***SPOILERS***

Please continue pre-release discussion here

Movie: Lilo & Stitch (2025 Live Action) (Starring: Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Chris Sanders, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Kaipo Dudoit, Hannah Waddingham, Jason Scott Lee)

Release Date:
May 23, 2025

Rating:
PG

Runtime
1h 48 min

Budget
$100 million (estimated)

Box Office
Opening weekend:
$183 million domestic
$341 million worldwide

#1 Memorial Day Opening Weekend (besting Top Gun Maverick)
#2 Four Day Opening Weekend (behind Black Panther)
Variety

Synopsis

A lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

IMDB
IMDB 7.2, 1,444 votes as of 5/22/25

Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes 72% Critics, 93% Audience as of 5/23/25

Metacritic
Metacritic Score 52 Mixed or Average as of 5/22/25

Trailer:

Poster



Merchandising

I’m seeing this tomorrow. But I went to see Mission Impossible today at AMC and there was a huge line of families buying the Lilo and Stitch merch. They set up a separate table to get it after you ordered at the Kiosk. I saw a bunch getting the Stitch doll cup. It’s pretty big too.

23 years after the original animated film debuted without much fanfare and went on to be one of Disney's biggest viral hits the much anticipated live action version debuts.

I just got back from seeing this at an absolutely packed fan event. This is absolutely going to be a crowd pleaser and hit a billion dollars. Everyone in the theater was really excited and absolutely decked out in Stitch merchandise. Almost every family (sadly including my own) bought one of the ridiculously priced Stitch popcorn buckets for an eye watering $60. (at least it included a large popcorn and drink) I'm pretty sure they were sold out by the time we left. All the many kids in there were pretty quiet which tells me it captured everyone's attention. During the credits there were people up dancing and girls in hula outfits dancing the hula. It was a very fun and engaging atmosphere.

As for the movie itself I thought it was Disney's best live action adaptation to date. But keep in mind that's still a really low bar to step over. No, it's not as good as the original animated classic but it does justify it's existence. In live action, the story of Nani and Lilo take center stage with Stitch's story and general antics as more of a supporting role. Maia Kealoha as Lilo does an excellent job here in not only acting against the non existent Stitch but also serves as the heart of the movie. And that's one thing I think this movie gets right is the emotional impact that I think was the true star of the original cartoon. That's how it justifies it's existence as a live action remake. Sydney Agudong also does an admirable job playing a youthful older sister forced in to the role of a mother.

I did really appreciate how close it was to the original. A lot of the dialogue was retained in a good way. It did felt like they glossed over some beats from the original almost like fulfilling a checklist. I thought the changes they did make were fine or even an improvement. Even though I did miss the giant Gantu from the original he wasn't as missed as I thought he would be and would either not fit in with the real world or likely would have received backlash from a character redesign. I think it was fine they left him out. I thought how they handled Jumba and Pleakly were fine too with Galifianakis and Magnussen able to play the roles well as themselves and their alien counterparts. Although Galifianakis's voice took a lot of getting used to coming from the late great David Ogden Stiers. I do with they gave Galifianakis more leeway with the roll to make it more his own. More off the cuff, more memorable.

Overall I thought it was a really great Disney film and definitely shows that when Disney respects the source material while still offering something somewhat new live action remakes can make an impact with audiences.

Saw this tonight. Have never seen the animated film. Liked it. Didn't love it. Stitch is very well done but the other aliens look like something from 10-15 years ago. The lightning in particular always looked off on the head leader alien. The Galifianakis alien looked really offputting.

The girl who played Lilo and her sister were very good and it was a nice surprise to see Tia Carrere.

Well the aliens were from 23 years ago so you're not wrong. They also pretty much used the exact same design as the cartoon except for Jumba so they did look odd existing in the real world.

My daughter also didn't like Jumba's design. I think it was the hair that was weird. But it was funny they called it out in the movie itself.

Wow that's pretty fascinating that you never watched Lilo & Stitch but you watched the live action remake on opening night. I was wondering how this movie would play to someone who never watched it. I wonder what you would think of the cartoon now.

Even stranger I have seen a few episodes of the tv series or at least the equivalent of a few episodes. I remember stopping while channel surfing a few times when Pleakley was on screen as I'm a big Kids in the Hall fan.

Don't have Disney + currently and probably won't until late summer but when I do I'll watch the original film. Have never heard a bad word spoken about it so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Will post in here when I do.

The original Lilo and Stitch came out during that era when Disney was dabbling more into slapstick alongside Emperor's New Groove, it doesn't stand strong on a story level but it's a fun, if slight, movie.

Disney animation was in a long terrible stretch around that time, Lilo & Stitch was by far the highlight over the rest of the subpar movies like Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, etc. Princess and the Frog came out in 2009 and look more like the quality of second tier animation Swan Princess from 20 year earlier rather than Frozen that came out 4 years later. If Disney didn't have their distribution deal with Pixar back then, they would have been done as a company. I'm seeing Lilo & Stitch this afternoon, I'm optimistic so far, but I actually prefer a shot for shot remake like Lion King over completely reworked live action remakes like Mulan which completely missed hitting the beats of the original movie that made it special. The original Lilo & Stitch had a lot of heart from the interactions with Lilo and her sister, and even that photo montage at the end was great.

I’m very curious what you’ll think of it. It’s not a shot for shot remake but it definitely respects the source material. Our family absolutely hated the Lion King because it was a shot for shot remake..except with less expressive animals. And Seth Rogan (I HATE that guy). I can respect what Mulan was trying to do and was looking forward to it but it just wasn’t great at all. For our family our favorites have been Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast and now L&S.


What are you talking about?! First of all Princess and the Frog is one of Disney’s absolute greatest masterpieces. Finally we have a Princess from the USA. FINALLY we have a black Princess. The music was incredible and the story and message are on point and brings the princess tale into the modern age. And it was a triumphant return (unfortunately a swan song) to hand drawn animation. The movie is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a totally different media than the CGI animation of Frozen.

Tia Carrere played Nani in the original and Jason Scott Lee played David. That’s why they were there.

I really wish they got Ving Rhames to play Cobra Bubbles. He would have been awesome to see in live action as himself. Plus he would have had the top two movies this weekend playing CIA operatives in very different movies.

I've watched spoiler reviews and with changing the villains and the ending from the original this is a pass for me.

I enjoyed the movie well enough, I didn't need the aliens to disguise as humans, but the small changes they made throughout the movie as you mention held the spirit of the original film.

It could be that I wasn't the target audience anymore, as my daughters were aging out of Disney fare by that time, but I remember it was a rough stretch to get excited about any Disney content while my daughters were growing up, with only Pixar putting out all stellar movies at that time.

It was fine. Nothing to write home about. Small pet peeves. Lilo doesn't wear her trademark little red muumuu. They don't really go into Stitch's programming as an ultimate weapon. Prefer the original with Gantu. Didn't need the addition of the separate social worker and the neighbor tutu. I feel like there were some missing scenes. All in all, I would have preferred a straight up adaptation of the of the animated original.

I just got back from a near full Dolby showing. All the Lilo and Stitch merch at my local AMC was completely sold out except some tin popcorn buckets.

Anyway, I loved this. IMO, this was the best Disney live action adaptation so far. A lot of charming characters and heart. Loved Maia Kealoha. Such a delightful young actress with so much charm and personality. And loved her chemistry with Sydney Agudong as Nani. I really believed their on screen characters as sisters. And Chris Sanders did a good job reprising Stitch.

Almost everything worked for me. There was heart and laughs and really showed what family was about. Not everyone is going to think the same and some will probably nit pick and tear it apart more. But, that won't be me. Loved seeing Tia Carrere again and she looked great.

If you have little girls, yes I recommend taking them to see this. I think this will make so much money this Holiday weekend. The theater tonight was packed.

This was a great live-action version. Loved how Tia and Jason had roles too. The actresses who played Lilo and Nani played their roles perfectly. This will make an easy billion dollars. It's been a while since I've seen the theater as a whole this packed.

It is a really weird choice they didn’t have Lilo in her original outfit. I really wonder why. Maybe they didn’t want to remind the audience quite so much of the original character? Distance her self and performance from the original Lilo? A really odd choice especially from a marketing standpoint. But I guess they didn’t have trouble with that with this movie. Although to be fair I didn’t notice until the end of the movie.

I didn’t mind the new Neighbor character so much. She was fine and it gave Nani more story and a better ending than the first one. Or at least a more wrapped up realistic ending. The first one just glossed over the social work conflict. Also she was also part of the original cast so that’s cool too.

I do wish they made Stitch a darker blue. Maybe they thought it wouldn’t come across as believable IRL. But a darker shade would have been nice. Maybe just a touch lighter than his original. And I think we would have accepted it just fine. He still looks a bit weird to me especially in merchandising with as light as he is. But the cynic in me believes they did this on purpose to sell new merch with movie Stitch.

Also the original voice of Lilo turns 35 this year!!!!!!! Yes you’re old. You’re welcome!

Weird to think that Daveigh Chase was also Samara Morgan in The Ring.

There is a poster giveaway on Monday for those seeing it in Dolby.

X - Formerly Twitter

My family and I enjoyed it. I think it was probably the best of the live-action remakes, but I have not seen all of them.

As someone who is really over these live action remakes (and has not seen probably the last five of them) this was a fun time. It's been well over a decade since I've watched the original, so I am not up to date (and don't really care) about the changes. They got the broad strokes right, the messaging, the iconic lines, etc and that was enough for me. The weak link was the human forms of the pursuing aliens... it's a shame this didn't get a theatrical budget which might've given them more time in their alien form, but I understand the decisions behind it. I think a quick sequel (before the Lilo actress grows up too much) is in play, and we can get more of the aliens.

Also I remembered while watching the film with my Sister's kids that we saw the original together at that same theater...kinda neat how things come back around like that.

As predicted it’s doing gangbusters. Hopefully Disney will learn the right lesson from this in that audiences will turn out for a well made live action remake that actually respects its source material. But nah they’ll just keep pumping out the remakes and sequels.

https://variety.com/2025/film/box-of...ed-1236410025/

Weekend Opener:
$183 million domestic
$384 million world wide

#1 Memorial Day weekend besting Top Gun Maverick
#2 4 day weekend opener behind Black Panther.

I watched the original before seeing the new one yesterday. The animation in the original really shows its age not to mention the blanket stereotype of Polynesians. Everyone had the exact same wide nose it seemed.

The new one was really great. Most importantly, it was mentioned that Stitch's density would increase exponentially when he was in water. Nothing was really made of that in the original but it became a real plot point in this version with Nani to the rescue which was great (family!). The person I saw it with agreed that this far surpassed the original to the point that we will never watch the original version again. I especially appreciated the inclusion of Tia Carrera as the social worker after she had already voice Nani in the original. Didn't really miss the Elvis content from the original but like that Stitch showed up in the jumpsuit in the closing credits.


Well done all the way around! Bravo!

The barista at my local coffee shop HAATTTEEEDD this adaptation, which weirdly made me more curious to watch it

I have zero interest to see this, but I am actually curious about the reactions to it. Particularly from those who were kids when the original released. For instance, Snarky Jay here, who adores the original since she was six years old, really hates this version.

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I'm actually surprised that so many loved it. Not sure if it's just rose colored glasses from the original