A Live-Action Version of ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Is Officially in the Works
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Love ’em or hate ’em, Disney is really leaning into this whole live-action remake thing, and next up on the docket is the much-beloved Lilo & Stitch. Now, you may be wondering (because I know I am) how exactly this movie will work as a live-action film considering half the characters are animated aliens that’ll likely have to be CGI’d. What does a live-action Stitch even look like?!
Well, Disney has got a lot of the deets tightly under wraps, as expected with the House of Mouse, but we do have a decent amount of information about the Lilo & Stitch remake so far. From casting intel to filming locations, here’s what we know about the new Lilo & Stitch movie.
Has Lilo & Stitch filming started? Where are they in the remake process?
Production was scheduled to start in April 2023, and let’s be real: There’s only one place this movie can really film: Hawaii. In the animated movie, the characters are supposed to be living on the island of Kaua’i, but according to reports, the movie was seen filming in Oʻahu.
Is there a release date or concrete timeline for Lilo & Stitch yet?
Not yet. *sigh* We’ll just have to stay tuned for an actual release date...BUT, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the new movie will be a “tentpole feature for Disney+,” so we can at least expect it to come out on the streaming app.
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Will the live-action version follow the same plot?
As far as fans know, the movie is going to be a straight-up remake, so we can pretty safely assume it’s going to generally follow the same plot as the animated original. Of course that means plenty of Lilo antics, people mistaking Stitch for a weird dog, aliens getting into laser gun fights, and some very wholesome themes about what it means to be part of a family.
If you’re not familiar with the OG movie, it’s about a lonely 6-year-old girl living in Hawaii named Lilo being raised by her older sister, Nani. Lilo adopts a “dog-like” alien that was created to be an epic force of destruction. With both aliens and social workers on their trail, their little family has to figure out how to stick together.
Who plays Lilo, Nani, and David? Who has been cast in Lilo & Stitch?
The starring role of Lilo will be taken on by 6-year-old Hawaiian-born actress Maia Kealoha, and Nani will be played by Sydney Agudong. Nani’s love interest David will be played by Kaipo Dudoit after another actor originally cast as David was let go amid the unearthing of social media posts containing racial slurs.
As for fellow newbies to the Lilo & Stitch movie world, we’ve got Zach Galifianakis playing Jumba (one of the the aliens after Stitch) and Billy Magnussen as Jumba’s sidekick, Pleakley. Courtney B. Vance is playing Cobra Bubbles, the CIA-agent-turned-social-worker checking in on Lilo and Nani.
And there are some familiar faces—er, voices—returning from the original too. We’ve got Tia Carrere (who voiced Nani in the original) returning to play Mrs. Kekoa, an entirely new character to the film. Also returning is Chris Sanders, who voiced Stitch in the animated film and will be doing so again in the live-action version.
The movie’s overall casting news has prompted discussions of colorism in Hollywood, as Native Hawaiian fans specifically have pointed out a track record of Disney whitewashing characters in light of the studio casting Nani as a lighter-skinned, biracial actor. (Disney has not publicly responded to the criticism.)
Not being Indigenous or from a PoC community, it may not be easy to see a problem with this casting, but within our communities this is a big issue.
No offense to Sydney, but Nani is Indigenous Hawaiian with strong features and dark skin, this casting is blatant colorism. https://t.co/OLnw0KZlt4— 🪶Cuchillo Lope🪶 (@HosteenCholo) April 14, 2023
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