Christopher Michael Sanders (born March 12, 1962)[1] is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor.

[2] When Sanders was the head storyboard artist for Disney Feature Animation, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided that, in the wake of a number of high-profile and large-budget Disney animated features during the mid-1990s, the studio might try its hand at a smaller and less expensive film.

The film's commercial and critical success spawned a franchise with three sequel films and three television series, with Sanders reprising his role of Stitch throughout the original 2002–06 run of the franchise (Sanders did not reprise his role for the English dub of the anime Stitch!

Years later, to explain his motivation regarding the piece, Sanders wrote about his concern over "the ever-growing complexity of our films, and what I saw as an emerging pattern they were all cut from", citing the example that during the story development for Mulan, one of the major concerns was the manner of the villain's death rather than the idea that the villain had to die at all.

"[5] By December 2006, Sanders had been removed as the director of the upcoming Disney animated film American Dog by John Lasseter.

[6] After the departure of Sanders from Disney, directing duties were handed to Chris Williams and Byron Howard, and the film was retitled Bolt.

[8] At the time, Sanders said about the move: "I've been so anxious to start working on things, and so I talked to a lot of people...

"[8] On September 24, 2008, it was reported that Sanders and DeBlois would be screenwriting and directing How to Train Your Dragon for DreamWorks Animation.

[9] The film was released on March 26, 2010, and was a huge success with both critics and at the box office, grossing nearly $500 million worldwide.

In October 2017, it was announced that Sanders would be directing a new film adaptation of the 1903 Jack London novel The Call of the Wild for 20th Century Fox.

The film received mixed critical reception, with a 63% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (as of March 2024),[17] making it the lowest-received film in Sanders's directorial career thus far, and grossed $107.6 million[18][19] on a budget of $125–$150 million,[20] becoming Sanders's first directorial box-office bomb.

While it was speculated in February 2020 that Sanders would reprise his voice role of Stitch in the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch,[21] he claimed in a September 2022 interview that Disney had not yet approached him on reprising the role, although he stated that he was always open to returning to voice his creation.

[27] In September 2023, Sanders filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences",[28] although he remains married to Steele-Sanders as of June 2024.