Breea Milburn has been a Sew fan for the reason that starting.
As a toddler, she obtained hooked after seeing the mischievous blue alien crash the fourth wall and disrupt scenes from traditional Disney movies resembling “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” within the trailers for the unique 2002 animated film, “Lilo & Sew.”
Now at 32 years previous, the South Carolina resident has amassed a set of Sew merchandise — together with pins, plush dolls and a handbag that makes it seem like he’s connected to her hip — largely given to her by household and pals.
Though Milburn loves Sew’s troublemaking methods, she mentioned she additionally appreciates the intense themes the film tackles by following a younger woman’s adventures and struggles in Hawaii together with her sister after their dad and mom’ demise.
Sew is thrown in because the “humor aspect in what’s actually a darkish story, but in addition a extra reasonable story that I feel can resonate extra with individuals,” she mentioned. “That is greater than only a character that’s pure chaos.”
Milburn, and the legions of Sew aficionados like her, are why Walt Disney Co. could also be about to have its subsequent $1-billion blockbuster film.
The brand new live-action remake, out this weekend, is predicted to haul in $120 million to $150 million by Monday on the home field workplace, based on analysts’ estimates. That might be a rare success, particularly coming after Disney’s newest redo of an animated traditional, .
It’s all of the extra shocking as a result of the 2002 “Lilo & Sew” was solely a modest box-office performer, grossing a complete of $273 million worldwide.
That film got here throughout a fallow interval after the so-called Disney renaissance that created acclaimed animated movies resembling “The Little Mermaid,” “Magnificence and the Beast” and “Tarzan.” There are not any everlasting rides in Disney’s theme parks targeted on Sew to maintain him consistently within the public eye.
The viewers for the brand new film, which price an estimated $100 million to provide, is predicted to be multi-generational, with youngsters well-represented alongside millennials who have been youngsters when the 2002 movie got here out, mentioned Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Leisure. Though the character has its strongest enchantment amongst women, Disney is banking on boys exhibiting up too.
“We do imagine with this film, we have now the chance to get all people,” he mentioned. “To do the form of field workplace that I feel we’re going to do, it’s good to get all people, and I do imagine we’ll.”
Sew has turn into an unlikely star amongst Disney‘s characters. The blue alien is so fashionable that he ranks within the prime 10 best-selling Disney franchises, alongside stalwarts resembling Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the princesses, Star Wars and Marvel, the corporate mentioned.
The “Lilo & Sew” franchise, which incorporates some animated sequence, TV movies and direct-to-video motion pictures, has pushed 546 million hours of world viewership on Disney+, with the unique 2002 film accounting for greater than half of that. Viewership of the “Lilo & Sew” catalog additionally has gone up considerably yearly, primarily based on the hours streamed, Disney mentioned.
On the retail aspect, gross sales of Sew-themed merchandise totaled about $2.6 billion final yr. Some present highlights are collectible Spam cans, a greater than 4-foot-tall distant managed inflatable, Sew canine costumes and “Lilo & Sew”-inspired make-up units.
Bergman mentioned Sew’s enduring reputation “undoubtedly” performed a job in green-lighting the live-action movie. And there might be extra to return.
“This property lends itself to extra, and we’re determining precisely what that’s,” Bergman mentioned. “Clearly, the characters have stood the take a look at of time, and this [film] goes to reinvigorate the franchise but once more.”
So what’s it about this koala-esque alien who picks his nostril along with his personal tongue that has resonated with customers for greater than 20 years?
Though Sew is commonly described as a fun-loving agent of chaos, his deeper traits make him not so totally different from different Disney heroes, mentioned Lindsay Hahn, an assistant professor of communication on the College at Buffalo, State College of New York.
As a media psychologist who focuses on morality and has researched greater than 730 Disney motion pictures, Hahn discovered that the Disney hero prototype is commonly keen to interrupt the foundations if that’s what’s mandatory to assist others. (Consider Mulan, who flouts authority and enlists within the military to avoid wasting her father.)
Sew’s dedication to household and look after others — along with his commotion-making methods — places him squarely in that mildew, she mentioned.
“In some ways, he checks all of these containers fairly completely,” Hahn mentioned. “He simply tends to do it in a manner that appears perhaps slightly extra outdoors the everyday Disney hero as a result of he’s seemingly unpredictable and cute.”
Sew’s emphasis on discovering his place on this planet additionally could also be a think about his oddly relatable enchantment, mentioned Tamar Rimmon, vp of analysis and analytics technique at Fandom, which hosts info pages on leisure matters.
“There’s this emotional connection. The entire theme of discovering your personal household, I feel, is one thing that actually resonates in our present tradition, particularly with millennials and Gen Z,” she mentioned.
Out of almost 2,000 Disney franchise communities, “Lilo & Sew” has ranked within the prime 20 for the final 5 years, based on knowledge from Fandom. Sew, particularly, was the eleventh hottest Disney character on Fandom within the final yr, and the twenty first hottest character during the last 5 years, the corporate mentioned. (Rankings are primarily based on web page views on Fandom’s website.)
In 2024, Sew was largely surpassed solely by characters who have been featured in current motion pictures, together with the feelings from Disney-Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” Scar and Mufasa from “The Lion King” and Moana. The one three older characters that beat Sew have been Mickey Mouse, Sew’s feminine counterpart Angel, and Elsa from the animated hit “Frozen.”
“There are consistently new [intellectual properties] that can come and unseat characters who come from older motion pictures,” Rimmon mentioned. “However that’s what I feel speaks much more strongly to the endurance of Sew.”
That form of lasting reputation reminds Milburn, the Sew fan, of one other distinguished and extremely merchandiseable character who isn’t tied to present movie or TV — Hiya Kitty.
“It’s that acquainted face,” she mentioned. “Simply by his identify and his cuteness alone, he has been capable of seize generations and generations.”
