Nowadays, whenever two tentpole movies share a release date, Hollywood asks one question: Could this be “Barbenheimer” 2.0? As we speak, trade magazines are rushing to coin a catchy portmanteau for the double-billing of Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, which is releasing on Memorial Day weekend. While the hype surrounding what might be the final installment in the acclaimed Tom Cruise action franchise is through the roof, Disney’s live-action remake of their 2002 animated film might even be more seismic, as the studios and trades are unaware of just how formative the original movie was for an entire generation. This upcoming holiday weekend will undeniably be historic and may even break the box office records set by the dual release of Barbie and Oppenheimer in July 2023. However, for many reasons, Stitch and M:I are incapable of amassing the same cultural stronghold as Barbenheimer.
‘Lilo & Stitch’ and ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ Will Challenge Box Office Records
The dual release of Lilo & Stitch and the eighth Mission: Impossible, which desperately needs a moniker, has all the makings of another Barbenheimer on paper. M:I, an intense, globe-trotting franchise centered around life-or-death stunts by its lead star, has nothing in common with a family-friendly comedy about a girl befriending an alien creature. This is an apt parallel to the drastic differences between Christopher Nolan‘s biographical epic about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb and Greta Gerwig‘s lighthearted romp about the lives of Barbie dolls. Deadline reports that the long holiday weekend is tracking for a $200 million opener for the two films combined, with $120 million for Lilo & Stitch and $80 million for M:I. Anything close to these projections would keep theater owners happy and moviegoers comfortable about the state of the theatrical industry after a rocky Q1 of 2025.
A colossal weekend for moviegoing? Yes. Another Barbenheimer? No, and to suggest otherwise is wishful thinking. There’s a world where Lilo & Stitch skyrockets to Barbie‘s $162 million opener — A Minecraft Movie‘s overperformance shows that we shouldn’t underestimate the Gen Z bump, and M:I‘s projection would just about match Oppenheimer‘s stunning opening weekend. The baked-in fan interest and brand recognition are enough to sell out every theater nationwide, undermining a critical factor of the Barbenheimer magic. A Disney live-action remake and an installment in a major franchise are as big of a guarantee as they come; a story about female empowerment through the perspective of Mattel products and a bleak three-hour biopic about guilt and nuclear destruction are much harder sells. When these films resonated so well with mainstream audiences, it felt like the greatest blessing for cinema.
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Christopher Nolan Is Thrilled by “Barbenheimer’s” Impact on Theaters
The unlikely double act was the sensation of the summer.
There Will Never Be Another “Barbenheimer”
Even if another counterprogramming viral trend outgrosses it, there will never be another Barbenheimer. For one, being the first of its kind gives it a substantial upper hand, and any concentrated effort to re-create the magic that ensued across theaters nationwide in July 2023 will feel artificial. No amount of financial revenue can gauge the cultural omnipresence of Barbenheimer, as it was a rare event that belonged to the endangered monoculture. The magnitude of a double-feature phenomenon is not merely about its commercial viability, especially in the case of Stitch and M:I, two movies based on pre-existing material that were already going to draw in audiences regardless. From a content and thematic perspective, the two drastically differ, but they both appeal to the broadest of cinematic sensibilities. Barbie and Oppenheimer were thought to have completely bifurcated demographics, but the romanticism of moviegoing, stemming from the novelty of seeing them back-to-back, helped them coexist and bridge the gap between casual viewers and cinephiles.
So what was it exactly that drew mainstream audiences to partake in a double feature of two non-franchise films in 2023? In a miraculous turn of events, people were genuinely excited and curious about what Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, two distinct auteurs with populist sensibilities, had to bring to the table. And sure, to a minor degree, that curiosity was stoked by Nolan’s history with Warner Bros — which only added to the intrigue. A movie about Barbies would’ve been soulless if it weren’t sold on Gerwig’s gonzo but endearing conceit; a WWII-set biopic about physics would’ve been relegated to streaming fodder if not for Nolan being a staunch advocate for theaters and premium large format.
With all due respect to Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, most people attending their local multiplex on Memorial Day weekend will be oblivious to who directed these movies. This is not to discredit the work by Dean Fleischer Camp and Christopher McQuarrie, respectively, but their films are woven into the fabric of pre-existing brands, so there’s little that a singular voice can provide to these stories. Barbenheimer pushed audience expectations forward by bringing something new to the table. No matter how mesmerizing and captivating Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible are, they serve to remind viewers of the past.
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Lilo & Stitch
- Release Date
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May 21, 2025
- Runtime
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108 Minutes
- Director
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Dean Fleischer Camp
- Writers
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Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, Mike Van Waes, Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
- Producers
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Tom C. Peitzman, Dan Lin, Ryan Halprin
