Disney’s Lilo & Stitch Originally Wasn’t Supposed To Be A Movie

The Disney watercolor masterpiece “Lilo & Stitch” has become one of the most emblematic films of the studio since its theatrical release in 2002, in particular compared to other films from the fallow period of the early 2000s of the Maison de la Souris (which was marked by flops like “Fantasia 2000” and “Treasure Planet”). The story of the interstellar animal of the dysfunctional family, “Lilo & Stitch” has captured our hearts with its lively characters, which exist in a world which includes both foreigners of science fiction and deeply felt human emotions.

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Indeed, practically all the lives of previous live action of Disney reinvented its classical films of the 20th century, ranging from “Snow White” to “Beauty and the Beast”. Now, live action (or, more precisely, “live action assisted by CGI Animation”) “Lilo & Stitch” Not only become a mastodon at the box officeBut it also marks the first animated feature of the 2000s’ era to receive a large budget cure.

This moment looks like the canonization of the original “Lilo & Stitch” in the pantheon of Disney’s biggest animated films. As such, it is interesting to learn that Chris Sanders – who co -produced and co -written the animation “Lilo & Stitch” in addition to providing the emblematic voice of Stitch – did not initially consider the project as a film, as he explained in An oral story of the film by Vulture.

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The Hawaiian culture and landscape are so anchored in the history of “Lilo & Stitch” that it is difficult to imagine that it takes place elsewhere. But in the oral history of the production of Vulture’s film, Chris Sanders told how he originally created the concept of a completely different medium and frame:

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“17 years before I, I even launch ‘Lilo & Stitch’ ‘, I wanted to make a children’s book on this little creature that lived in a forest. It was a bit of a monster without real explanation as for the origin of where he came. I realized the way it was very difficult to rely to say, say, 24 pages.

The point like a monster in the forest has a lot of sense in retrospective, given the number of fairy tales follow a similar path. However, this is also clearly the reason why Sanders and his collaborators decided to move in a different direction, finally landing on the idea that the monster is a stranger from another planet. In the end, this decision required a change of landscape when Thomas Schumacher, a creative Disney framework, pointed out: “You do not want him to live in a world full of animals that do not know what a stranger is. A foreigner among animals is not as remarkable as a stranger among humans.”

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Sanders accepted, especially when Schumacher showed him the beauty of the Hawaiian islands and the spectacular color combinations that can be found there. Sanders began to ideal for the concept and, creating this new extraterrestrial, found himself closing the loop to the place where the story started:

“I thought, if I say” Alien “, everyone will have a different interpretation as to what it is. So I will make a book that contains drawings so that they understand. I created, in a sense, this book for children.”

During the following years, the team created the film from the distant law of Florida of Disney Animation Studios (far from the indiscore eyes of the Honchos of the studio), and the results speak for themselves. “Lilo & Stitch” lives through a series of constant expanding films, specials and television shows, and, yes, also children’s books.