Lilo & Stitch 2 To Be Directed By Franchise Co-Creator Chris Sanders

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is progressing with development for a live-action Lilo & Stitch 2, the sequel to 2025's original Lilo & Stitch remake. Furthermore, the report confirmed that Chris Sanders will be the director of this massive sequel, taking over the job from Dean Fleischer Camp. Sanders is best known for co-directing and co-writing the original animated Lilo & Stitch movie, and he also provided the voice of Stitch in animation and live-action. On top of all that, he is the writer for the live-action sequel, which was first reported in Jul. 2025.

Lilo & Stitch delivered the biggest Memorial Day weekend opening in box office history ($183 million) and went on to become Hollywood’s first billion-dollar-grossing movie of 2025. It is one of Disney's most successful live-action remakes in history.

The film, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, follows an alien who accidentally comes to Hawaii, where a girl adopts it alongside her elder sibling. The remake altered some major plot points in the ending from what originally happened, as Lilo was adopted by her neighbor, Tūtū, while Nani went off to study marine biology in California. This ensued after Stitch sacrificed himself to save Lilo during an underwater crash, although Nani revived him before the Grand Councilwoman allowed Stitch to remain on Earth.

For the sequel, which will be an original story and not draw from any existing animation content, Jonathan Eirich will produce via Rideback, and Ryan Halprin will serve as executive producer. Sanders also penned the screenplay for the sequel.

Sanders has a long, illustrious history of successful animated projects as a writer and director, including 1998's Mulan, 2010's How to Train Your Dragon (co-directed with Dean DeBlois), and 2024's Oscar-nominated The Wild Robot. Sanders is also working on developing a sequel to the 2005 animated film Robots for DreamWorks Animation. Sanders first created Stitch in 1981. He is represented by WME and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark.

Lilo & Stitch 2 debuts in theaters on May 28, 2028