Director Dean Fleischer Camp and producer Jonathan Eirich tell EW that cutting the villainous Gantu deepened the storytelling.

"Lilo & Stitch," the story of a mischievous blue alien taken in by two sisters in Hawaii, added $158.7 million in international markets for a global total of $314.7 million.

"Hawaii is extremely talented. … To finally get a platform that showcases that, it was absolutely amazing to see. I really hope that it will spark more of that in the future," she told PEOPLE.