Disney had a rough start to the year, but the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake has thankfully been a huge success. Ever since its release on May 23, 2025, the Hawaii-set film about the lovable alien creature has been one of the biggest movies of the summer. In total, Lilo & Sтιтch has managed to gross just over $1 billion at the box office.
This impressive box office haul makes it one of the most successful Disney live-action remakes of all time. The only Disney remakes that have grossed more than it are Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. Over the years, Disney has clearly had a lot of success with its live-action remakes, but some of the studio’s projects have struggled.
Reviews for Lilo & Sтιтch were great, which helped its box office performance, but the same can’t be said for Snow White, which was released in March of this year. Along with Snow White, several other live-action Disney remakes have also struggled in recent years. For a time, there was worry that people were no longer interested in live-action remakes, but the success of Lilo & Sтιтch will give Disney some much-needed confidence going forward.
Lilo & Sтιтch’s Box Office Is Already Giving Disney Confidence To Make More Remakes
Lilo & Sтιтch Will Return To The Big Screen Soon
Earlier this year, Snow White only managed to gross $205 million on an estimated budget of between $240-270 million (via Box Office Mojo). The movie’s abysmal box office performance likely lost Disney well over $100 million. Snow White’s box office also probably surprised a lot of executives at Disney, since the movie is based on one of the studio’s most iconic animated films.
However, it should be noted that there was a lot of controversy surrounding Snow White. Before the movie’s release, fans were attacking both Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, who played the two most important characters in the film. Additionally, many didn’t like that the dwarfs were CGI in the movie, rather than being played by real actors.
Meanwhile, Lilo & Sтιтch faced practically no controversy. Sure, many fans of the original animated film, which came out in 2002, didn’t like how Jumba was different in the live-action movie, but this clearly didn’t affect Lilo & Sтιтch’s performance at the box office. After seeing how well it was performing at the box office, Disney quickly greenlit a sequel to Lilo & Sтιтch.
Just like the recently released live-action remake, the upcoming Lilo & Sтιтch sequel will practically be a guaranteed hit for Disney. Therefore, after the success of Lilo & Sтιтch, Disney will likely have much more confidence in the coming years. Even though Snow White and some other recent Disney films have underperformed at the box office, there is clearly still a desire for live-action remakes.
The success of Lilo & Sтιтch could also lead to the Tangled live-action remake being brought back into development. As a response to Snow White’s poor performance, development was halted on the Tangled remake. This proves that Disney was at least temporarily concerned it would continue to lose money at the box office, but Lilo & Sтιтch has made it clear that isn’t necessarily the case.
Disney’s Confirmed Live-Action Remakes Are Safe Box Office Bets Like Lilo & Sтιтch
There Are Several Exciting Upcoming Disney Remakes
It would be unwise to ᴀssume that every live-action Disney remake is going to be a huge hit. For a major studio like Disney, box office bombs are inevitable. However, it’s understandable that Disney doesn’t want to have a significant flop like Snow White again in the next few years.
While it was completely valid for the studio to be worried, I hope that the success of Lilo & Sтιтch does indeed prompt Disney to resume development on the Tangled remake. Since the animated movie is widely regarded as a modern classic, just like the original Lilo & Stich film, it’s possible that a Tangled remake could be a huge success at the box office.
After a rough start to the year, Disney has made an impressive comeback at the box office.
Aside from the Tangled remake, which may or may not be made, Disney’s other confirmed live-action remakes should also be safe bets to perform well at the box office. Firstly, as mentioned, the sequel to Lilo & Sтιтch will definitely be another major success for the studio. Additionally, remakes like Moana, Hercules, and Bambi could all find success, as well.
Moana, in particular, could potentially cross the $1 billion mark at the box office. After all, 2024’s Moana 2 dominated the box office for many weeks and managed to gross a total of $1.05 billion globally (via Box Office Mojo). People also love iconic Disney animated movies like Hercules and Bambi, which means these films could also be hits, as long as there is not a lot of controversy ᴀssociated with them.
Overall, after a rough start to the year, Disney has made an impressive comeback at the box office. Thanks to Lilo & Sтιтch, the future of live-action Disney remakes once again seems bright. It’s hard to predict whether every upcoming live-action remake will be a smash hit, but after Lilo & Sтιтch, Disney should definitely have more confidence in their next few projects.