ($12.9 million) in its first weekend across the U.K. and Ireland, according to Comscore figures reported by local industry press. Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” followed with roughly £6.2 million, giving cinemas a potent one-two punch at the tail end of May. Their head-to-head helped produce the busiest Memorial Day-period the territory has ever logged, eclipsing the previous 2013 record for the equivalent holiday frame.
Box Office Mojo data show “Lilo & Stitch” has already reached $35 million in the U.K., while the eighth “Mission: Impossible” entry has climbed to $24 million after just over a week on release. The pair now sit inside the domestic top five for 2025 releases, behind only “A Minecraft Movie” and “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” on the running chart.
Research consultancy Gower Street Analytics last month raised its full-year global revenue outlook to $34.1 billion, citing stronger spring titles such as the Disney remake and the Tom Cruise thriller. Separate analysis from Omdia projects that U.K. box-office receipts will clear £1 billion this year for the first time since 2019, even though admissions are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2026.
Exhibitors agree that supply is the key: “When the films are there, audiences return,” UK Cinema Association chief Phil Clapp wrote earlier in the year, pointing to a 52 percent jump in holiday-season admissions versus 2023 figures.
Comscore lists “Lilo & Stitch” among 2025’s global frontrunners with $611 million to date, while the Cruise vehicle has crossed $350 million worldwide. With few major challengers until late June, analysts at Screen Daily expect the family film to top £40 million locally and believe “The Final Reckoning” could approach £30 million if weekday holds remain solid.
Cinemas now look to upcoming releases such as “Gladiator II,” “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Wicked 2” to sustain the rebound that “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible” have kick-started.
