‘Lilo & Stitch’ Passes ‘Sinners’ to Become 2nd Highest Grossing Film of 2025

Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘Lilo & Stitch’ Passes ‘Sinners’ to Become 2nd Highest Grossing Film of 2025

Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Amy Hill and Stitch attend a premiere for the film "Lilo & Stitch" in Los Angeles, California, US, May 17, 2025. (Reuters)

“Lilo & Stich” and “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” dominated the box office charts again after fueling a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend. Theaters in the US and Canada had several new films to offer this weekend as well, including Sony’s family friendly “Karate Kid: Legends” and the A24 horror movie “Bring Her Back.” According to studio estimates Sunday, it added up to a robust $145 million post-holiday weekend that’s up over 115% from the same timeframe last year.

Disney’s live-action hybrid “Lilo & Stitch” took first place again with $63 million from 4,410 locations in North America. It was enough to pass “Sinners” to become the second-highest grossing movie of the year with $280.1 million in domestic ticket sales. Globally, it's running total is $610.8 million. “Sinners,” meanwhile, is still going strong in its seventh weekend with another $5.2 million, bumping it to $267.1 million domestically and $350.1 million globally.

The eighth “Mission: Impossible” movie also repeated in second place, with $27.3 million from 3,861 locations. As with “Lilo & Stitch,” that's down 57% from its opening. With $122.6 million in domestic tickets sold, it’s performing in line with the two previous installments. But with a reported production budget of $400 million, profitability is a ways off. Internationally, it added $76.1 million (including $25.2 million from China where it just opened), bringing its global total to $353.8 million.

Leading the newcomers was Sony’s “Karate Kid: Legends,” with an estimated $21 million from 3,809 locations. The movie brings Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio together to train a new kid, the kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang). Chan starred in a 2010 reboot of the 1984 original, while Macchio has found a new generation of fans in the series “Cobra Kai,” which just concluded a six-season run.

Reviews might have been mixed, but opening weekend audiences gave the PG-13 rated film a strong A- CinemaScore and 4.5 stars on PostTrak. It also only cost a reported $45 million to produce and has several weeks until a new family-friendly film arrives.

Fourth place went “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” which earned $10.8 million in its third weekend. The movie is the highest-grossing in the franchise, not accounting for inflation, with $229.3 million globally.

The weekend’s other big newcomer, “Bring Her Back” rounded out the top five with $7.1 million from 2,449 screens. Starring Sally Hawkins as a foster mother with some disturbing plans, the film is the sophomore feature of twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, who made the 2023 horror breakout “Talk to Me.” It earned a rare-for-horror B+ CinemaScore and is essentially the only new film in the genre until “28 Years Later” opens on June 20.

A new Wes Anderson movie, “The Phoenician Scheme,” also debuted in New York and Los Angeles this weekend, where it made $270,000. It expands nationwide next weekend.

The summer box office forecast remains promising, though there’s a long way to go to get to the $4 billion target (a pre-pandemic norm that only the “Barbenheimer” summer has surpassed). The month of May is expected to close out with $973 million – up 75% from May 2024, according to data from Comscore.



Slovakia Festival Hosting Kanye West Cancelled after 'Heil Hitler' Furore

Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Slovakia Festival Hosting Kanye West Cancelled after 'Heil Hitler' Furore

Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

The Slovakia festival due to welcome Kanye West next week has called off the event following the uproar over the US rapper's May release of a song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Before the July 20 gig was cancelled, Bratislava's Rubicon hip hop festival was set to be West's only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.

Though he has won 24 Grammy Awards over the course of his career, the erratic rapper has become notorious in recent years for his increasingly antisemitic and hate-filled rants.

West, who has legally changed his name to the shorthand "Ye", released the song "Heil Hitler" on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

In the wake of the announcement of West's appearance at Rubicon, thousands of people signed a petition against the gig.

The rapper -- a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump -- is "repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history", two groups behind the petition said.

In a statement on Instagram late on Wednesday, the festival's organizers said the decision to cancel the event was "due to media pressure and the withdrawal of several artists and partners".

"This was not an easy decision," the organizers said, without drawing a direct line between the rapper's planned appearance and the cancellations.

Contacted on Thursday by AFP, the Rubicon festival did not offer further explanations.

Styling itself as the central European country's premier hip hop hang-out, the Rubicon festival was set to run from July 18 to 20.

US rappers Offset and Sheck Wes were set to share top billing with West.

Australia cancelled West's visa on July 2 over "Heil Hitler", in which West raps about his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian before the song ends with an extract of a speech by the Nazi dictator.

West's wife, Bianca Censori, is Australian.