Lilo & Stitch: Maia Kealoha, the voice actress for Lilo, will be coming to Japan on June 26th, "Stitch Day"

Disney's live-action film "Lilo & Stitch" (directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp) was released on June 6th, and to commemorate its huge success in Japan, including being ranked first for two consecutive weeks, it has been announced that 8-year-old Maia Kealoha, who plays Lilo, will be visiting Japan for the first time on "Stitch Day" on June 26th. Stitch is the 626th prototype alien created by Professor Jumba, a genius scientist of the Galactic Federation. In honor of that prototype number, June 26th will be "Stitch Day" and an event will be held to celebrate her visit to Japan.

When deciding on the cast for the role of Lilo, they recruited people who love hula dancing, surfing, and wildlife, and after a long audition process, the winner was Maia Kealoha, a native of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, who is making her film debut in this film. She will be coming from Hawaii on the day, and at the event she will be reunited with Yuzuno Nagao, the Japanese voice actress for Lilo, who recently spoke with Maia in a remote interview.

The film is a live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film of the same name produced in 2002. It is a fantasy set on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, depicting the important bond of "ohana (family)." A young girl named Lilo and her older sister Nani, who have lost their parents, are confronted by Stitch, a rowdy alien who knows no family love. Stitch's unpredictable actions cause chaos on the peaceful island, but this miraculous encounter eventually changes the sisters who were close to losing hope.

In the Japanese dubbed version, in addition to Yuzuno as Lilo, voice actor Koichi Yamadera plays Stitch, MOMONA from the 11-member girl group ME:I plays Nani, Kaito Nakamura from the popular group Travis Japan voices the kind-hearted surfer David, and voice actor Yuji Mitsuya voices the alien Preekly.

"Lilo & Stitch" got off to a better start than the Japanese opening record of "The Lion King: Mufasa," the highest-grossing live-action foreign film of 2024, and won first place in audience numbers for the first week, and then for two consecutive weeks. By June 22, the film had grossed approximately 1.825 billion yen and attracted approximately 1.26 million viewers. The film's worldwide box office revenue has exceeded 910 million dollars (approximately 132.8 billion yen in Japanese yen) (according to Box Office Mojo, 1 dollar = 146 yen conversion, as of June 23).