Lilo & Stitch (2025 film)

Lilo & Stitch is a 2025 American science fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, it is a live-action animated remake of Disney's 2002 traditionally animated film Lilo & Stitch. The film stars Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, and Maia Kealoha in her film debut, with original Lilo & Stitch writer-director Chris Sanders reprising his voice role as Stitch.

Development on a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch began in October 2018, with writer Mike Van Waes and producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich attached. By November 2020, Jon M. Chu was in talks to direct, while Van Waes left the project despite still being credited. Fleischer Camp and Chris Kekaniokalani Bright were announced as the film's new director and writer respectively in July 2022, with casting taking place between November 2022 and June 2023. Principal photography ran from April to July 2023, filming during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike until suspending production due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and then in February and March 2024 after both strikes ended. Dan Romer composed the score, and Industrial Light & Magic provided the film's visual effects with the assistance of several other effects houses.

Lilo & Stitch premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on May 17, 2025, and was released in the United States on May 23, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $1.038 billion, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2025 and the highest-grossing live-action/animated hybrid in history, being the first of its kind to gross over $1 billion. A sequel is in development, with Sanders returning as writer.

Plot

On planet Turo, Dr. Jumba Jookiba is convicted by the United Galactic Federation of illegal genetic experimentation, for creating an aggressive, near-indestructible creature with advanced learning capabilities called Experiment 626. Jumba is imprisoned, while 626 is exiled for his destructive behavior. However, 626 escapes by stealing a police cruiser and using its hyperdrive to reach Earth, crashing on Kauaʻi. The Grand Councilwoman offers Jumba freedom if he recaptures 626, pairing him with Earth expert, Agent Pleakley. 626 crashes near a wedding reception and is run over by a tourist trolley before being taken to an animal shelter. A Hawaiian girl named Lilo Pelekai is expelled from hula school for pushing her bully Mertle off stage due to frustration over her sister Nani's absence. Their social worker, Mrs. Kekoa, visits and finds Nani unfit to care for Lilo, demanding she complete her tasks in three days.

The next day, having heard that Lilo wants a friend, their neighbor Tūtū takes Lilo to the animal shelter where 626 is kept. Realizing Jumba and Pleakley are after him, 626 impersonates as a dog and allows Lilo to adopt him for his protection. Nani takes them to her resort lūʻau job with her friend David Kawena. Lilo names 626 "Stitch" after Nani comments on having to stitch a car seat he tore. They enjoy the resort, but Stitch accidentally causes a table fire, leading to Nani's dismissal.

Nani is visited by Kekoa and Cobra Bubbles, a CIA agent posing as Kekoa's social director to investigate Stitch's arrival. Kekoa insists that Nani find new employment immediately. However, she is rejected after many interviews due to Lilo and Stitch's antics. Lilo helps Nani secure a job as a surfing instructor, and they enjoy surfing after her first shift. Meanwhile, Jumba and Pleakley fail to capture Stitch while jet skiing, causing the Pelekais and Stitch to wipe out, almost drowning Lilo when Stitch sinks.

After Lilo's recovery, Kekoa informs Nani that the Hawaiian government will cover her health insurance costs if she relinquishes her guardianship—a decision she reluctantly accepts. As the sisters share a final night together, Stitch reflects on his actions and forlornly returns to the animal shelter alone. Meanwhile, the Grand Councilwoman, frustrated with Jumba's failure to capture Stitch, cancels their deal and orders Pleakley to return Jumba to prison. However, Jumba escapes Pleakley and plans to capture Stitch instead.

Kekoa and Bubbles arrive the next morning to find that Lilo is missing, so they and Nani start searching for her. Lilo finds Stitch at the shelter, but Jumba arrives to recapture Stitch. They escape to the Pelekais' home and fight Jumba, destroying their house. During the battle, Jumba reveals that Stitch used Lilo for his protection, leading to a guilt-ridden Stitch's surrender. Jumba takes Stitch aboard his spaceship using a portal-generating gun, intending to erase Stitch's newfound empathy. However, Lilo sneaks aboard and frees Stitch, and they eject Jumba from the ship. The ship crashes into the ocean, trapping Lilo and Stitch underwater. Stitch rescues her, but as he cannot swim to the surface, he releases her to let her emerge and drowns.

Nani and David rescue Lilo, but she refuses to leave Stitch. David returns Lilo to shore while Nani swims back to get Stitch from the ocean floor. They reach shore, but Stitch remains unconscious. After Bubbles finds Pleakley and they rejoin the group, David revives Stitch by jump-starting his lungs. Shortly after, the Grand Councilwoman arrives and re-arrests Jumba. After seeing Stitch's change of heart, she decides to let Stitch exile on Earth with his newfound ʻohana. The Grand Councilwoman vows to keep in touch, with Pleakley living with the Pelekais to watch over Stitch. As the Pelekais, Stitch, and company return home, Kekoa tells Nani she can transfer Lilo's guardianship to David, Tūtū and Bubbles, letting her stay home. The ʻohana then repairs the house and lives happily.

In a mid-credits scene, Nani, now attending the University of California, San Diego to study marine biology with Lilo's blessing, uses Jumba's portal gun to visit Lilo and Stitch in Kauaʻi.