Everyone’s favorite blue, furry alien is coming back for more shenanigans in Hawaii. Lilo and Stitch 2 is officially in the works at Disney.
On June 26, Disney posted a video of a puppet version of beloved little alien Stitch driving around the Disney Studios lot in a pink toy car designed for kids. Eventually, Stitch sees a “2" on a building and decides he wants that, too. He then does donuts in the parking lot. The camera reveals that his tire tracks spell out “Lilo and Stitch 2,” with Disney adding an “is in development” on the screen after that.
Announcing it on Thursday wasn’t random. It was June 26 or 6-26, aka Stitch’s ID code in the movie. The news of a Lilo and Stitch sequel isn’t really surprising, considering most film industry experts and reporters expected a follow-up to this year’s extremely successful remake to be revealed soon. The recently released live-action adaptation of the original 2002 animated film was a massive box-office hit. It made over $920 million globally on a budget of just about $100 million. That’s a big return on investment in an era when a lot of blockbusters cost upwards of $200 million.
For Disney, the Lilo and Stitch remake’s success comes at a time when it’s been struggling to consistently produce big hit movies. Elio is floundering. Recent Marvel movies have failed to perform as well as past installments. And it’s years away from a new Star Wars movie. So Lilo and Stitch’s runaway success at the box office has likely been a big deal for the company, especially considering its small budget. The remake was originally planned for release on Disney+, but the Mickey Mouse empire’s leaders decided to give it a shot in theaters, and it paid off.
No information about the sequel’s plot or characters has been revealed, and we don’t have a release window yet, either. But Stitch is back. Hopefully, he and Disney figure out a way to improve on the remake’s lousy ending.
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