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While Disney’s live action Lilo & Stitch may have received mixed reviews when it hit theaters in 2025, there’s no denying that the film was a big hit. The movie made over a billion at the box office and was a streaming hit as well as it brought to life one of the House of Mouse’s most beloved animated films. With a hit that big a sequel announcement soon followed and now, that follow up just got a huge update and it might be the best news ever for fans.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Sanders has signed on to direct Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch sequel. If for some reason that name doesn’t ring any bells for you, Sanders not only was the voice of Stitch for the live action and animated versions of the character and has been involved as the screenwriter on the sequel, but he’s also the co-creator, co-writer, and co-director for the original Lilo & Stitch movie. The sequel is set to start filming later this year.
Bringing In Stitch’s Co-Creator Proves Disney Cares About The Sequel
Sanders taking the role of director for the sequel is actually a really big deal and it indicates that Disney is taking the Lilo & Stitch franchise very seriously. The original Lilo & Stitch animated movie was a huge hit for Disney and delivered a genuinely original story for fans. The film not only features a really loveable character in Stitch, but the story itself is special, taking sci-fi and pairing it with a really gripping and deeply emotional core tale of family. The film takes the concept of ohana (nobody gets behind or forgotten) and makes it not only a memorable aspect of the movie but a message with serious resonance beyond the screen. Lilo & Stitch worked so well in part because it wasn’t a princess story but was something more grounded, something just about every audience member young and old could identify with.
While the 2025 live action film attempted to capture the same magic and was somewhat successful, the film did garner a little criticism, particularly over its ending, with some feeling like the film had lost its “ohana”. Notably, while Sanders did voice Stitch in that movie, he didn’t write it so the announcement last year that Sanders would return to write the sequel already signaled that the next installment was heading in a good direction, even though the new sequel will be an entirely new story and not one derived from the direct-to-video sequels to the original film. By bringing him on as a director, it suggests that Disney wants to lean more into the things that made the original Lilo & Stitch great and bring back the heartwarming, emotional elements of the film that some felt the live action film missed. While we don’t yet know what the story will entail, knowing how moving the original animated film was and knowing that one of the major creatives that delivered that to us the first time is back, we’re already feeling pretty positive about Stitch’s big live-action return, mischief and all.
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