Maia Kealoha Set to Lead Disney's Stolen Wishes

Maia Kealoha is set to lead Stolen Wishes, a new live-action film for Disney, according to Deadline. Joe Nussbaum is to write and direct the project.

The casting ties Kealoha to two other Disney titles. She made her feature-film debut as Lilo Pelekai in Dean Fleischer Camp's live-action Lilo & Stitch. That film has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, meaning ticket sales across every country where it played, not just the United States and Canada.

Kealoha is also set to return as Lilo in Lilo & Stitch 2, which is scheduled for theatrical release on May 26, 2028. Chris Sanders is directing the sequel. He co-wrote and co-directed the 2002 animated Lilo & Stitch, the film that first introduced the pair.

Nussbaum is an Emmy-nominated executive producer and director of Just Add Magic, a series on Amazon's streaming service. His move into a Disney feature adds a new name to the studio's live-action slate, and it gives Kealoha a second writer-director to work with on a Disney project in the same period.

Kealoha's current work is not limited to Disney. She stars opposite Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa in The Wrecking Crew, a film for Prime Video, the streaming service run by Amazon. The movie gives her a role alongside two of the biggest action names in the business, and it puts her on a streaming platform as well as in cinemas.

For a young actor, the run of projects is a fast one. Kealoha has gone from a first feature to a sequel already dated on the calendar, and now to a film with her name at the top of the cast. Studios usually build a live-action series around a lead who has already connected with audiences, and Disney has made that choice with Kealoha.

Disney has not been shy about returning to its animated classics. Lilo & Stitch 2 sits in the 2028 release window, and Stolen Wishes now joins it in the studio's pipeline. Both projects carry Kealoha's name, which makes her a central link between the two.