Disney’s live-action “Lilo and Stitch” looks set to dominate the box office for the third weekend in a row.
The film will hold off “Ballerina,” a “John Wick” movie, and it held off Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.” When the film opened to a record $183 million on Memorial Day weekend, director Dean Fleischer Camp found it “pretty unbelievable. As you know, I’ve made smaller movies in the past, and this one breaking out in the way that way was so validating.”
The film was originally meant to be a direct-to-streaming title, set to air on Disney+, but things changed in 2024, and the film was given a theatrical release. Camp says of the shift, “I and the other filmmakers always believed that it could be a big, perfect summer blockbuster to go see on a huge screen. I’m proud of how hard it delivers on that. It’s super funny, it’s action-packed, and it’s super emotional.”
Hours before our interview, Camp broke his toe, and outside of the film’s premiere, he has yet to see the film with an audience. “I do want to go to a big multiplex and just sit with the audience and feel it.”
In “Lilo and Stitch,” Camp, who co-wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” helms the story of a young girl, Lilo (Maia Kealoha), who yearns for a best friend. Enter Stitch, aka Experiment 626, a destructive alien who lands on Earth just when Lilo needs him the most.
Here, Camp talks about the film’s success, his filmmaking experience and the ending.
Why do you think this film resonated with audiences in the way it has?
The original movie came out at the perfect time. It didn’t look like anything else Disney had made. It felt so grounded, specific and real in a way. It differed from other Disney movies because it didn’t take place in a fairy tale kingdom and didn’t feature princesses.
Stitch also has this unusual depth of emotion to him. I always related him to Marcel, a little bit in that way where it felt like these are both unusual protagonists who are trying to make their way in this world that wasn’t made for them. They’re funny and cute, but have this deep well of sadness and emotion, and everyone can relate to that. Everyone can also relate to Stitch, who’s this chaos goblin built for destruction, and is someone who’s reckoning with the fact that, “Oh my gosh, I break everything I touch, even when my heart’s in the right place.”
It’s hard to imagine a world where Chris Sanders isn’t Stitch. Was it always the plan to bring him back for the film?
That was one of the first conversations. I made sure to get that assurance before I even said yes to the project. I was like, “Chris Sanders.” And they said, “Yeah, he’s eager to come back,” so working with him was a dream.
I think it really says a lot for the team that created the original movie. That collaborative process was pretty unique at the time, and still, [it was] a lot of those team members’ favorite experience making a movie or one of them. They sort of built this little ohana in making that film, and they were so eager to help out, and enthusiastic about reuniting, helping us, or supporting us however they could.
Maia is great. She’s got a wonderful dynamic with Sydney Agudong, who plays Nani. What was it like seeing them come together?
We had cast Maia first, and then it was all about chemistry reads, and when we saw them together in a room of the audition, it just struck all of us instantly. It seemed like they had been sisters their whole lives, and they were so loving. Sydney is so fiercely protective of her. But then also they get on each other’s nerves, and it just felt really right.
And of course, Hannah Waddingham is brilliant. What was she like?
She’s amazing. She’s so funny. There’s so much recording of Hannah and the Grand Council mask slipping, and her saying stuff that is not appropriate for a Disney movie, but so effing funny to hear it in her voice. I’m so sad there’s not a red-band trailer where we can include them.
Going back, what was your relationship with ‘Lilo and Stitch’ before coming in? Do you remember the first time you saw the animated feature?
Yes, it immediately became my favorite Disney film and, in some ways, contributed to me thinking, “Maybe filmmaking is a job.” But it blew me away because it didn’t look like other Disney movies.
What’s this Maia anecdote you’ve been wanting to share?
We’re doing the scene where Stitch dies on the beach, and we’d been working on it for a while. Even if you’re a really good kid actor, it takes a lot to get there emotionally in a convincing way, especially on a film set where there’s chaos swirling around you, and there’s 100 people watching. And on the first take, Maia nails it and does exactly what you see on screen. That scene where she’s crying and snot blowing, it’s not an editing trick, and it was so moving and out of the blue. I walked up to Maia afterwards, and I said, “That was so good. What were you thinking about?” and she goes, “Oh, I was thinking about how Stitch is going to get to meet mama and papa.” It still gives me chills talking about it, I didn’t give her that, Sara didn’t give her that. That is just an incredibly perceptive and talented kid manifesting this amazing performance from her imagination.
When you adapt something, whether it’s from a book or even an animated feature, there’s always a challenge in what gets left in and what gets changed. And so, the internet has had its opinion of the ending. Can you address your decision behind changing the ending?
I’ve had some time to think about this. I do think that a fair amount of the people who are dunking on that premise have not actually seen the movie, and they write me stuff that is clearly wrong. They get the beats of the story wrong. But when you see it doesn’t feel that way at all, and you see the intent of the actual filmmaking.
There are two larger conversations going on that led us towards that ending. We wanted to expand the meaning of ohana, and ground it in traditional Hawaiian values of collectivism, extended family and community. Chris, who’s Hawaiian, made a really important observation about the original early on in our discussions. He didn’t buy that the two orphan sisters would just be left to fend for themselves. He said, “Neighbors, church groups, aunties and uncles, all these people would step in. That’s just the Hawaii I know and grew up in.” That led him to create this character of Tutu, and she ultimately takes Lilo in as hanai, which is this culturally specific term and tradition that is a form of informal adoption. It isn’t about blood or paperwork, but love and responsibility for the greater good and for one’s community. A lot of Hawaiians who’ve seen the film have picked up on that reference to hanai, and they love that. It’s this uniquely Hawaiian answer to the question of who shows up when things fall apart, and that idea of informal adoption. It shows the broader community’s willingness to sacrifice and do whatever it takes for these girls and for their ohana. I think you can’t satisfy everyone with these remakes. You are treading on hallowed ground when you make one of these, because these are films people grew up with, and I’m one of them, and I totally understand it.
But we didn’t want to just restage the beats of the original film, as much as we both loved it. We wanted to tell a story that’s honest about what it means to lose everything and still find a way forward. People do get left behind, like what Nani says, this is, and it’s incumbent upon the community to make sure that they aren’t forgotten.
You know, there’s an entire Stichverse out there. Would you want to do the sequel or anything else if the opportunity presented itself?
If it was the right idea. I wouldn’t do it just because there’s a new market demand for it. But I also really like the idea of doing an animated spin-off as an episodic or limited series.
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