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The Walt Disney Company has once again shown how serious it is about trivial box office competitions and petty rivalries with other cinema studios. It has expanded Lilo & Stitch, a movie released back in May, to over 2,400 new screens across North America during Labor Day weekend, which otherwise represents a great opportunity for smaller films to perform, especially newer releases.
But audiences have also shown Disney the mirror as Lilo & Stitch, despite being a colossal billion-dollar hit, is experiencing harsh treatment in terms of attendance and expansion efforts. The competition with A Minecraft Movie came closer than ever but seems unlikely to yield a win for the live-action remake.
Lilo & Stitch Won’t Make $1 Million Over Weekend
On Friday, August 29, Lilo & Stitch playing at 2,400 screens could only generate $256,000, finishing at number 15 on the domestic box office chart, a miserable position for that many theaters. Further calculations reveal an even bigger problem. According to Box Office Mojo, the per-theater average came to only $104, lesser than the preceding weekday, ranking among the worst for any blockbuster playing in such a high theater count.
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The abysmal per-screen performance indicates audiences have moved past the Disney remake entirely, making the studio’s aggressive expansion strategy appear both desperate and poorly timed. With thousands of additional screens failing to translate into meaningful revenue, the weekend projections look increasingly grim for Disney’s ambitious plans.
Can Lilo & Stitch Overtake A Minecraft Movie?
At the North American box office, A Minecraft Movie remains the highest-grossing film of the year with $423.9 million, keeping the crown away from Disney eight months into the year. Lilo & Stitch trails closely at $422 million, and general consensus suggests the only reason it continues playing and receiving theatrical expansion, when lukewarm performances of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and Elio could instead receive second opportunities, is to boost its chances.
However, with the Labor Day four-day weekend unlikely to generate the required $2 million gap, Disney’s desperate attempt will likely backfire and be perceived more harshly. The mathematics simply don’t support reaching Minecraft’s total, and Disney’s fixation on domestic supremacy has led to this questionable strategy that appears doomed from the start.
Disney’s History of Box Office Games
The Walt Disney Company remains notorious for pressuring theater chains, going as far as admitting on record it will pull future screenings from select theaters should they not comply with its demands for screen allocation. This has resulted in them capitalizing on nearly every holiday throughout the year.
Outright calling Lilo & Stitch’s return embarrassing wouldn’t be an overstatement, given that adding thousands of new screens for a months-old movie speaks volumes regarding Disney’s ambitions. This strategy has long been deployed by the Mouse House, with the expansion of Avengers: Endgame back in September 2019 for the sole purpose of overtaking Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time standing as its most obvious example.
Box Office Comparison
A Minecraft Movie
- Worldwide: $957.7 million
- Domestic: $423.9 million
Lilo & Stitch
- Worldwide: $1.032.3 billion
- Domestic: $422 million
Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!
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