Disney may be known for its princesses, but one of its most popular characters is the loveable blue imp Stitch who debuted in the 2002 animated movie Lilo & Stitch. Well now he’s back and in live-action (well, in Stitch’s case CGI), as a live-action Lilo & Stitch movie is coming to the big screen in 2025.
This has been a playbook for Disney for a while now, who has made live-action versions of their animated classics like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Mulan and Aladdin, with ones for Snow White and Moana coming up (DreamWorks is also taking that idea with a live-action How to Train Your Dragon coming in 2025). Will a live-action Stitch be as much of a hit as the animated one was?
Before we can answer that question, we’ve got answers to all the other questions you may have about the Lilo & Stitch movie right here.
Lilo & Stitch release date
Disney has set Lilo & Stitch to premiere on May 23, 2025. That is Memorial Day weekend in the US, which is the unofficial start of summer.
That is just shy (one month shy, to be exact) of when the original Lilo & Stich animated movie came out. If you want to catch up with the original movie before the remake, it is available to stream on Disney Plus.
Lilo & Stitch cast
Who’s playing the iconic duo of Lilo and Stitch in the movie? Well, Lilo is set to be played by Maia Kealoha, making her acting debut with the role. As for Stitch, the character is going to be computer animated, but he will be voiced by Chris Sanders, who not only voiced the character in the original movie but also is credited with the idea for the story and writing the original screenplay.
The rest of the cast includes Sydney Elizabeth Agudong as Nani, Kaipo Dudoit (Magnum P.I.) as David Kawena, Billy Magnussen (Road House) as Pleakley, Tia Carrere (the original voice of Nani) as Mrs. Kekoa, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as Grand Councilwomen, Courtney B. Vance (Grotesquerie) as Cobra Bubbles and Zach Galifianakis (Only Murders in the Building season 4) as Jumba. Voice actors in the original movie, Jason Scott Lee and Amy Hill are also returning for the live-action movie.
Lilo & Stitch plot
Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Ness are the screenwriters for the live-action Lilo & Stitch. Here is the official synopsis for the movie:
“A live-action reimagining of Disney’s 2002 animated classic, Lilo & Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family.”
Lilo & Stitch trailer
We’re waiting on an official trailer for the Lilo & Stitch live-action movie, but a teaser that sees Stitch being his wonderfully destructive self is now available. Watch it right here:
Another Lilo & Stitch trailer harkens back to the original animated movie's marketing strategy, placing Stitch in other Disney movies. In this case, it's playing off The Lion King. Watch below:
Lilo & Stitch director
Dean Fleischer Camp is directing the live-action Lilo & Stitch. He is well versed in combining live-action and animation, having directed the acclaimed Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, his lone feature narrative credit to date.
Lilo & Stitch behind-the-scenes
There hasn’t been a lot of behind-the-scenes information shared about the movie yet, but we do know that Disney is making no substitute for the Hawai’ian setting, shooting the movie in Oahu.
Chris Sanders also spoke with The Hollywood Reporter when promoting The Wild Robot, teasing the project by saying “I have been able to see a few things, and I can’t tell you what I’ve seen,” Sanders shared at the time. “But they allowed me to see some peeks of what they wrote, too, and it’s really cool.”
This is not specific to the movie, but just a fun coincidence. Dean DeBlois was the co-writer and co-director on the animated Lilo & Stitch, but he is not directly working on this project. That is because he has his own live-action remake of an animated classic, How to Train Your Dragon, which comes out just a few weeks after Lilo & Stitch premieres in movie theaters.
