Disney’s live-action animated hybrid of its 2002 classic is poised to make a ton of money at the box office this Memorial Day Weekend, and the House of Mouse is already looking ahead to what the future holds for the film’s chaotic critter with endless energy. Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman said, “It feels like it’s going to work very well, and it’s the kind of property that lends itself to more.” More, you say? I smell a Lilo & Stitch sequel!
In addition to audiences getting excited for Stitch’s return to the silver screen, Disney is rubbing its claws together at the thought of all that sweet cash it’ll make from selling Lilo & Stitch merchandise. Sales for Lilo & Stitch products are booming, with everything from original film copies to t-shirts, popcorn buckets, and wearable Stitch ears flying off shelves.“We’ve seen the thing explode from a Disney+ and consumer-products perspective,” Bergman told The Wall Street Journal about fans going gaga products celebrating the film’s revival.
Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo in reimagining the mouse-eared studio’s 2002 animated classic. Other players include Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Courtney B. Vance, Sydney Agudong, and Chris Sanders as the voice of Stitch. The plot focuses on a young, parentless girl who adopts a “dog” from the local pound, utterly unaware that it’s supposedly a dangerous scientific experiment that’s taken refuge on Earth and is now hiding from its creator and those who see it as a menace.
According to analysts, Lilo & Stitch stands to make a mint this Memorial Day Weekend with an estimated $140 million debut, an amount close to what the original made during its entire theatrical run. When you add the launch of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to the Memorial Day Weekend mix, both films could yield a box office boom of close to half a billion in a single holiday weekend window!
Is it too early to discuss a Lilo & Stitch sequel? Would the sequel follow the 2005 animated sequel Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch? Would Disney write something entirely new? What do you think the studio should do? Let us know in the comments section below.
