As a childless adult, sitting in a natural wine bar killing time before an early evening showing of the live-action children’s film Lilo & Stitch is a uniquely humbling experience.
Even more humbling is showing up lightly buzzed to that screening of Lilo & Stitch.
It’s unsurprising that a family film over a long, hot Memorial Day weekend was able to reach these heights.
But for a specific age demographic — younger-skewing Millennials and older Gen Z cuspers affectionately known as the Zillennial — Lilo & Stitch had a hold on childhood viewing habits.
Lilo & Stitch was conceived and developed as a streaming movie for Disney+ before Disney shifted it to a theatrical release.
The experience of killing time in a natural wine bar before an early evening screening of the live-action children’s movie Lilo and Stitch is particularly humbling for an adult without children. Making an appearance at that Lilo & Stitch screening with a slight buzz is even more humble.
But nostalgia is a potent drug, just like orange wine.
Tom Cruise, one of our last true movie stars, was not only displaced this weekend but twice by a dog-like blue alien and a bright 6-year-old, each of whom has a unique set of behavioral problems that no amount of gentle parenting could ever resolve. It became the highest grossing holiday opener ever with $182.07 million at the domestic box office, surpassing both Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and 2023’s Top Gun: Maverick.
The success of a family movie over a long, hot Memorial Day weekend is not surprising. In particular, The Minecraft Movie is solidifying at the two-month mark. Some people, including some of my coworkers at this publication, find it more surprising that Lilo & Sitch, a Disney animated film that seems to be on the C-tier, was the one who did it.
Lilo & Stitch, however, had a sway over childhood viewing habits for a certain age group: younger-skewing Millennials and older Gen Z cuspers known as the Zillennial.
When the animated films from the House of Mouse were in decline, Lilo, which was released in 2002, followed the second golden age of Disney animation (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast). Pixar, a more successful animation studio, replaced classics like Lilo and its contemporaries, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and The Emperor’s New Groove. Monsters Inc. and Lilo itself were positioned in between hits. and locating Nemo.
Despite not being a huge commercial success or garnering the same accolades and spectacular Broadway productions as its predecessors, Lilo managed to win over a generation of fans with a steady stream of aftermarket merchandise. There were a number of video games, an animated TV program that aired on ABC Kids and Disney Channel, and home videos (on VHS and DVD). Such an overwhelming quantity of touchpoints is what lays the groundwork for a lifetime of loyalty.
Data gathered by Disney and prominent exit polling service PostTrak showed that 56 percent of ticket buyers for the new movie were from the general public, a larger percentage than for a typical family film. (In contrast, 43 percent of people saw Moana 2. Among Gen Z and Millennials, moviegoers between the ages of 18 and 24 accounted for a staggering 32% of the non-family audience, with those between the ages of 25 and 34 coming in second with 33%.
Before Disney decided to release Lilo & Stitch in theaters, the film was originally planned and developed as a streaming service for Disney+. The studio once again started concentrating on the cinematic experience and moving away from original features for its streaming services after putting a lot of effort into feeding the streaming content maw.
The beginning of the aughts signaled the end of a cohesive zeitgeist. The viewing habits of large segments of the American youth audience remained largely consistent. They watched TV with ratings in the double digits and loitered outside theaters showing movies that remained static for weeks. The Zillennial custom of attending a live theater was ingrained from an early age, and while the muscle memory may have diminished with the advent of streaming, it hasn’t yet diminished.
While working on the project, one insider in their mid-40s said they lacked the Stitch nostalgia gene. They tell THR that they were taken aback when hordes of younger Disney executives and assistants in their 20s and early 30s expressed their joy at the prospect of a live-action feature film. They were raised in the world of Lilo & Stitch.
Another test of the demo’s effectiveness at the box office will take place this summer with Freakier Friday, which stars Lindsay Lohan, the Zillennial’s patron saint. Although it would seem like the ideal material for a streaming service, the follow-up to the 2003 bodyswap comedy starring Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis (which is a remake of the 1976 film with Jodie Foster) will be released in theaters in August. One of Disney’s few live-action theatrical productions that isn’t based on an animation that came out recently will be this one.
The threequel to 2001’s The Princess Diaries will go forward, Disney announced late last year, following ten years of will-they-won’t-they. Star Anne Hathaway received more than 3 million likes on her Instagram post formally announcing the project.
Intentional or not, nostalgia is not a novel form of entertainment. Yet, it hasn’t been fully utilized for the millennial generation, which is currently one of the biggest age groups in the United States. S. .
That demo arrived at theaters ready to celebrate a small portion of their childhoods over a long holiday weekend. Stitch’s siren call was answered, whether they were going to the theater as DINKs or SINKs or with their own small children in tow. In case you haven’t heard, Ohana means family, and family means that no one is forgotten or left behind. particularly at the cinema.
A contribution to this report was made by Pamela McClintock.
