It’s been a while since Disney announced the live-action remake of ‘Lilo and Stitch’, but its production has continued to stir a few controversies, especially concerning the casts. Despite some debates about the project, many fans still have high anticipation for the movie and are waiting for Disney to reveal the official release date.
Let’s take a look at everything we know about the live-action redo of ‘Lilo and Stitch’, including the release date estimate.
‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action Release Date
Officially, Disney hasn’t announced any release date for the live-action ‘Lilo and Stitch’. That said, according to IMDb, the movie will be out on May 10, 2024. However, it is unlikely that Disney will wrap the production in only a year after the announcement of the cast.
Usually, it takes two years for a live-action movie to release from the time of its filming, and ‘Lilo and Stitch’ production only began in March 2023. Therefore, the film may be released sometime between late 2024 or early to mid-2025.
Some even speculate it will be out in summer because the story takes place on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi. However, we need to consider that Disney also plans to release the ‘Snow White’ live-action film around March 2024, so they may push ‘Lilo and Stitch’ further out.
We’ll be sure to update this article once Disney has confirmed some official news.
‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action Cast Details
The first official casting announcement was in February 2023, with Zach Galifianakis set to play Pleakley. Then, in March 2023, Disney revealed another new cast member, Maia Kealoha, a newcomer without prior acting experience who will play Lilo Pelekai.
For the role of our beloved blue alien, Chris Sanders is expected to return to voice the new version of Stitch. Additionally, Billy Magnussen reported joining as a mystery character in the film.
Disagreements started to rise when Sydney Agudong was set to play Lilo’s older sister, Nani. Fans pointed out that Nani is supposed to be dark-skinned like in the animated film, and Agudong doesn’t fit in that aspect even though she is a native of the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i.
Not long after that, it was widely circulated that Kahiau Machado was assumed would take on the role of David, Nani’s love interest and Lilo’s friend. However, Disney didn’t officially confirm this.
Another controversy came up, this time regarding Machado. Fans criticize Disney’s decision to choose Machado, as he has far lighter skin than his animated counterpart.
Online attacks started getting more heated when fans learned about Machado’s Spotify account, where he mentioned racial slurs. Only a week after the report that Machado would portray David, Disney officially recast the role with Kaipot Dudoit.
‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action Plot Speculation
As a remake, ‘Lilo and Stitch’ will likely have the same plot as the animated film. Based on other live-action projects, Disney usually only goes slightly further in creating a new plotline from its original story.
Like the animated film, the story will focus on the alien Stitch when he crashed on Earth, initially planning to create chaos. He was chased by government agents and other extraterrestrial creatures but then adopted as a pet by Lilo and Nani.
Throughout his time on Earth, Stitch befriends Lilo, and he becomes more friendly and finds a new life purpose. This central plot presumably will stay the same.
We can be sure that most of the original characters will show up, especially after Disney discloses the name of the actors that will play each character. But we can also expect to see some new characters because Disney is yet to reveal every character’s name for each actor they recruit.
Fans hope to see Lilo and Nani’s parents because some conspiracy theory pointed out that they were CIA agents but have never been introduced in the animated movie. The film may also involve additional characters from the franchise, like Stitch’s cousin, Experiment 221, or Sparky, from ‘Stitch! The Movie’.
Adding new characters allows the newest version of ‘Lilo and Stitch’ to explore more storylines and add unpredictable twists.
Other than the characters, we can also speculate that Disney will add new musical numbers like in their other live-action remake.
What Else Do We Know About The ‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action Remake?
‘Lilo and Stitch’ officially started shooting in March 2023 in O’ahu, Hawaii, and is expected to wrap in three months or in June 2023. The filming is guided by director Dean Fleischer-Camp, who has successfully directed one of the best movies of the last few years, ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On’.
Mike Van Waes is also involved in the screenplay writing. The whole production is led by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback, who were the producers of Aladdin live-action, along with Ryan Halprin as an executive producer.
As soon as Disney wraps the production, ‘Lilo and Stitch’ will release directly on Disney+ and won’t be coming out in theaters.
‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action Trailer
No official trailer has been released for the ‘Lilo and Stitch’ Live-Action movie at this time, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. However, we’ll be sure to update this article once Disney has released a trailer.