BOLT FROM THE BLUE

HE'S BACK - AND HE'S READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD AGAIN. DIRECTOR DEAN FLEISCHER CAMP TELLS SFX WHAT IT TAKES TO BRING AN INTERGALACTIC MENACE TO LIVE ACTION IN LILO&STITCH

- CLARISSE LOUGHREY

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE EXPERIMENT 626 - that squat, big-eared, sharp-toothed, extraterrestrial terror better known as Stitch. When the first trailer for Disney's live-action/CG-hybrid remake of 2002's Lilo & Stitch dropped online, it amassed a gargantuan 158 million views within 24 hours, the second-most for any Disney live-action film, behind 2019's The Lion King.

"Honestly, I felt a little bit like, 'Told you so!'" jokes its director, Dean Fleischer Camp. "I don't know why, but it always felt like an underdog thing to convince people that audiences really cared about Stitch."

He may not have a drop of royal lineage in his blood, but for the past two decades Stitch has quietly conquered Disney's fairy tale kingdom, starring in a string of sequels and globe-spanning TV spin-offs, while turning up on every piece of merchandise imaginable. If you're not yet convinced, just walk into your nearest Primark. If Disney's so-called "Renaissance Era" of the '90s was built on fresh interpretations of classic tales, from Beauty And The Beast to Hercules, then its next decade of animated films dared to shred the formula entirely.

It was a new millennium, and with competition looming from the likes of DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner looked to try the company's hand at a smaller, more intimate film. Chris Sanders, head storyboard artist for Disney Feature Animation, offered up the odd, lonesome little creature he'd dreamed up shortly after college, a failed pitch for a children's book. It was a perfect match.