The cutest blue alien on the face of the Earth (and beyond) is dominating the 2025 box office, but there’s an obvious reason why Lilo and Stitch won’t be the highest-grossing movie of the year.
There’s no place we’d rather be than on our surfboards out at sea. Lilo and Stitch has already grossed $361.2 million worldwide, with $183 million coming from the US. And that’s with only a few weeks under its belt…
Of course, the live-action adaptation has also come under fire. Not only has the new edition got rid of original villain Captain Gantu completely, but a quick search on any social platform highlights how some scenes have been seemingly changed for the worse.
Nevertheless, nothing keeps a blue guy down, and we can expect to see the Lilo and Stitch hype continue for some time to come. Even so, there’s one reason the new movie won’t top the highest-grossing charts of 2025.
Ne Zha 2 has Lilo and Stitch beat for 2025’s highest-grossing movie
Remember the Chinese animation movie that sprang up out of nowhere and became a viral global sensation? Well, Ne Zha 2 is still sitting pretty as the highest-grossing movie of 2025, with Lilo and Stitch currently in third place.
Currently, the global movie box office ranking looks something like this:
If you’ve not heard of Ne Zha 2 before, the movie follows its 2019 predecessor, with Ne Zha and Ao Bing sharing one body in the wake of a heavenly lightning strike that almost kills them both.
As the synopsis teases, “after the catastrophe, although the souls of Ne Zha and Ao Bing were saved, their bodies would soon be shattered. Taiyi Zhenren planned to use the seven-colored lotus to rebuild their bodies.”
While Ne Zha 2 is comfortably out in front, Lilo and Stitch is still a potential rival for A Minecraft Movie. Minecraft hasn’t completely left cinemas, but it occupies far fewer screens, which means fewer tickets.
Also, crucially, there is an overlap with audiences. While Minecraft has the advantage of a built-in, older fanbase, it’s still a family film, and Lilo and Stitch is the remake of a modern Disney classic beloved by audiences of all ages.
It’s reasonable to expect more weeks of box office domination from Lilo and Stitch, until the How to Train Your Dragon remake comes and shakes things up once more.
Grow a Garden codes (June 2025)