The film tells the story of "the bond formed between a lonely human girl named Lilo and a dog-like alien named Stitch, who is engineered to be a force of destruction. Pursuing aliens, social workers and the idea of the bond of family figure into the proceedings."[2]
Cast
Maia Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai, a six-year-old Native Hawaiian girl "who loves hula, surfing, and wildlife, with a special affinity for all things 'gross'."[3] She's very imaginative yet rebellious, which gets her into trouble often and ostracizes her from her classmates, who consider her a "weirdie". Unlike the original film, which portrayed her and Nani's parents having died relatively recently by that film's events, their parents will have been dead for "a few years" by the remake's events, with Lilo hiding her grief through "relentless, fun loving optimism".[4][5]
Chris Sanders as the voice of Stitch, a blue koala-like illegal aliengenetic experiment known as Experiment 626, who is adopted by Lilo. He is described as "[u]nruly, impulsive, and freakishly strong; he's a furry, ugly-cute wrecking ball seemingly bent on destroying everything in his path."[5] Sanders, who created the character, reprises the role he originated in the 2002 animated film.
Sydney Agudong as Nani Pelekai, the 18-year-old sister of Lilo and her legal guardian. She is described as "intelligent, overachieving, athletic, Type A" and a "straight-A student" who has been feeling the increasing pressures of having to take care of Lilo while maintaining her school grades and her job, causing issues with her and Lilo's social worker, with child protective services threatening to separate the Pelekai sisters and put Lilo into foster care.[6]
Billy Magnussen as the voice of Agent Pleakley,[8] a Plorgonarian agent of the United Galactic Federation and their "expert" on Earth. He is sent down to the planet to prevent Jumba from harming any of Earth's life forms while hunting 626.
Kaipo Dudoit as David Kawena, an 18-year-old Native Hawaiian community college student and surfer who is kind to Nani.[5] He performs the "fire knife dance" at the hotel where he and Nani work at.[5][9] Kahiau Machado was originally cast in the role,[9] but he was recast shortly thereafter due to his prior usage of a racial slur.[10]
Tia Carrere as Mrs. Kekoa,[11] a 55-year-old AANHPIsocial worker who is "a practical, by-the-book kind and patient woman who checks in regularly with Nani", but is nevertheless aware of Nani's struggles to keep up with her duties.[5][3] Carrere was originally the voice of Nani in the animated continuity.
Hannah Waddingham as the voice of the Grand Councilwoman, the alien leader of the United Galactic Federation and its council who orders Jumba and Pleakley to capture Stitch after his escape.[13][14]
Amy Hill as Tūtū,[11] a Native Hawaiian in her 70s who is the long-time neighbor of the Pelekais and the grandmother of David Kawena.[3] She is described as "a warm, quick-witted woman who speaks with a local Pidgin accent."[5] She is original to this film, as none of David's family members appeared or were referred to during the original animated continuity, nor did Lilo and Nani have close neighbors during said continuity.[5] Hill previously voiced Mrs. Hasagawa in the original film and Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
On October 3, 2018, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a live-action/computer-generated animation hybrid film remake of Disney's 2002 animated feature film Lilo & Stitch. The film was set to be adapted by Mike Van Waes, produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, and co-produced by Ryan Halprin.[2][16] On October 24, 2018, Van Waes revealed that he began to work on the remake's script.[17] On November 13, 2020, Jon M. Chu entered talks to direct the film, while Van Waes was reported to have left the project, with the studio looking for a new screenwriter to re-write Van Waes's script,[18][19] though Chu would ultimately not direct the film due to other obligations. On July 14, 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that Dean Fleischer Camp was chosen to direct instead, while Chris Kekaniokalani Bright was in talks to rewrite the script;[20] Bright was fully confirmed to be the writer in February 2023.[7] The day after Deadline Hollywood's announcement of Fleischer Camp and Bright's involvement, Van Waes quote tweeted from Deadline Hollywood's tweet on their article, welcoming Fleischer Camp and Bright to the film's production, possibly indicating that he is still involved with the film.[21]
The film was given the working title Bad Dog, a reference to the ever-misbehaving Stitch being mistaken for and adopted as a dog, while the new production company established for the film was named "Blue Koala Pictures, Inc." in reference to a typical description of the character's physical appearance.[22]
Casting
While it was speculated that the original film's co-writer/co-director, Chris Sanders, would reprise his role as the voice of Stitch in the remake, Sanders claimed in a September 2022 interview that Disney had not yet approached him on reprising the role, although he stated that he is always open to returning to voice his creation.[23]
In February 2023, Zach Galifianakis joined the cast in a then-unspecified role. While TheWrap reported at the time that he would voice Pleakley,[7]The Hollywood Reporter contradicted them in April when they reported that Galifianakis was instead voicing Dr. Jumba Jookiba.[11] In late March, Maia Kealoha was cast in the lead role as Lilo Pelekai.[4]
In April 2023, Billy Magnussen was cast as the voice of Agent Pleakley,[11] and Sydney Agudong was cast as Nani Pelekai.[6] Later that month, Kahiau Machado was cast as David Kawena,[9] while Courtney B. Vance was cast as Cobra Bubbles, who fans initially believed was cut from the film's cast of characters.[12]Tia Carrere and Amy Hill, who both voiced roles in the original film and its original sequel material such as Lilo & Stitch: The Series, were cast in new roles, with Sanders in final negotiations to reprise his voice role as Stitch.[11]
The castings of Agudong and Machado were met with controversy on social media shortly after their announcements, with accusations of colorism and whitewashing towards Disney and the film's casting crew, as the two actors are of lighter skin tones than their characters' original animated counterparts.[24][25] Sydney Agudong—the older sister of actress Siena Agudong—is a mixed-race woman born and raised on Kaua'i (where the franchise is mainly set) to a Caucasian mother and a father who is Filipino.[24][26][25] Agudong received comments on her Instagram account attacking her for accepting the role.[27] After Internet users discovered that Machado previously used a racial slur on his Spotify and Instagram accounts, Disney quietly recast him with Kaipo Dudoit.[11][10][28] Machado later posted an apology for his prior use of the slur via Instagram on April 27, 2023.[28]
In June 2023, Jason Scott Lee, who voiced David Kawena in the original film and Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005), revealed on the podcast Kyle Meredith With... that he will have a cameo in the film as the manager of the luau where Nani and David work at.[15][29]
On April 16, 2023, a fire broke out in a trailer within the base camp of the film's set in Haleiwa, causing approximately $200,000 in damage.[32][33][34] The trailer contained costumes that would have been used for the first three weeks of filming.[35] The fire started before 11 PM HST and was extinguished by 1 AM the following day.[32][33][34] There were no reported injuries, although the beginning of filming was delayed indefinitely. The Honolulu Police Department classified it as a first-degree arson and opened an investigation in response.[32][33][34][35]
Filming eventually began by May 1, 2023, when a portion of the Kalanianaole Highway was closed for the film's production.[36] Filming was suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[37] It eventually resumed in February 2024 and finally wrapped in early March that year.[38]
A first look at the film's live-action Stitch design was revealed at the 2024 D23 convention on August 9, 2024.[40][41]Screen Rant and Collider both reacted positively to the reveal.[42][43] On November 8, 2024, during D23 Brazil, Disney released a still from the film showing Stitch wearing a lei and looking at an out-of-focus Lilo while standing on her bed.[44][45] On November 22, Disney published the first teaser poster for the film, featuring an extreme close-up of Stitch.[46] On November 25, Disney released the first teaser trailer, showing Stitch on a beach destroying a sandcastle modeled after the castle in Disney's production logo.[47][48] On November 27, the same day of the wide release of Moana 2 (which the first teaser was attached to in theaters), a new poster was shown featuring Stitch with a Kakamora from the Moana franchise in his mouth, alluding to the original film's crossover-based marketing campaign in which Stitch invaded other Disney films.[49] On December 18, two days before the release of Mufasa: The Lion King, another crossover poster and another teaser trailer were released (the latter attached to Mufasa), both showing Stitch being held up in the air in the same vein as the presentation of baby Simba in The Lion King (1994).[50] The trailer shows him, wearing water wings, being held up by a pair of human arms until he struggles out of them to splash in shallow seawater.[50] The accompanying poster has him being held up by Rafiki instead, as with The Lion King "Inter-Stitch-al" trailer for the original Lilo & Stitch film.[50]
Release
In November 2020, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported that Disney had not determined whether the film would be released theatrically or through Disney+.[18][19] In November 2022, it was confirmed via a casting call that the film was to be produced for a direct-to-streaming Disney+ release.[3] In August 2024, the film was shifted to a summer 2025 theatrical release.[51] In October, the film was given a release date of May 23, 2025.[52]
