Is A Live-Action Lilo & Stitch Still Happening Or Is There A Little Less Conversation?
Appearing on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" (via Variety), actor Jacob Elordi — who plays Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla" — admitted that, prior to portraying the King of Rock and Roll, he only really knew the music legend from ... "Lilo & Stitch." Amusing as that is, truth be told, Disney's beloved animated 2002 sci-fi feature was probably how many members of Generation Z came to learn about The King's existence for the first time, some 20 years before Elordi donned his iconic bell-bottomed white jumpsuit for Coppola's memoir and Austin Butler (permanently?) altered his voice to rock out in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis."
In case you need your memory jogged, the original "Lilo & Stitch" sees the titular alien Stitch getting a crash course in Elvis' history from his newfound companion, the oddball young Native Hawaiian girl Lilo, resulting in various montages scored to Elvis tunes like "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" and "A Little Less Conversation." It's one of many quirky touches that help give the film its offbeat charm. This is also one of many reasons why fans of Experiment 626 are eying the House of Mouse's live-action "Lilo & Stich" remake a little like, well, Lilo meeting social worker Cobra Bubbles for the first time and immediately asking him, "Did you ever kill anyone?" The fact that Disney is moving ahead with its retelling anyway is also a little like Cobra's response ("We're getting off the subject").
Speaking of which, it's been five years since the "Lilo & Stitch" remake was announced, which is an uncharacteristically slow turn-around for the Disney remake assembly line. As it were, there are a handful of reasons why the movie — which is still happening, for better or for worse — has been relatively slow to move forward.
Why hasn't the live-action Lilo & Stitch happened yet?
At the risk of going full old-man-yells-at-cloud (which, even by making that joke, might be going full old-man-yells-at-cloud), there was once a time when Disney re-imagining one of its classic animated films in live-action felt like a novelty. These days, though, the studio's live-action/CGI remakes are their own cottage industry, albeit one that has started to see diminishing returns at the box office of late. Still, so long as there's nostalgia to be milked from its older animated titles, Disney will keep at it, so it's safe to assume the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" will ultimately see the light of day.
For that matter, the film might have already finished shooting, had the major studios like Disney been more willing to work out a fair deal with the writers' and actors' guilds back when their contracts were being negotiated earlier this year. Of course, that didn't happen, which led to a historic dual writers' and actors' strike, forcing productions like the "Lilo & Stitch" remake to shut down mid-shoot. This also came after an extended pre-production process that saw director Jon M. Chu ("Crazy Rich Asians") and writer Mike Van Waes ("Dear David") board the project, only for Dean Fleischer Camp ("Marcel the Shell with Shoes On") and Chris Kekaniokalani Bright ("Moana") to later take their respective places.
Despite all that, the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" is believed to have completed the bulk of shooting prior to the actors' strike, so the film itself should still be able to make its 2024 release window. While Disney hasn't been afraid to scrap already-completed projects as part of its recent cost-cutting measures, this is one title that we can probably assume won't get what you might call the "Batgirl" treatment.
Who will the stars of the live-action Lilo & Stitch be?
If you have a hard time imagining anyone other than original "Lilo & Stitch" co-director Chris Sanders voicing Stitch in the live-action version, well, good news, you don't have to! Sanders joins a cast for the remake that includes Maia Kealoha and Sydney Agudong as Lilo and her sister Nani, with Courtney B. Vance playing Cobra Bubbles and Kaipo Dudoit playing Nani's would-be love interest David (don't worry, Nani likes his butt and fancy hair). Meanwhile, Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen are lending their voices to Stitch's crooked creator, the eccentric alien scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba, and Agent Pleakley, a so-called Earth expert who accompanies Dr. Jookiba on a mission to recover Stitch (although there's some discrepancy over which actor is voicing which).
In a fun nod to its predecessor, the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" has also cast Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee — who voiced Nani and David in the original animated film — as two brand-new characters in the form of a social worker and lua manager, respectively. Amy Hill, who had a small voice role in the animated "Lilo & Stitch," will similarly play David's grandmother Tūtū, another new addition to the story.
What could happen in the live-action Lilo & Stitch
By and large, Disney's live-action remakes have been fastidiously faithful (often to a fault) to the original animated films, save for when it comes to details that could use a little updating. There are exceptions like "Maleficent" and "Cruella," but in those cases, the films are essentially prequels to older Disney classics that re-imagine their villains in a more sympathetic light. That's a long way of saying that the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" shouldn't be all that dramatically different from the animated version.
The original animated film is an "E.T."-style yarn about an extra-terrestrial befriending a lonely child — except, in this case, the alien is Stitch (aka Experiment 626), a chaotic, foul-mouthed (never fear, he only says naughty words in his own language, so no need to fret about covering your kiddos' ears) illegal genetic experiment who flees the intergalactic authorities to hide out on Earth as a rather unusual-looking dog adopted by Lilo, a Native Hawaiian girl being raised by her older sister Nani after their parents' deaths. In true heartwarming fashion, these two lovable weirdos prove to be exactly what the other one needs and the film itself is one of the funnier yet emotionally complex explorations of found-family (or, in Lilo and Nani's case, Ohana) that Disney has ever made.
So no pressure on the live-action version.