Lilo & Stitch is an American Disney media franchise that commenced in 2002 with the release of the animated film of the same name written and directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. The combined critical and commercial success of the original film, which was a rarity for the company's feature animation studio during the early 2000s, led to three direct-to-video and television sequel films, a short film, three animated television series, several video games, some theme park attractions, and various merchandise.The franchise mainly focuses on the adventures of the titular eccentric and mischievous duo; an orphaned Hawaiian girl named Lilo Pelekai (voiced by Daveigh Chase in most media) and an artificial extraterrestrial creatureoriginally named Experiment 626, whom she adopts and names Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders in all media except for the two Asian-produced TV series). Stitch was originally genetically-engineered to cause chaos and destruction across the galaxy, but was rehabilitated by the Earth girl thanks to the Hawaiian concept of ʻohana, or family. Most of the sequel and spin-off material of the franchise also involve many genetic experiments similar to Stitch, who he treats as his "cousins".The later spin-off material released after 2006, the anime Stitch! and the Chinese animated series Stitch & Ai, separate Stitch from Lilo (who is subsequently dropped as a main character) and replace her with different human girls who take him in with their families.