Disney+ is about to get a major addition as one of the studio’s biggest hits of the year lands on the streaming service.
Back in 2002, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois brought audiences Lilo & Stitch, the hand-drawn Disney animated feature that told the story of a young Hawaiian girl named Lilo and the alien experiment she adopts as her pet. At the heart of the film is the Hawaiian concept of “ʻohana,” a theme that resonated deeply with audiences. The movie’s mix of heartfelt storytelling, hand-crafted animation, and a soundtrack filled with Elvis Presley songs helped make it a success that would later spark sequels and a TV series.
More than twenty years later, the studio revisited the tale with a live-action/CG hybrid. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), the reimagined version stars newcomer Maia Kealoha as Lilo, alongside Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, and Courtney B. Vance. Chris Sanders also returned to voice Stitch. Initially planned as a Disney+ exclusive, the project shifted to theaters after the runaway success of Moana 2 (2024), which had made the same leap from streaming development to theatrical release.
That decision paid off. The live-action Lilo & Stitch grossed $1.033 billion worldwide, topping Warner Bros.’ A Minecraft Movie (2025), which earned $957.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Stitch has continued to be a key character across Disney merchandise, theme parks, and media, and in June, Disney confirmed a sequel is already in the works.
The franchise’s surge in popularity has extended beyond theaters. Nielsen reported that between June 2–8, 2025, the original Lilo & Stitch entered the Top 10 most-watched movies on streaming, pulling in 236,000 minutes viewed. It shared the chart with titles like Amazon Prime’s The Accountant 2 (2025), Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and The Wild Robot (2024).
Deadline highlighted how strong the franchise has become for the company: “The Lilo & Stitch franchise in series and the original pic has driven over 579 million hours on Disney+ around the globe,” the outlet noted. “The original Lilo & Stitch has accounted for more than 306M hours of viewing on the OTT service. Disney+ global. Retail sales for Stitch have grown from $0.2B in 2019 to $2.6B in 2024, representing a ten-fold increase.”
What’s On Disney Plus also pointed out: “The original animated film, Lilo & Stitch, continues to get a boost in viewership following the release of the new live-action version, highlighting the benefit of the large back catalog of titles available on Disney+.”
Now, the 2025 adaptation is headed home to Disney+ tomorrow, September 3. Once it arrives on streaming, the billion-dollar blockbuster is expected to see another surge in viewership.
The studio has seen recent theatrical underperformers like Marc Webb’s Disney’s Snow White (2025) and Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* (2025) rebound strongly on Disney+. With Lilo & Stitch already a proven hit, its arrival could put it among the streamer’s most-watched titles to date.
The film begins streaming on September 3 on Disney+.
