The circle of life must make room for a new species as an adorable blue, goblin-like alien pays tribute to Disney’s The Lion King for the new Lilo & Stitch teaser trailer. While we’re still months away from Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch movie, the mouse-eared studio is happy to bait fans with brief glimpses at the upcoming adaptation’s main character. Today’s Lilo & Stitch teaser finds Stitch being held high in the air at the beach, a nod to the iconic scene from The Lion King when Rafiki presents a baby Simba to animals of the Pride Lands. Looking closely, you can see Stitch’s orange swimmies, a device that keeps inexperienced swimmers from drowning. I suspect Stitch is adept at the doggie paddle, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo in reimagining the studio’s 2002 animated classic. Other players include Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, 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.
Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) directs Lilo & Stitch from a script by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, based on a previous draft by Mike Van Wess. Disney announced the studio’s live-action Lilo & Stitch in February 2018, but footage of Stitch bursting through the film’s logo debuted at 2024’s D23 conference. Lilo & Stitch joins the studio’s long list of live-action remakes after adaptations like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Dumbo, Mulan, and The Little Mermaid. Disney won’t stop there, of course. Live-action versions of Bambi, Peter Pan, Tangled, and Moana are also in the works, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as Maui for Moana.
The timing for Disney’s new Lilo & Stitch teaser trailer could not be more timely as the Barry Jenkins-directed Lion King prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, arrives in theaters on December 20, 2024. Are you excited about Lilo & Stitch, or have you grown tired of Disney’s live-action remakes? Let us know in the comments section below.