Lilo & Stitch 2 will start filming “soon,” according to Maia Kealoha, the actress who played Lilo in Disney’s 2025 live-action remake. The confirmation came during the live-action Moana premiere, where Kealoha fielded the question every fan of the Hawaiian-set franchise has been asking since the studio set a sequel release date.
The 2025 Lilo & Stitch remake crossed $1.038 billion worldwide against a $100 million production budget, making it one of four films released in 2025 to clear the billion-dollar mark. Disney has already locked a release date for the follow-up and replaced the original director. A new animated short featuring Stitch arrives in theaters before the end of the year, with the live-action lead reprising her role.
Maia Kealoha Says Filming Will Start ‘Soon’
Kealoha gave the update to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet at the live-action Moana premiere. Asked when fans could expect the sequel to the 2025 Lilo & Stitch, the actress who played Lilo Pelekai responded with a short answer. Maia Kealoha told ET, “Well, [it’s] getting started soon. So excited.”
Well, [it’s] getting started soon. So excited.
The line is the first on-record timeline confirmation from the sequel’s lead since Disney locked its release window. Kealoha has appeared in character at multiple Disney premieres since the 2025 remake opened, including a Moana 2 event in Hawaii, but had not previously addressed the sequel’s production schedule on camera. Her Moana co-stars are no strangers to franchise extensions either: the live-action Moana arrives in theaters this month, with Kealoha on the carpet to promote it.
Disney Already Set a May 2028 Release Date
New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro used his first address to shareholders since succeeding Bob Iger to drop two franchise dates. Lilo & Stitch 2 will open on May 26, 2028, the start of the long Memorial Day weekend, the same release pattern that the 2025 remake rode to its record-breaking $183 million four-day debut.
The shareholder meeting also positioned the sequel against another Disney tentpole: Incredibles 3 lands three weeks later on June 16, 2028, with Elemental director Peter Sohn taking over from Brad Bird. D’Amaro used the date drop to make the case that Disney can balance original storytelling with franchise extensions, telling shareholders that nostalgia cuts across generations and that originals remain “immeasurable in terms of their value across all divisions of the company.” That framing leaves room for the live-action Lilo & Stitch follow-up to lead the 2028 summer slate without explicitly competing with Pixar’s return to the Parr family. (See Disney’s May 2028 release date announcement.)
Why Chris Sanders Is Taking the Director’s Chair
Dean Fleischer Camp, who directed the 2025 remake, will not return for the sequel. Disney is bringing back Chris Sanders, who co-created, co-wrote and co-directed the 2002 animated original with Dean DeBlois. Dean Fleischer Camp stepping aside is the first major creative reset for the follow-up. (See Chris Sanders confirmed as the sequel’s director.)
Sanders has stayed close to the franchise for 24 years. He has voiced Stitch across the 2002 animated original, the Disney Channel series, and the 2025 live-action remake. Beyond Lilo & Stitch, he co-directed 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon with DeBlois, then The Croods, and made his live-action directing debut on 2020’s The Call of the Wild before pivoting to The Wild Robot for DreamWorks. The filmography matters here: he is the only person who has been involved with Stitch since the character’s first frame.
The deal escalated. Disney initially announced Sanders in 2025 as the sequel’s writer only, with The Wild Robot 2 keeping him off the director’s chair. The directorial upgrade arrived later, with reporting attributing the swap to Camp’s exit rather than to a Sanders-led campaign for the seat. The studio has not detailed why Camp is not returning for the sequel.
Putting the franchise co-creator back in charge of a live-action follow-up is a different kind of bet than the 2025 remake represented. The original remake hired Fleischer Camp to put his own stamp on the property. The sequel is returning the keys to the person who invented Stitch on screen. Disney’s wager is that the franchise’s DNA sits more reliably with Sanders than with the director who translated it to live action once.
A Stitch Short Lands First, in November
Fans will see Stitch on the big screen before the sequel starts shooting. Disney unveiled Lilo & Scratch at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, an animated short that will play in theaters alongside Hexed beginning November 25. Fawn Veerasunthorn and Malcon Pierce co-direct the short, which reunites Kealoha and Sanders as the voices of Lilo and Stitch. (See the Lilo & Scratch short reveal at Annecy.)
The original film has made such a huge impact on our artistic journey and the same goes for many of the artists on our team who reached out to us when they heard we were pitching a Stitch short.
That line came from Hexed co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn, speaking to Deadline after the Annecy panel. Veerasunthorn and Pierce framed the short as a fan project inside the studio, noting that the team had pulled together artists who had worked on the 2002 original. The most specific get: Alex Cooper Schmidt, the supervising animator for Stitch on the animated film, is on the short’s crew.
The plot is small in scope and built for theatrical pre-show energy. Lilo brings home a new rescue cat, and the cat turns out to be after Pudge the fish, sending Stitch into a chase around the island. Sanders returns as Stitch’s voice, and Kealoha voices Lilo, marking the first time the 2025 remake’s lead has reprised the role in animation. The studio framed the short as the first new Disney theatrical short in five years.
The Billion-Dollar Remake That Made the Sequel Possible
The 2025 Lilo & Stitch remake was the engine behind every announcement since. It was produced for $100 million and grossed $1.038 billion worldwide, finishing as the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2025 and the highest-grossing live-action/animated hybrid ever released. Its domestic final settled at $423,778,855 according to box-office data compiled through October 2025.
Stats snapshot:
- Production budget: $100 million
- Worldwide gross: $1.038 billion
- Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 91%
- Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 72%
How the sequel got greenlit, in five steps:
- October 2018: Disney announces development of a live-action Lilo & Stitch remake, with Mike Van Waes attached to write.
- July 2022: Dean Fleischer Camp is announced as director and Chris Kekaniokalani Bright as co-writer.
- April 2023 to July 2023, then February to March 2024: principal photography, paused during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
- May 23, 2025: the live-action remake opens wide in U.S. theaters.
- May 26, 2028: Disney sets the sequel’s release date.
Critics and audiences split on the result. The 72% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes sat well below the 91% audience score, a gap the studio has leaned into with the franchise’s younger fanbase. The remake also reshaped the story: Lilo was adopted by neighbor Tūtū, Nani left for marine biology at UC San Diego, and Galactic Federation Captain Gantu, a key antagonist in the animated canon, was cut entirely. Those are the loose ends a Sanders-written sequel can either preserve or restore.
What a Sanders-Led Sequel Could Mean
Sanders writing the screenplay gives the sequel a path back toward the animated canon the 2025 remake trimmed. Bringing back the franchise co-creator is the cleanest signal yet that the sequel can reverse plot changes, including Gantu’s absence, without re-litigating them from scratch.
Disney’s path here runs counter to another recent animated-hit play. The creator of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters shut down live-action remake talk, arguing the property loses its energy outside animation (see another creator who ruled out a live-action remake). Disney is going the other way, doubling down on live-action extensions of its animated library rather than holding the line.
Open questions sit on the timeline. Disney has not publicly detailed why Camp exited the sequel. No additional cast beyond Kealoha and Sanders (in voice) has been announced. The May 26, 2028 date assumes a production schedule that has not started, and the November short is the only firm proof-of-life until cameras roll.
The studio has its November test, then its May 2028 date. The first move is Lilo & Scratch in theaters with Hexed. The bigger bet is whether Sanders can carry the franchise co-creator role back to a live-action tentpole.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will Lilo & Stitch 2 come out?
May 26, 2028, the opening of the long Memorial Day weekend. Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro announced the date at a shareholder meeting.
Who is directing Lilo & Stitch 2?
Chris Sanders, who co-created, co-wrote and co-directed the 2002 animated original and voices Stitch. He is also writing the screenplay. Dean Fleischer Camp, who directed the 2025 remake, is not returning.
Who is in the Lilo & Stitch 2 cast?
Maia Kealoha is attached to return as Lilo. Chris Sanders continues as the voice of Stitch. Additional cast has not been announced.
What is Lilo & Stitch 2’s prequel short, and when does it come out?
Lilo & Scratch is an animated short film that will play in theaters alongside Disney’s Hexed starting November 25. Fawn Veerasunthorn and Malcon Pierce are directing, with Kealoha and Sanders reprising their roles.
How much did the 2025 Lilo & Stitch remake make?
The 2025 remake grossed $1.038 billion worldwide against a $100 million production budget, with a 91% audience score and a 72% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
