20 facts you might not know about 'Lilo & Stitch'

Disney had made some big-budget films in the ‘90s, and they had largely paid off. We’re talking Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and more. After that, Disney CEO Michael Eisner had something he wanted from his animation production. Namely, a smaller, less-expensive film to try and balance things out.

Chris Sanders was one of the head storyboard artists for Disney, and he was asked to pitch an idea. Sanders had actually created the character of Stitch way back in 1985, when he created the creature for an unsuccessful children’s book. Sanders had the character, but he needed a new idea for a movie.

Sanders pitch was successful, and he got to co-write and co-direct the film with Dean DeBlois. While Sanders had previously co-written Mulan, this was DeBlois’ screenwriting debut. It was both of their directing debuts.

Sanders didn’t just create the idea for the story, co-write, and co-direct. He also lent his voice…sort of. Sanders voiced the character of Stitch as well, though he did it under his full name of Christopher Michael Sanders.

They felt that a remote location was necessary for the film, probably partially for the story and also for the simplicity of the animation. Originally, the movie was going to be set in Kansas, not unlike The Wizard of Oz. Then, Sanders decided to change it to Hawaii, where no animated feature had been set before.

Tia Carrere plays Nani in the film, while Jason Scott Lee plays David. Carrere was born and raised in Honolulu, while Lee was raised in Hawaii and is of Hawaiian descent. Both helped rewrite the dialogue of the Hawaiian characters to ensure proper dialect, and to include local Hawaiian slang as well.

Setting the movie in Hawaii had another benefit. To research, the animation team went on a trip to Kauai, the island that the film is set on. While there, they hooked onto the local concept of “’ohana” in addition to checking out the look of the island. Beats a trip to Kansas, we bet.

Sanders and DeBlois decided they wanted to use watercolor for painting the backgrounds. This used to be the way animation was done, and it was the style used on films such as Snow White and Dumbo. However, it had fallen out of practice after the 1940s. Still, the directing duo felt like it was the best way to make the film look like a brightly colored storybook.

How did the animation team help keep the cost down on this movie? Well, they didn’t use any CGI, naturally. On top of that, they removed little details from clothes like pockets. Also, many scenes took place in shaded areas. Why? Because that way they didn’t have to animate shadows.

Aliens and extraterrestrial life play a big role in Lilo & Stitch. For the designs of the spacecraft and other outer-space elements, the directors turned to the water. The spaceships were designed to look like whales, crabs, and other assorted marine life.

Many of the secondary and tertiary alien characters are modeled off Winnie the Pooh characters. You can notice aliens that look like Roo, Piglet, and Tigger in the mix.

At one point, Stitch steals Dr. Jumba and Agent Pleakley’s spacecraft and flies it, albeit not very effectively. Watching a little blue alien struggle to fly an alien spaceship is pretty entertaining. It also wasn’t the original plan. They had actually already animated Stitch effectively hijacking a Boeing 747 and flying that. Then, during production, 9/11 happened. Needless to say, the directors decided to change that scene.

In the United States, the trailers for Lilo & Stitch made use of the Elvis song “Hound Dog.” Considering that Stitch disguises himself as a dog, that makes sense. However, in the United Kingdom, all the trailers used a cover of Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” performed by Pop Idol star Gareth Gates.

Elvis Presley famously made a movie in Hawaii, but Lilo & Stitch is just as indebted to the music icon. There are five Elvis songs on the soundtrack of this film. In fact, more Elvis songs appears in Lilo & Stitch than even in any of the movies Elvis starred in.

Both Sanders and DeBlois worked on Mulan, which was one of the three films that were animated down at Disney’s studio in Orlando in the brief time that existed. They gave the movie a couple of nods in their film. Nani has a Mulan poster on her wall, and there is also a restaurant called “Mulan Wok.”

In the theatrical version of the film, Lilo hides from her sister Nani in the dryer. However, Disney apparently became concerned that would lead to children hiding in dryers. For the home release, she hides behind a pizza box in a cabinet. This is the version of Disney+.

Lilo & Stitch was made for $80 million, which was apparently not expensive for an animated film in 2002. They didn’t have to sweat it. The film made $145.8 in the United States and Canada and $273.1 million worldwide. Disney actually ended up needing this hit. The planned big animation release for Disney in 2002 was Treasure Planet, which cost $140 million to make. It only generated $110 million in the box office and was a massive flop.

The Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards had only debuted in 2001, and only three films were nominated. In 2002, five films were nominated, and one of those was Lilo & Stitch. It did not win, as animation legend Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away won. Interestingly, Daveigh Chase, who voiced Lilo, did the English dub of the main character in Spirited Away.

Don’t expect Disney to turn down an opportunity to bleed a well dry. Lilo & Stitch was followed by three direct-to-DVD sequels, which were released in 2003, 2005, and 2006. There was also Lilo & Stitch: The Series which ran from 2003 through 2006 and aired 65 episodes. We didn’t even get into the video game adaptations.

Disney has been doing live-action adaptations of its animated films for a little while now. Even though one of the two main characters in Lilo & Stitch is a little blue alien, there have been plans to add this film to the live-action mix as well. It was first announced in 2018, but it's still reportedly in development. Sanders is in talks to voice Stitch once again, though.