Lilo & Stitch Live Action Movie Release Date, Trailer, Cast, Plot, and More
There is some new information on an up-and-coming Disney project, live-action Lilo & Stitch. We will be talking about its potential cast, team, plot, and much more that is hopefully coming soon to Disney+and theatres all around the world. But before we start analyzing all the details, let’s start with some basic information. What is the release date for Lilo & Stitch live-action movie?
Although there is no official confirmation on the exact release date yet, the movie’s IMDb page is hinting that we can potentially see its release somewhere in 2024. The project is still in its early development stage but there are some new updates regarding the Lilo & Stitch live-action adaptation. It was confirmed that Dean Fleischer Camp is set to direct the movie. Mike Van Waes wrote the latest draft but the situation is still developing since Chris Kekaniokalani Bright is currently in talks for writing the script. There is no confirmation on who is going to be a part of the cast but Chris Sanders, the original director and voice actor for Stitch said that he is open to playing the role once more.
Now that we gave you the short answer, it’s time to move on to the mentioned details. If you want to find out everything about the plot and cast of the new Lilo & Stitch movie, stay with us and keep reading!
The plot
The original film tells the story of a young Hawaiian girl, Lilo, who recently lost her parents. She lives with her older sister Nani who is trying to keep custody of her. Their lives get even more convoluted after they decide to adopt a weird-looking dog. Lilo was always attracted to odd things and with that came her choice of companion whom she decided to call Stitch.
An extraterrestrial koala-like creature that was created as an experiment by a mad alien scientist. Life on the Island is hard, even more so when you’re having to take care of a sibling while at the same time you’re trying to make ends meet. We find out that Nani left her potentially professional sports career.
There are a lot of gold medals and cups in her room, awards that she got from participating in different surfing competitions. Details like that are sprinkled throughout the film. Especially when it comes to Lilo and Nani’s relationship. It’s a film that’s not afraid to show all the messy parts of life and close family relationships.
News surrounding the upcoming project
The first news that broke surrounding the live-action project was back in 2018., according to Deadline, Disney was then in the early development stage. Mike Van Waes was writing the script and Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, producers of the live-action Aladdin remake, are set to produce the film.
Since then, the project went through some changes. In November 2020., it was reported that Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu was in talks to direct Disney’s live-action adaptation.
Lin and Eirich are still set to produce with an addition to the team, Ryan Halprin will be executive producing. Mike Van Waes wrote the first draft and at that time there was a search underway for a new writer to give that draft a polish. It is unknown whether the film will have a theatric release or on Disney Plus.
Now, for the most recent news, the final decision for the director was announced in July of this year. Dean Fleischer Camp is set to direct the live-action adaptation. Fleischer Camp’s most recent project is his animated A24 pic Marcel The Shell With Shoes On.
Writer Chris Kekaniokalani Bright is in negotiations to write the script, Van Waes wrote the previous draft. The project is still in its early phase of development so there are no actors attached to the project as of yet, nor has it been confirmed whether will there be a theatrical premiere or on Disney Plus.
Film’s origin story
The original film has an interesting origin story. Chris Sanders, director of the original Lilo & Stitch movie first created Stitch in 1985 for a children’s book. Unfortunately for Sanders, that idea never succeeded when it was pitched. After the huge success that Disney had in the 90s, it was beginning to slowly fall off the radar.
Which created a perfect time to pitch out-of-the-box ideas. Sanders and Dean Deblois had worked on a fair share of projects up until then and decided to pitch their idea for Lilo & Stitch.
It became one of Disney’s biggest hits and one of its few canon films to have an original idea. They had applied Watercolor backgrounds, a style not seen since the release of Dumbo in 1941., not to mention the very interesting approach to marketing. Stitch was an outsider, and the movie was an outsider, so they decided to roll with it.
For the promotional materials, they would insert Stich in different Disney original universes. One example was of him flying next to Aladdin in his spaceship while he flirts with Jasmine and then takes her away from him.
In the end, Lilo & Stitch grossed over 270 million dollars worldwide, it was a huge success. Quickly after that, it had two direct-to-video sequels and a series titled Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
Chris Sanders has by now built quite the repertoire of projects he’s worked on like Mulan, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Croods. When asked about the new live-action project he said: “I’d be very curious how they handle Stitch’s textures … If he’s not the same shape, he’s not the same character … Staying true to his appearance will be critical.”.
The character of Stich will most likely be rendered in CGI and since in the animated film, it’s much easier to believe that Stitch is somewhat resembling a dog. It will pose a difficult task for the team to create a version of Stitch that stays true to the original but also fits into a believable setting of the real world.
We can compare it to this animatronic version of Stitch that was built as part of a Disney World ride. Sanders further says: “Standing in front of him was intimidating. Because you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s what he would look like if he was in the real world?’ … People would be jumping out of windows and running for their lives. If it’s on-screen, will you be able to forgive it if he looks exactly the same?”
It was apparent that the core themes of the film really resonated with a lot of its viewers, talking about kindness, self-acceptance, and finding family was what brought the story together and left a significant impact on the culture as well.
Cultural impact
Something that makes this film unique is its approach to personal relationships and something we can appreciate today, representation. It’s always nice to see that even in times before the shift towards more progressive thought, we have a positive representation of people of color and cultural customs.
Specifically, when looking at Nani and Lilo as we mentioned earlier their relationship is not always perfect, they fight, just like sisters would but it serves a bigger purpose of showing a realistic relationship between the two. It is also one of the first times in Disney history where a female body is drawn to look realistic, with curves, not just a really thin and perfect-looking body type that was the norm up until then.
Most importantly, every artist working on the film had to learn about the different Hawaiian customs, like their traditional dance called Hula. They thoroughly researched their movements and the clothes that are a part of this tradition.
We can definitely say that this is going to be an exciting new project from Disney and hopefully the news regarding the cast and the rest of the team will soon be released. Chris Sanders has said that he’s always open to working on projects related to Stitch so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he will continue to voice our favorite extraterrestrial friend.