Over the years, animation fans have had to endure people assuming any traditionally animated movie as being made by Disney. However, animated movies aren’t the only ones to get this treatment. Quite a few live-action films have been at times, misattributed to the House of Mouse, too.
Live-action adaptations of fairy tales, among other preexisting stories Disney has adapted, tend to get this a lot, with people often assuming Disney owns the legal rights to, or even created, said stories. It also doesn’t help that the Disney Channel has occasionally aired movies they didn’t otherwise make. Conversely, if an actor is heavily associated with Disney, or the Disney Channel, it’s common for any similar films they worked on to be mistaken for Disney films. Of course, even if a film didn’t originally come from Disney, they might later acquire the rights to it.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1960s musical film based on Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. Widowed inventor Caractacus Potts transforms an old racecar into a flying machine that can brave the sea and sky. While taking his children on an excursion, and befriending a wealthy heiress, Caractacus shares a story where a scheming baron takes an interest in the car. Meanwhile, the Baron’s wife has outlawed children, putting Caractacus’s two charges in danger of the Child Catcher.
The film was likely inspired by Disney’s Mary Poppins and has many clear similarities. Both films feature actor Dick Van Dyke in a prominent role, songs from the Sherman Brothers, and are fantasy stories set in England that involve two young children. Over the years, the film has also been occasionally confused with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a Disney film that has also been seen as a follow-up to Mary Poppins.
A Cinderella Story (2004)
A Cinderella Story sees Hilary Duff play Sam Montgomery, a teenage waitress who is regularly exploited by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters in the “far-off land” of Los Angeles. While the local rich kids bully her and call her “Diner Girl,” Sam does have a few friends, including a secret admirer, who shares her dream of running away to Princeton University. Things might change for the better when said mystery man invites her to an upcoming Halloween ball, but she’ll have to return home before her stepmother catches her. The film was popular enough to inspire a slew of thematic sequels, each with a new heroine finding herself in a modern fairy tale.
People mistaking A Cinderella Story for a Disney film might have already been unavoidable, with the film being a fairy tale parody. However, it probably doesn’t help that, not only was Hilary Duff heavily associated with the Disney Channel at the time of its release, so have many of the actresses that headlined the later films, such as Selena Gomez and Sofia Carson. Some of these films have even aired on the Disney Channel.
Mirror Mirror (2012)
Mirror Mirror is a fantasy film based on the Snow White fairy tale, opening up from the perspective of her wicked stepmother, Queen Clementianna. When a visiting prince takes an interest in Snow White, the Queen orders her killed. However, the girl takes refuge in the forest, where new friends teach her in the ways of combat, and she learns what really happened to her lost father.
Mirror Mirror came out the same year as Snow White and the Huntsman, a darker take on the classic story, so some viewers assumed the lighter take on the story came from Disney. On the other hand, there have been viewers who’ve also mistaken Snow White and the Huntsman as a Disney film as well. It doesn’t help that both films place a great emphasis on the villain’s stories, bringing to mind Disney’s Maleficent. The irony of this is that the Snow White fairy tale is simply so heavily adapted that even Disney’s own Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was inspired by a 1916 silent film based on the same story.
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sound of Music is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on Maria von Trapp’s memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Dame Julie Andrews plays Maria, who is tasked with becoming the governess to Captain von Trapp’s children. Soon, however, love begins to blossom between Maria and the Captain, culminating in their marriage. However, forces will eventually compel the family to flee Austria.
Andrews had played the title character in Disney’s Mary Poppins, another character charged with taking care of children, only a year before The Sound of Music, so the films might get confused on some level. Allegedly, Captain von Trapp’s actor Christopher Plummer had a habit of calling Andrews as “Ms. Disney” during production. Addams Family Values also has a scene where the characters are about to watch a “Disney” film against their will. While the line actually refers to The Little Mermaid, music from The Sound of Music can be heard playing soon after.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wizard of Oz is a classic film adapted from the L. Frank Baum fantasy novel, in which a young farm girl is teleported to the fantastical land of Oz. She and her new friends must seek the titular wizard to get their wishes granted, but an evil witch is out to get them.
Disney has a long and complicated history with Oz. Disney had considered making an animated adaptation of the story as a follow-up to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Allegedly, when MGM learned of this, there was interest in combining the two projects, possibly as a live-action/animated hybrid, though this was scrapped due to scheduling issues. In the 1950s, Disney considered producing adaptations of the later Oz books, such as the unfinished Rainbow Road to Oz. Disney would later release two Oz-related films: Return to Oz and Oz the Great and Powerful.
The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a 1996 film based on the classic Carlo Collodi novel concerning the misadventures of the titular living puppet. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop provided the effects for the puppet version of Pinocchio, among other characters. Notably, many of the more fantastic characters, such as the Fairy, were written out or were rewritten as human characters.
Interestingly, Jim Henson originally proposed the project to Disney, but it was ultimately rejected. Admittedly, some elements of the story seem taken from the Disney version, such as the increased role of the talking cricket. It also probably helps that Pinocchio is played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who is known to Disney fans as the original voice of young Simba in The Lion King. Some people have also confused the film with Disney’s 2000 television musical, Geppetto.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1970s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka has released a contest, releasing five golden tickets with his candy bars. The lucky winners will get a tour of his mysterious candy factory. When five children win the contest, including the put-upon Charlie Bucket, they soon find themselves leaving the tour one by one.
Much like The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory probably gets mistaken for a Disney film by virtue of being a popular children’s story. Coincidentally, both films also found a second life of sorts on television airings.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a live-action film based on Rudyard Kipling’s All the Mowgli Stories. A young orphan boy, who will become known as Mowgli, is raised by wolves in the jungles of India. Soon, Mowgli will find himself torn between the animal world and the human world.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle ended up being released close to Disney’s own 2016 live-action remake of The Jungle Book. In fact, Mowgli, which had originally been scheduled for an October 2016 release, had to be delayed to 2018 in part to avoid competition with the Disney film.
Stuart Little (1999)
Stuart Little is an adaptation of the E. B. White novel of the same name. In the film, a talking mouse adopted by a human family adjusts to things like having a new brother and a pet cat. Soon, however, as the Littles help Stuart find information about his biological family, he soon encounters a pair of mice claiming to be his lost parents, but they may not be what they seem.
Talking animals have often been associated with Disney, so many would feel Stuart Little would be a natural choice for a Disney adaptation. In the original book, Stuart’s human family actually is his biological family, and he is implied to be a human who just happens to look like a mouse, but he appears to actually be a talking mouse in the film.
Hook (1991)
Hook stars Robin Williams as Peter Banning, a lawyer whose work often keeps him away from his family. During a trip to London, Peter’s children are kidnapped and it comes to light that he is the famous Peter Pan, though he has no memory of his former life. Peter must travel to Neverland and train to face off against his old nemesis, Captain Hook.
Hook is a sequel for the character of Peter Pan, whose story had been adapted by Disney, causing casual viewers to think there is a connection. It also probably helps that Robin Williams would become associated with Disney after playing the Genie in Aladdin. Generally speaking, the film tries to honor Barrie’s original text over the Disney adaptation, but there are a few similarities with it, such as Captain Hook being left-handed.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
