‘Lilo & Stitch’ Overtakes Christopher Nolan’s All-Time Classic at Global Box Office Despite Digital Debut

Even though it has been over two months since its theatrical release, Disney’sLilo & Stitch remake is outperforming the tent pole it debuted alongside, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. It’s also playing in roughly 500 more locations nationwide, even though it’s available to watch at home and The Final Reckoning still isn’t. The reason is simple: Lilo & Stitch emerged a hit, and The Final Reckoning, even though it reportedly cost four times more, wasn’t able to. This weekend, the kid-friendly blockbuster passed one of the most acclaimed studio releases of the millennium, after having broken past the coveted $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office not too long ago.

Lilo & Stitch’s $1.010 billion haul puts it ahead of director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which is often ranked among the greatest films of all time. Released in 2008, the film served as a sequel to Nolan’s Batman Begins, which it outgrossed by over $600 million. The movie was acclaimed for its dense narrative, complex themes, and Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Ledger won an Academy Award for the role, after tragically passing away some months before the film’s release. The Dark Knight holds a 94% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Dark, complex, and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga.”

Nolan concluded his Batman trilogy four years later, with The Dark Knight Rises, which made slightly more than The Dark Knight, but proved to be divisive. The filmmaker has since gone on to direct the science-fiction hit Interstellar, the biographical thriller Oppenheimer, and the World War II drama Dunkirk. He’s currently in production on his new project, The Odyssey, having finally won his first Best Director Oscar. There was a controversy after The Dark Knight’s release around Nolan’s omission from the Best Director category, and the film’s absence in the Best Picture category. As a consequence, the Academy altered its rules to include up to 10 movies in the Best Picture pool.

‘Lilo & Stitch’ Is Disney’s First Billion-Dollar Hit Since ‘Moana 2’

Lilo & Stitch probably doesn’t have much chance of scoring nods at the Oscars; it opened to mixed reviews, and is currently sitting at a 72% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film’s audience score on the aggregator website is much higher, at 92%. It’s the 57th film in history to pass the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, and the first Hollywood film to do so since Disney’s own Moana 2 last year. You can watch Lilo & Stitch in theaters and at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.