Disney Stars Weren’t Thrilled With the Original Lilo & Stitch Movie’s Parody Ads

By Pune Media On May 24, 2025

When Lilo and Stitch was released in 2002, it came with a marketing campaign no-one had seen before. Ads would play that appeared to be trailers for Disney classics… and then Stitch would come along and disrupt them. They were very successful, and people still remember them today.

But actually making them was an uphill battle. Chris Sanders, the director of the original Lilo and Stitch (and voice of Stitch!) explained to Vulture recently how difficult it was. He started off with the germ of an idea – “Wouldn’t it be funny if we had a TV ad where you just ran the start of Lion King, and instead of Baby Simba being held up, it’s Stitch?” – and was told to take it to the Disney advertising people.

2:48

20 Scariest Disney Movies, Ranked

Disney may be known for its fairytales and heartwarming musicals but a few of its scarier films are worth a try for occasional chills.

That was nerve-racking. One of the execs, Sanders remembered, gave off “the vibe that he wasn’t super stoked that we were there.” But he persevered, delivered his pitch, and it was a success. Stitch had the go-ahead to invade a whole bunch of older Disney movies. And Sanders knew it would work because of the sheer amount of reach Disney had.

“Maybe you thought that Disney films are sort of corny or whatever, and you’re aging out of it. But then this character comes in and ruins these scenes. Well, that should be kind of interesting to you,” he said. “On the other hand, if you’re still in that zone where you just adore Disney, and you’ve got the TV on in the other room and you hear the song from Beauty and the Beast or the opening of Lion King, you’re going to run in to see what the heck it is. And you’re going to be surprised to see it disrupted by this little guy and you too will be intrigued.”

But some of the other people at Disney weren’t too happy about their works being, as they saw it, disrespected. “I remember they dropped off The Lion King. And of course, that film is sacred. They were really not happy about leaving this stuff with us,” Sanders said. “Well, I worked on Lion King. It’s safe with me. If there’s a coffee stain on this stuff, it might have originally been my coffee stain!’”

Disney’s Zombies 4 Trailer Turns Up the Heat By Adding Daywalkers & Vampires to the Fan-Favorite Franchise

Disney debuts the first trailer for its next Zombies movie, which introduces vampires to the supernatural franchise.

The Disney Actors Weren’t Happy

Then there was the trouble of working with the original actors from the Disney classics. “They were all professional and nice, but I don’t think any of the actors were happy about what we were doing,” he says, “because they are those characters to a large degree, so this stuff is really important to them. For Aladdin, I remember the guy who did the voice for that came in, and we pitched the whole idea to him [Jasmine leaving Aladdin for Stitch]. And there was a pause, and he said, ‘So she leaves with him?!?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, but it didn’t really happen, it’s just an ad!’ He didn’t seem too happy.”

Paige O’Hara especially didn’t really get it. She was supposed to yell “I’ll be in my room!” in character as Belle, but she didn’t understand the relationship between her princess character and the blue interloper. “We pitched this thing and then there was silence. And she said, ‘So I’m mad at him?’ ‘Yes. Well, no, you’re just disappointed.’ So she did the recording and she said, ‘I’ll be in my room.’ And we were like, ‘I think you’re more disappointed than that.’ But she kept coming back with this really upbeat, happy delivery. And we kept saying, ‘No, you’re just more disappointed.’ Finally, we said, ‘Maybe try being a little mad.’ And then she hit it.”

The Stitch ads may have puzzled the people at Disney… but they worked. And now, some people are even a little disappointed that they didn’t do the same ad campaign for the live-action Lilo and Stitch movie.

Source: Vulture

Lilo & Stitch

Release Date: June 21, 2002
Runtime: 85 minutes
Director: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Writers: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Producers: Tom C. Peitzman, Dan Lin, Ryan Halprin

Chris Sanders

Stitch (voice)
Daveigh Chase

Jumba (voice)
Ving Rhames

Pleakley (voice)

[ad_1]

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}

_{Aggregated From –}

_{Source link}

[ad_2]