The greatest successes at the Hollywood box office in 2025 have something crucial in common

There is a new Champion of Hollywood films at the Box-Office 2025. With its care on the long weekend of vacation on July 4, the live remake of Disney “Lilo & Stitch” has exceeded “a Minecraft film” as the biggest American film of the year. The Chinese animated blockbuster NE-ZHA 2 “is still standing heads and shoulders above the rest with more than $ 2 billion in its name, but when it comes to Hollywood Productions, Disney is now at the top.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” opened its doors to $ 322 million worldwide over the weekend, taking the lion’s attention. However, “Lilo & Stitch” attracted an additional $ 13.7 million during his seventh weekend, including $ 2.8 million at the national level. This brings its total operating to $ 972.7 million worldwide, including $ 408.5 million nationally and $ 564.2 million until now. It is now almost guaranteed to become the first Hollywood outing of the year to cross the billions of dollars.

With this, it exceeds “a Minecraft film”, which opened $ 163 million at the national level earlier this year, its world total is currently $ 954.9 million. The two films are massive successes and there is no real reason to lower it to raise the other. The two films obtain consequences and will help build franchises that are always important for Disney and Warner Bros., respectively.

More important than all this, however, is the fact that they both have something very crucial in common. Both are PG films with big budget. Both stand above all the rest Hollywood has launched the public so far in 2025. For as many inkings that has been widespread on the success of the “sides” listed ($ 365 million in the world), these family films open the way. To be clear, what “sinners” has accomplished is nothing more shy, but also the silent but very regular climb of the PG film in recent years.

When writing these lines, the fourth biggest film of the year is “Mission: Impossible – The Final Recking” ($ 576.1 million), which is evaluated PG -13. But just behind? Another PG remake, family in the form of “how to train your dragon” (516.9 million dollars), which is in good position to exceed “mission: impossible” when everything is said and done with a global finish more than 600 million dollars. The PG film has a big moment.

There are exceptions, of course, with Pixar’s “Elio” at the ticket office and which is currently having trouble breaking $ 100 million worldwide after two weekends. At the same time, 2024 saw “Inside Out 2” by Pixar win 1.69 billion dollars to become the biggest animated film of all time until “Ne-Zha 2” arrives. Many things have been done on the R “Deadpool & Wolverine” classified R, making $ 1.3 billion to become the second largest film of 2024, but by watching the situation as a whole, seven of the top ten global sizes most last year were PG films.

This includes “Moana 2” ($ 1 billion), “Despicable Me 4” (969.5 million dollars), “Wicked” ($ 756.2 million), “Mufasa: The Lion King” (722.6 million dollars), “Kung Fu Panda 4” (547.6 million dollars) and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” ($ 492.1 million). There is a lot to say about the difficulty that the original films are always faced, even in the PG arena, but it is undeniable that superhero films are fighting, because horror films are not as inflicted on what they once seemed, and that certain long-standing franchises have trouble finding a path to go, PG films thrive.

For years, especially since superhero films dominated the landscape for more than a decade, the dominant theory seemed to be that the PG-13 was the ticket to succeed. This is what helped the Marvel cinematographic universe generate more than $ 30 billion at the box office, culminating in “Avengers: Endgame” (2.79 billion dollars) becoming the biggest film of all time, although briefly. Obviously, in the pandemic era, things have changed.

To be clear, it is not as if a PG note alone is a kind of magic ball that ensures success. This is not the case. Just watch Disney “Snow White”, which is expected to lose around $ 115 million after exceeding $ 205.6 million worldwide this year. But there is power in a film that families can rally. This is what helped “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” overcome a terrible interior opening of $ 12.4 million to end up with $ 480.6 million worldwide. It is the same thing that helped “Elemental” overcome its opening of $ 29.6 million to earn nearly $ 500 million worldwide. With a family film, you often sell several tickets, not just one.

This having been said, another key element here goes beyond the note of these films. Many of them target younger moviegoers with nostalgia that make them meaning. “Minecraft” is one of the biggest video games of all time. The children who grew up playing themselves have proven to be mass to see the film. The people who grew up watching “Lilo & Stitch” in the early 2000s wanted to bring their young children to see the new one. It is not nostalgia for a lot, much older.

The same obsolete nostalgia which contributed to making “transformers” a huge success in 2007 also condemned the “Transformers One” animated in 2024. The people of the twenties who liked these films are then now in the forties with children, careers and responsibilities. Targeting nostalgia that cares about younger moviegoers is extremely important when it comes to ensuring that theatrical experience can live.

Yes, films like “Top Gun: Maverick” which help bring out the older film buffs are also extremely important, but there is certainly something to say for this recent wave of PG blockbusters. They invite a larger and often ignored audience which, when motivated, will appear. These are lessons that can and must also be applied to other films. Your move, Hollywood.

“Lilo & Stitch” is now in theaters.