Lilo & Stitch 2 In Development After Impressive $914M Box Office Run For Remake

After a record-breaking run at the box office, a sequel to Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch is now in development. The movie was first released over Memorial Day weekend and earned the holiday’s biggest opening with an impressive $182.6 million. To date, it has earned over $914 million worldwide.

The new Lilo & Stitch largely follows the same story as the 2002 original, tracking the unconventional friendship between Stitch (Chris Sanders), a wild alien, and Lilo (Maia Kealoha), a lonely young Hawaiian girl. Though it made some controversial changes to the story, Lilo & Stitch has been generally well-received.

To celebrate June 26, a date that coincides with Stitch’s experiment number 626, Disney announced that Lilo & Stitch 2 is officially in development. The news came with a video of Stitch himself exuberantly driving a car around the Disney lot. No further details about the project have been revealed. Check out the post below:

What This Means For The Lilo & Stitch Franchise

Disney Is Going All In, And It Isn’t Surprising

Disney’s decision to make Lilo & Stitch 2 isn’t surprising, seeing as the first movie has made nearly $1 billion worldwide. Though it isn’t quite the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of the year just yet – A Minecraft Movie still holds that distinction – its impressive profits have shown this is a story audiences are deeply invested in.

Unlike most potential live-action sequels or spinoffs, Lilo & Stitch 2 has entered development only one month after its predecessor’s release, which indicates Disney is eager to get a sequel produced as soon as possible. Though no official timeline has been revealed, if a script comes together by the end of the year, production could take place next year, and the sequel could be released as soon as 2027.

However, assuming Disney wants to get this right, Lilo & Stitch 2 could instead take a few more years. Nevertheless, the speed of the announcement shows Disney is interested in building upon the Lilo & Stitch brand, which already includes a number of animated sequels and spinoffs. Any one of them could provide the story for the upcoming sequel.

Our Take On Lilo & Stitch 2

The Sequel Could Fix The First Movie’s Mistakes

Much like most Disney movies, the ending to Lilo & Stitch is fairly conclusive, tying up the main characters’ stories in a manner that has sparked a great deal of debate. Still, it is clear that it is only the beginning of a new chapter for Lilo, Stitch, and Nani (Sydney Agudong), so there is still plenty of room for more stories to be told.

With several Lilo & Stitch changes earning criticism from audiences, the sequel could provide the perfect opportunity to fix them and create a more universally satisfying story. It’s rare for one of Disney’s more traditional live-action remakes to get a sequel, and Lilo & Stitch 2 could be an even bigger success for the studio if handled properly.

Source: Disney/Twitter/X