Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: “Lilo & Stitch” went down approx. 58% from the previous 3-day weekend, but since the previous weekend was $146 million (3-day) the movie remained at the top of the box office with approx. $62 million this past weekend. Its domestic total is approaching $280 million which already makes it the #2 movie of the 2025 domestic box office so far. The 2nd movie of this past weekend also went down approx. 58%. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” made approx. $27 for a domestic total of $122 million. The #3 movie was the new release “Karate Kid Legends” with $20 million.
Overall, the domestic box office went down approx. 44% to almost $147 million this past weekend. Some people predict we won’t have another huge box office weekend until July when the big movies like “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and “Superman” open.
Also, the limited release new movie from Wes Anderson “The Phoenician Scheme” made almost $94,000 per screen on 6 screens which is the highest per screen average for a movie in 2025 so far. Its total is only $560 thousand but it should go up a lot when it opens wider in a couple weeks.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: The two big box office movies from last week continue to dominate the foreign box office this week. “Lilo & Stitch” made $113 million internationally for a global total of $610 million. “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” made an additional $76 million for a global total of $354 million. Since “Karate Kid Legends” opened in some foreign countries before this weekend and it won’t open in other countries for a while, it only made a small $12 million internationally. Its worldwide total is $47 million.
RELEASE DATE CHANGES: This weekend, Netflix announced that the 3rd movie in the “Knives Out” franchise – aka “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” will premiere on Netflix on Dec 12, 2025. No word if it will get a wide theatrical release.
OTHER NEWS:
Clint Eastwood supposedly did an interview with a small publication “Kurier” in Austria about how – at 95 years old – he’s still working on another movie and he criticizes studios for making so many sequels, remakes, and franchises instead of original movies. The story got retold in major publications like Variety (link), Deadline (link), and Vanity Fair (link). It was retold on so many news sites that Clint Eastwood had to release a press release saying THE INTERVIEW IS COMPLETELY MADE UP. His press release – which the same sites later printed – says:
“A couple of items about me have recently shown up in the news. I thought I would set the record straight. I can confirm I’ve turned 95. I can also confirm that I never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony.”
Today Disney announced layoffs across a lot of their movie and television divisions. They estimate it’s the largest round of Disney layoffs which started 10 months ago.
A few days ago, there was a story in Variety that said that movie theater owners are trying to be part of the Academy that votes for the nominations and winners of the Academy Awards. Some people are thinking they want movies that don’t get wide theatrical releases – like movies from Netflix and Apple – to stop getting Academy Award nominations and awards.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
Comedian Larry Miller has a joke that goes: “An ex-girlfriend once told me: “You’ll never find another woman like me.” I hope I don’t. If I don’t like you, why would I want to find another woman like you”.
One of the reviews of the new “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” says a similar line “You’ll never see a movie like this again” and some people online are commenting “WHY WOULD I WANT TO SEE A MOVIE THAT BAD AGAIN?”
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 