The Lilo & Stitch Scene That 9/11 Completely Changed

The changes might go unnoticed for those unaware of the behind-the-scenes debacle that unfolded for the film, but Chris Sanders recalled both the realization of an issue that needed to be dealt with and the recovery from it. “Lilo & Stitch” was already considered somewhat of an underdog at Disney. But somehow, the film was tied up in a neat bow before an event that no one could’ve expected. A completed film that was set to have a jet skimming off buildings in its finale was heading for release just shy of a year after the events of September 11.
“It was done. It was finished,” Sanders told Polygon in 2021. “And my heart just sank.” Eventually, calls up the ladder going as far as Roy Disney led to the decision of changing things up and the plane being swapped for a spaceship that Stitch’s hunters, Jumbo and Pleakley, had landed on Earth in. Sanders explained, “It’s one of the reasons that the spaceship has very 747 looking engines on it.” After fixing the issues, the film has gone on to be, like its central characters, a beloved misfit entry in the best Disney animated movies ever.
Learn more about the untold truth of “Lilo & Stitch.”