As Disney gives Lilo & Stitch the live-action treatment more than 20 years later, fans of the original have some questions.
Director Dean Fleischer Camp recently responded to fans who questioned why the alien doesn’t wear a dress as a disguise in the upcoming remake, which premieres May 23 in theaters, after the one-eyed extraterrestrial rocked some gender-bent disguises in the animated version.
“I have had people message me, ‘Why is Pleakley not wearing a dress?’” said Camp as he responded to comments on TikTok. “And I just want to say, I tried… I tried.”
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For proof, Camp shared what appeared to be his original concept drawings for Pleakley, wearing a wavy red wig and a blue dress.
In March, the first live-action trailer showed Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis as Agent Pleakley and Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Stitch’s creator. Whereas the animated version of the characters (voiced by Kevin McDonald and David Ogden Stiers, respectively) used human clothes to blend in, their live-action counterparts appear to use a device that gives them the appearance of humans.
After the sneak peek dropped, it quickly became Disney’s second most watched live-action trailer with 158 million views in the first 24 hours. The movie has also posted the best first-day ticket presales for a PG title year to date, tracking to make $120 million over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend.
