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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Elvis & Lilo & Stitch: 'Everyone's Favorite Elvis-Loving Alien' pulls up to Graceland
Elvis and Ann-Margret. Elvis and Nancy Sinatra. Those teams were popular with audiences. But not as popular as Elvis & Lilo & Stitch. Released in 2002, the Disney animated feature film "Lilo & Stitch" introduced audiences to a lonely young Hawaiian girl and Elvis fan, named Lilo, and her new "pet," Stitch, a somewhat dog-esque genetically engineered extraterrestrial who liked to rampage but really yearned for a hug. Together, the duo pursued 'ohana (a Hawaiian term for "family") while playing "Suspicious Minds" on a portable record player and battling space aliens. Like Stitch's stolen spaceship when it crash-landed on the island of Kauaʻi, the movie made an impact. It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature (it lost to Miyazaki's "Spirited Away," as any movie would), and collected $273 million at the international box office. (In comparison, 1964's "Viva Las Vegas," with Elvis and Ann-Margret, earned the equivalent of $94 million, in 2025 dollars.) On May 23, Disney released a new "Lilo & Stitch," the latest in its series of more-or-less live-action remakes of beloved animated features (other examples — all with digitally animated characters — include "Beauty and the Beast," "Mulan" and "Snow White," to name a few). Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (who charmed audiences with the low-budget "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On"), the movie preserves but de-emphasizes its predecessor's Elvis connection. Even so, in the actual live-action world — the world of Disney and Graceland, of marketing and merchandise, of fans of music and movies — Elvis & Lilo & Stitch remain inseparable. "The amazing thing is that each generation gets introduced to Elvis in a different way, and for a certain generation, 'Lilo & Stitch' was how they were introduced to Elvis," said Angie Marchese, vice president of archives and exhibits at Graceland. "Now in their mid-20s, these people became fans because of the Disney movie," she said. "And now there's a whole new generation of kids who will be introduced to Elvis and his music through this new live-action version." How many kids? A lot of 'em: The new "Lilo" immediately established itself as a blockbuster. According to Variety, the entertainment industry newspaper, the movie set a Memorial Day weekend record by collecting an estimated $183 million at the U.S. box office. With the addition of its overseas revenues, Variety added, "Lilo & Stich" is off to "a staggering $341.7 million global start." On May 22, the evening before the movie's official release date, Disney hosted an invitation-only screening of the new movie in the 464-seat theater at The Guest House at Graceland, the hotel on Elvis Presley Boulevard that is located just north of the Elvis mansion. Attendees — mostly Elvis fans already connected to Graceland via various mailing lists — packed the house. They snagged free "Lilo & Stitch" posters and leis, and posed for selfies against Hawaiian backdrops and alongside larger-than-life Stitch figures, dressed in Elvis garb (there was a "Blue Hawaii Stitch," a "Jailhouse Rock Stitch," and a "50000000 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong Gold Lamé Suit" Stitch). Earlier in the day, an animatronic Stitch in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit toured Graceland in a miniature motorized vehicle, to the surprise and likely delight of fans. "The lovable renegade alien, who happens to love the music of Elvis Presley, arrived at the gates to Graceland Mansion in a pink convertible before going across the street to view the King of Rock 'n' Roll's jumpsuits and pink Cadillac at Elvis Presley's Memphis entertainment complex," stated a Disney press release about the publicity event. The headline described Stitch as "Everyone's Favorite Elvis-Loving Alien." ELVIS AT 90: Decade-by-decade milestones in the life — and afterlife — of the King The ballyhoo echoed similar fanfare that heralded the release of the first "Lilo & Stitch" 23 years earlier. In 2002, the movie's arrival coincided with Graceland's yearlong commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death; Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, told The Commercial Appeal that the release of an Elvis-connected "classic G-rated Disney flick" would open "a powerful market" for Graceland. In 2002 as in 2025, Disney and Graceland hosted an invitation-only local premiere for "Lilo & Stitch," but the earlier event was more elaborate. The screening of the film at Downtown's now-vanished multiplex, the Muvico Peabody Place 22, was followed by what The Commercial Appeal called a "lavish luau" in front of the ticket pavilion at Graceland, complete with fire dancers, leis made from actual orchids, bamboo huts and costumed movie characters. Testifying to the event's importance, the guest of honor was the nephew of Walt Disney, longtime Disney executive Roy E. Disney, who at the time was vice chairman of the Disney company and chair of Disney Feature Animation. (Roy Disney died in 2009, at 79.) The Los Angeles premiere of the 2002 movie had occurred about a week earlier. Priscilla Presley attended, and told reporters that "Lilo & Stitch" offered "a great message to bring family back together again because really, that's what it's all about. Elvis was very much a family man, regardless of what you hear. He loved family and he always came home." In 2025 as in 2002, Disney and Elvis Presley Enterprises are banking on the appeal of "Lilo & Stitch." The gift shops at Graceland now are stuffed with items from the grandiloquently labeled "Disney Stitch Inspired by Elvis Collection," created by NECA, a pop culture collectibles company. Ranging from $12.99 to $34.99, these include plush and plastic figures of all sizes, showcasing Stitch in Elvis garb. Stitch-as-Elvis pins and other items also are available. The new merchandise augments a still thriving line of "Lilo & Stitch" merchandise, tied to the original film. Stitch "has become a crucial character in the Walt Disney Company's modern empire, mainly in the form of a dizzying array of licensed merchandise," The New York Times reported this week, in a story that called Stitch "a cash cow for the company." Reported the newspaper: "The company's annual financial reports for 2023 and 2024 included 'Lilo & Stitch' on a short list of nine examples of its 'major' licensed properties, putting it on par with classics titans like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey and Friends, and conglomerates like Star Wars and the collective Disney princesses." Meanwhile, vintage 2002 "Lilo & Stitch" collectibles continue to be popular on eBay and elsewhere; these include eight McDonald's Happy Meal toys, one of which presents Stitch in an Elvis jumpsuit, strumming a guitar atop a surfboard. ELVIS WEEK 2025: Graceland to celebrate the King with concerts, panels, vigil and more The new "Lilo & Stitch," for the most part, is remarkably faithful to its inspiration, even to the inclusion of a clip from the same B-movie, 1958's "Earth vs. The Spider." But — somewhat surprisingly, in the wake of the hit Baz Luhrmann biopic — the new movie has less Elvis than the old. Yes, the soundtrack showcases the same songs ("Heartbreak Hotel," "Devil in Disguise," "Hound Dog"), in basically the same situations (although the remake totally bungles the Stitch-as-record-player "Suspicious Minds" scene); but the live-action Lilo (played by Maia Kealoha) is less the Elvis evangelist than was her cartoon counterpart. In the first film, Lilo pays Stitch the ultimate compliment: "You look like an Elvis fan." She pulls out an 8-by-10 "Blue Hawaii" portrait of Elvis and declares: "Elvis was a model citizen." She tells Stitch: "I have compiled a list of his traits for you to practice." This leads to comic scenes of Stitch strumming a guitar while wearing an Elvis-style jumpsuit and pompadour. The film ends with a happily-ever-after vacation "photo" of Stitch and his new human family posing in front of the gates of Graceland. None of these Elvis moments are recreated in the new movie — although Stitch does appear, briefly, in his Elvis jumpsuit during the end credits. Maybe we'll get more Elvis — for better or worse? — in the sequel, if there is one. The 2002 "Lilo & Stitch" was followed by a TV series and three direct-to-video feature films. The first of these features was "Stitch! The Movie," which — perhaps due to budgetary constraints — licensed only one Elvis song, the thematically appropriate but hardly epochal "Slicin' Sand," from 1963's "Blue Hawaii." The lyrics likely did not give Leiber & Stoller sleepless nights. Encourages Elvis, while serenading a bevy of beauties: "Dance, dance, dance/ 'til your toes get tan/ We're gonna have us a ball on the beach/ Slicin' sand..." This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Lilo & Stitch: Elvis references, Stitch merch and a visit to Graceland
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Return Of The King: A Special Elvis Presley Concert Event In Las Vegas
Las Vegas attracts the biggest acts in music, but few have made as big an impact as Elvis Presley, ... More who still spawns impersonators worldwide Residencies by musical stars are all the rage in Las Vegas, and Canadian superstar Celine Dion is credited with kick-starting the current wave. But while frequent repeat performances in Las Vegas actually date back to the Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra, it was the King, Elvis Presley, who pioneered the concept of the residency. Now you can once again catch Elvis Presley in Las Vegas--sort of. Elvis exploded onto the music scene in the mid-Fifties, and for many years he was the biggest act in the world. But in the Sixties he spent more time in Hollywood then performing and recording music, rolling out a series of largely underperforming movies and slipping from the public consciousness, even as rival rock acts such as the Beatles rose in prominence. By 1968 Elvis was considered past his prime by many in the entertainment business, but a televised 'comeback special,' was a huge success that changed all that and put him back firmly in the national spotlight. The next year he released a wave of new hits that brought in an even bigger audience, including In the Ghetto, Kentucky Rain and mega-hit Suspicious Minds. This set the stage for his legendary love 1969 comeback concerts in Las Vegas. Elvis Presley on his famous 1969 comeback tour in Las Vegas Elvis was booked to perform 57 shows over four weeks (unlike today's stars he often did two performances a night) in the 2,000-seat theater of the new International Hotel, the biggest, shiniest thing in Las Vegas at the time. At one point the largest hotel in the world, it was the work of airline executive Kirk Kerkorian who would later develop MGM Resorts, now the biggest casino hotel player in Vegas. The International opened with Barbara Streisand as headliner, but on July 31,1969 Elvis took over. His initial run broke all Vegas entertainment records and was extended again and again until he had been at the International for seven years and 636 consecutive shows—every one of them sold out. This part of his career was showcased in the recent biopic movie Elvis directed by Baz Luhrmann. By the end of his career, Presley sold more than one billion records worldwide and received 14 Grammy nominations and three wins. Today the International is the Westgate Las Vegas, and it is still a key part of Elvis Presley history and his legacy, with a prominent bronze statue of him in the lobby, which fans still adorn with flowers and gifts. His original dressing room beneath the stage, complete with private bar, has been partially preserved (part of it is now for current long-term Westgate musical resident Barry Manilow), as was his 30th floor residential suite. The Westgate offers historic Elvis tours and an annual 3-day King of Las Vegas Elvis festival every summer. The Westgate Las Vegas, home of Elvis Presley's legendary sold-out record breaking residency But this year Elvis would have been 90, and the Westgate, which has long been the main keeper of the Elvis historical flame in Sin City, is running a calendar of special events, anchored by the one night only 1969 Live Concert: The King Returns, on Thursday, July 31, 2025 the same date as his iconic 1969 debut concert. Internationally acclaimed Elvis tribute artist Travis Powell will historically recreate the show from the night Elvis made his triumphant return to live performances. With nine back-up singers and an eight-piece band, numbers that exactly replicate the original concert, the cast will deliver an identical setlist to the night 56 years ago that turned the music scene on its head and made Elvis into the original Las Vegas headliner in residence. Songs include Suspicious Minds, Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Heartbreak Hotel, Can't Help Falling in Love, Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up, In the Ghetto, and Are You Lonesome Tonight? Obviously, Elvis Presley himself will not be back on stage, but for fans who never had a chance to catch the historic show—less than two weeks after man walked on the moon for the first time—this is about as close as you can get. I would love to be there for this one-time historic reenactment, which I am sure will capture the feel of a concert I was too young to attend more than half a century ago. Unfortunately, I have a conflict and will miss the event, but maybe they will reprise it in a decade for Elvis' 100th. Las Vegas has a long history of tribute shows. impersonators and carrying on epic musical legacies, including high profile shows such as Cirque Du Soleil tributes to the Beatles and Michael Jackson, and most recently singer/guitarist John Mayer subbing for late Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia with Dead & Company at the Sphere. I previously wrote a story about the Sphere, the huge new Las Vegas attraction and most technologically advanced concert venue on earth, here at Forbes. By modern concert tour standards and especially for Las Vegas, the special one-night show is practically free, with tickets from $10-$45. Immediately following the concert, the Westgate will open its Cabaret Theater for a late-night encore that is actually free, and from 9:00 PM to Midnight, guests can enjoy complimentary non-stop performances from another acclaimed Elvis tribute show, The King Comes Home.
