Lilo and Stitch manages to beat Tom Cruise in a record-breaking weekend at the box office

The Memorial Day weekend has brought an exciting box office showdown between two major releases: the live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. In an unexpected turn, Lilo and Stitch has outperformed the action thriller starring Tom Cruise, raking in 183 million dollars in the U.S. and 341 million globally in its opening weekend. Tom Cruise doesn’t always win The Disney film, which features a reinterpretation of the animated classic, has managed to capture the attention of family audiences, highlighting its nostalgia and charisma […]

The Memorial Day weekend has brought an exciting box office showdown between two major releases: the live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch and Mission Impossible: Final Judgment. In an unexpected turn, Lilo and Stitch has outperformed the action thriller starring Tom Cruise, raking in 183 million dollars in the U.S. and 341 million globally in its opening weekend.

Tom Cruise doesn’t always win

The Disney movie, which presents a reinterpretation of the classic animation, has managed to capture the attention of family audiences, highlighting its nostalgia and the charm of little Stitch. This success has not only broken records, as it has also surpassed the amount raised during its premiere by Top Gun: Maverick, with 160 million dollars last year, also on a holiday weekend.

On its part, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning has had a solid performance, grossing 77 million in the U.S. and 204 million in total worldwide, thus becoming the best opening of the entire Mission Impossible saga. Although it has not managed to surpass Lilo and Stitch, its box office is in line with expectations, especially with a good performance anticipated in international markets like China, where it has not yet been released.

The combination of both films has set a new box office record for the Memorial Day weekend, reaching $322 million, surpassing the $314 million from 2013. This success stands in stark contrast to last year, when one of the worst box office weekends in three decades was reported, lowering expectations about the audience’s ability to return to theaters. Both films have shown that interest in cinema is still alive and vibrant.

Tom Cruise as an Anime Hero? It is possible thanks to this thrilling crossover

In Japan they have decided to promote Mission Impossible: Deadly Judgment, Part 1 by making a crossover with one of the most celebrated anime.

Spies are trending. With a new Mission Impossible movie about to hit theaters, it’s more evident than ever that we love these pop culture characters. Adventurous, with a mission in mind and fighting for a greater good, they are the closest thing to real-world heroes. And in Japan, aware that they have the most famous spy of the present, they have decided to promote the new Mission Impossible movie with the most unexpected crossover.

Mission Impossible: Deadly Judgment, Part 1 has received an official poster where the original actors are replaced by the characters from Spy x Family. A popular anime series that is sweeping both within and beyond the borders of the Land of the Rising Sun, it tells the adventures of a spy named Twilight, who is forced to form a fake family to reach his objective and prevent a new war between the countries of Westalis and Ostania from erupting. This becomes more complicated when he not only has to hide his identity from his wife and his adopted daughter, but they also have their own secrets, as his wife is an assassin and his daughter is a psychic.

At the same time, the promotion has also led to the voice actor of Lloyd, the civilian name of Twilight, explaining the key aspects of the Mission Impossible franchise in a video of just over a minute. Another small nod that serves to contextualize the audience while, at the same time, promoting both the movie and the anime along the way.

While it will be released in Japan on July 21st, Mission Impossible: Deadly Judgment, Part 1 will premiere in Spain, the US, and much of Latin America a week earlier, on Friday, July 14th. Similarly, Spy x Family has one season, which aired between April 9th and December 24th, 2022, available on Crunchyroll, with a second season already announced but without a release date yet.

While these kinds of promotional crossovers are extremely rare in the West, they are quite common in Japan. It’s something we hope other countries take note of because, in addition to being highly effective, they are truly fun to watch.

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