NEED TO KNOW
- Disney exec Alan Bergman said more Lilo & Stitch live-action films could happen since the franchise “lends itself to more”
- Lilo & Stitch is a live-action remake of the beloved 2002 animated film about an alien crash-landing in Hawaii
- The movie is a box office hit, becoming the biggest Memorial Day weekend debut since 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick
More Lilo & Stitch might be on the horizon.
Ahead of Disney’s live-action remake of the 2002 animated film about an alien crash-landing in Hawaii opening in theaters May 23, Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman expressed confidence that the film’s box office performance could warrant a sequel.
“It feels like it’s going to work very well, and it’s the kind of property that lends itself to more,” Bergman told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published May 20.
The highly-anticipated adaptation, which includes tons of the iconic original moments beloved by fans, beat 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick for the biggest Memorial Day weekend debut in history. Maverick earned $126 million over the weekend and $160 million through the four-day holiday weekend total. Lilo & Stitch hit a record-breaking $183 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo.
Courtesy of Disney
Early reactions to the live-action remake note the film’s inclusion of iconic original moments as a key reason for its success. According to director Dean Fleischer Camp, that was integral to the film’s reimagining.
“We tried to adapt it in a way that paid loving tribute to the original but wasn’t a one-to-one literal translation,” Camp shared in a statement to Disney. “We were very clear-eyed about the fact that animation and live action are two completely different mediums. There are things you can do well in live-action that you can’t in animation, and vice versa.”
He added, “It was always our goal to make something that rhymed spiritually with the original film but was a little modernized.”
Sydney Agudong, who plays Lilo’s big sister Nani in the remake, has also shared appreciation for the film spotlighting Hawaiian culture.
“Hawaii is extremely talented. … To finally get a platform that showcases that, it was absolutely amazing to see. I really hope that it will spark more of that in the future,” she told PEOPLE.
Courtesy of Disney
Disney has previous sequels to pull inspiration from: 2003’s Stitch! The Movie and 2005’s Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, plus Leroy & Stitch came out in 2006.
In Stitch! The Movie, Stitch struggles with adapting to life on Earth with Lilo and Nani. When Captain Gantu (who is not in the live-action adaptation) comes to Earth to kidnap Jumba so he can find out the location of the other 625 experiments (Stitch being Experiment 626), Stitch discovers more of his biological alien family.
In Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch — which takes place immediately after the 2002 film and before the 2003 sequel — Stitch begins to malfunction ahead of an important hula competition for Lilo.
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As for future Disney live-action films, several beloved animated movies are slated to hit the big screen including Moana and The Aristocats.
Lilo & Stitch is in theaters now. The animated film, its sequels and companion TV series are currently streaming on Disney+.
