The recent success at the box office of the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch has only fueled the merchandising machine linked to the character, with an evergreen popularity even of its cartoon debuts. For over twenty years it has ensured Disney dizzying revenues, more massive than ever in 2025.
It is always said that the Disney “lives on merchandising”, but is rarely quantified how much money actually flows into the cash register: The Hollywood Reporter presents us with a very concrete example, that of Stitch. The cute pest alienborn genetically ruthless but affectionate when reciprocated by the little girl Usageit’s true flag bearer of the company: this role translates into a scary figure (and relating only to 2025!) of dollars obtained from products related to him. Even during charity shows Disney Holiday Magic Tour in the USA, the parent company chose Stitch and not Mickey Mouseas this year’s standard-bearer of the initiative. A symbolic overtaking (but it seems not yet economical).
Stitch is the symbol of Disney values (in every sense)
Who knows if, when they were preparing the “little” film Lilo & Stitch (2002) in the Florida branch of the Walt Disney Animation Studiosits authors Dean DeBlois e Chris Sanders (the latter also the original voice of Stitch) expected to even create one new company mascot. Only in 2025 the merchandising linked to the exuberant Experiment 626 brought it home well 4 billion dollars: a box office success like the real life remake Lilo & Stitch (1,040,000,000 dollars for a rumored 100 million budget) does not only end at the cinema, but restarts thegeneral interest in the brandBetween theme parks and recovery of animated films from the past. From a corporate point of view, the Hollywood Reporter points out, Stitch is themost effective embodiment of Walt Disney’s methodwhich aimed at a true “ecosystem” in which each sector fed the other. At the same time, Stitch does not create any perception problems and any controversy, because very few can question it sympathy and valuesas Asad Ayaz, Disney’s chief brand officer, explains: “When you look at some of our most famous and long-lived characters, you notice that they are always the funny ones, a little silly, a little undisciplined but who in the end always do the right thing. Stitch is just like that: he has flaws that we all recognize, sometimes he’s a bit of a scoundrel, but he always tries to do his best. Quell’authenticitythat instant familiarity, is what turns a character into a cultural phenomenon which works generation after generation.” We add, phenomena like this arise even when the authors leave free to experiment with something new in a certain context.
The original cartoon has given rise to animated sequels / prequels over the years for the “home video” (as they used to say): Try it again Stitch! (2003), Lilo & Stitch 2 – What a disaster, Stitch! (2005), Leroy & Stitch (2006). Another real-life chapter is in the workswill be filmed next year, even with the screenplay by Sanders himself, away from DreamWorks Animationwhere he recently signed the jewel The wild robot.
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