Disney Just Became The First Hollywood Studio With A $1 Billion Box Office Hit In 2025

It's official: Disney has become the first Hollywood studio to score a $1 billion box office hit in 2025. The movie in question is the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" remake, which opened to more than $180 million across the four-day Memorial Day weekend in May. Ever since then, it's been on a tear and has now amassed more money globally than any other American-made movie this year.

To date, director Dean Fleischer Camp's "Lilo & Stitch" has made $416.2 million domestically to go with a whopping $584.8 million internationally for a grand total of $1 billion worldwide. That makes it the 58th movie to ever cross the milestone, just behind "Jurassic World Dominion" ($1.001 billion). Rather crucially, though, it is not the top-grossing movie of the year overall. That honor goes to the animated Chinese blockbuster "Ne-Zha 2," which made well over $2 billion earlier this year, with most of that money coming from China alone.

That aside, Disney's latest live-action remake is one of only two films this year to surpass $400 million at the domestic box office, joining "A Minecraft Movie" ($424 million domestically/$955 million worldwide). That movie just barely missed out on the $1 billion global milestone, but it could get there with an eventual re-release of some kind. In any event, it's now Disney's moment to pop the champagne. Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman had this to say about it:

"We knew there was a lot of love for 'Lilo & Stitch' with audiences around the world, yet we never take that for granted, and we're proud of how this new film has connected with people. I'm thankful to our filmmakers, our cast, and all on our Studio team who have made this film such a success, and we look forward to more adventures with these characters ahead."

This is now the fourth $1 billion hit the Mouse House has scored since 2024. Last year alone, Disney released three $1 billion blockbusters, including "Inside Out 2" ($1.69 billion), "Deadpool & Wolverine" ($1.33 billion), and "Moana 2" ($1.05 billion). It's also become the first studio to have at least three movies reach $1 billion globally since 2019.

It's worth noting that "Lilo & Stitch" was originally supposed to release directly onto Disney+ (much like "Moana 2" originated as a streaming series rather than a film). Rest assured, Disney won't be sending big IP straight to streaming anymore. It's also no surprise that the studio has already announced development of "Lilo & Stitch 2," which will undoubtedly be put on the fast track.

Disney has had its moments of struggle during the pandemic era, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe no longer the automatic powerhouse it once was. But at this point, it is quickly re-establishing itself as Hollywood's box office king. Sure, there have been some misfires along the way, including the massive flop that was "Snow White" and, more recently, Pixar's "Elio," which is poised to become the lowest-grossing release in the history of the storied animation studio. Still, the hits have generally outweighed the misses. No studio bats 1,000.

Now comes the big question: Can another film surpass "Lilo & Stitch" to become Hollywood's top-grossing movie of 2025? After a strong opening, "Jurassic World Rebirth" has an outside shot at $1 billion, but that's far from guaranteed. The best bet at this stage is James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which hits theaters in December and is also a Disney joint. But that will make the bulk of its money in January 2026 so, as far as the calendar year goes, another movie will need to try and step up. "Zootopia 2" maybe? "Wicked: For Good" perhaps? We'll see how things shake out, but for now, Disney has reason to celebrate.

"Lilo & Stitch" is in theaters now.