10 Disney Movies That Aren’t Based On A Existing Story

For nearly a hundred years now, Walt Disney Animation Studios has been releasing films that have become timeless staples in cinema both in general and in terms of animation. Even to this day, films like Snow White And The Seven Dwarves and Pinocchio get shown to new generations of children.

However, these two films share a common feature of a lot, the vast majority in fact, of Disney animated films in that they are based on previously established stories, whether they are well known or not. In the entirety of the fifty-eight movie filmography of Walt Disney Animation Studios, few are original stories.

10 Home On The Range (2004)

Home On The Range is far from the best Disney movie of all time, and upon release was an absolute commercial failure. Nevertheless, it is not based on any story.

Set in the Old West, the movie follows three cows as they attempt to save their farm from going into bankruptcy in search of a wanted outlaw. It has received mixed, average reviews.

9 Brother Bear (2003)

Brother Bear was the Disney animated movie that came right before Home On The Range, and when it got initially conceived, it was to be based on King Lear; however, that initial inception was scrapped.

The story that came to be was an original one about Kenai, who gets transformed into a bear, after taking revenge on the bear who killed his brother. He then goes on a journey joined by young Koda. The movie was more popular with audiences, but still pretty lukewarm, but did do decently at the box office.

8 Bolt (2008)

Sticking with the animal-centric movies, Bolt is another that is an original story. It was the instigator of the revival era of Disney movies that saw a lot of critical acclaims.

Bolt was a part of that critical acclaim, following the story of a dog who is the star of a TV show as he embarks on a mission he believes to be real, garnering a lot of positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.

7 Saludos Amigos (1942)

Saludos Amigos was the sixth movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the first original movie. It was part animated part live-action and the shortest Disney animated feature to date.

It is a series of shorts packed into a feature, set in South America with both new characters and established ones like Goofy and Donald Duck making appearances.

6 The Three Caballeros (1944)

Connected to Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros came as the second part of a six-film package and again was part-animation and part-live-action, but is a much longer feature.

It is still a series of segments, but Donald Duck connects them, and again it is an original film that is not based on previous stories, containing both original and stock characters.

5 The Lion King (1994)

The Lion King is one of the best and most popular animated films of all time, but in terms of originality, there is some debate. A lot of people point to Hamlet as the basis of the film.

The fact of the matter is though; it is not based on the story of Hamlet, it was influenced by it, in the same way, it was influenced by some bible stories.

4 Wreck-It-Ralph (2010)

The video game in Wreck-It-Ralph exists, but the story of the two films that have been in development since the eighties is not an existing one.

Wreck-It-Ralph and its sequel were both hits and contained a plethora of characters from various old arcade games, as well as the sequel having a load of cameos from multiple Disney franchises.

3 Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Lilo & Stitch was a bit of a different Disney movie at the time, and fully embraced its Hawaii setting, as well as the family and dog/owner relationships. It was a very well received and successful movie that spawned a few spin-offs.

The movie is an original concept that came about following Disney wanting to try its hand at smaller, more contained, less expensive animated films. Stich was a character that got created for and rejected for a book in 1985 by Chris Sanders, who then brought the character to Disney for the pitch of this film.

2 Moana (2016)

Released in 2016, Moana is the newest film on this list and came to be due to the failings of another project that was based on an old story; Terry Pritchett’s Mort. Moana came to be after getting pitched in the wake of that adaptation failure.

Moana was an instant hit making a lot of money, it does star The Rock after all, and getting a lot of love from fans and critics alike. The decision from the creators to delve into the Polynesian mythology paid off big time.

1 Zootopia (2016)

Coming just before Moana, Zootopia is one of the most recent Disney animated features and was a big hit upon release, earning critical acclaim, the Best Animated Feature Oscar, and over one billion dollars at the box office.

It is also an original story that, in its development phase, took some inspiration from other stories such as the animal-centric Disney movies, but with a desire to put big twists on it, which the film does wonderfully.