After completing the script, Hogan and Goldenberg were given approval by Great Ormond Street Hospital, which held the rights to Barrie's story.

Principal photography took place in Australia at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast, Queensland from September 2002 to May 2003.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances (particularly those of Sumpter, Hurd-Wood, and Isaacs), visuals, romantic feel, and James Newton Howard's musical score.

In Edwardian London, Wendy Darling tells her younger brothers John and Michael stories of Captain Hook and his pirates.

One night, Wendy sees Peter return to the nursery to watch her sleep, but his shadow is bitten off by the family's nurse dog, Nana.

Attempting to intercept a disciplinary letter meant for her father, Wendy inadvertently embarrasses him when Nana the St. Bernard chases her at the local bank.

Jealous of Peter's affection for Wendy, Tinker Bell tricks the Lost Boys into shooting the girl out of the sky, who mistakes her for a bird.

Meanwhile, John and Michael encounter Tiger Lily, a Native American princess, and Hook and his crew take the three to the Black Castle.

After a celebration at the Native American camp, Peter shows Wendy the fairies' home and the two share a romantic dance.

Hook spies on the pair and convinces Tinker Bell that Peter will eventually choose to leave Neverland for Wendy.

Peter then flies off, returns to the Darling nursery and unsuccessfully tries shutting the open window, determined to keep Wendy, John and Michael in Neverland.

Al-Fayed planned to produce a live action version of Peter Pan, and shared his ideas with Diana, Princess of Wales (who was President of Great Ormond St Hospital), who said she "could not wait to see the production once it was underway."

[6] On June 24, 2002, it was announced that Universal Pictures had taken over Disney's role as the third co-financier and would release the movie in most English-speaking territories and France.

Principal photography began on 17 September 2002 and concluded on 5 May 2003, taking place entirely inside sound stages on Australia's Gold Coast, Queensland.

[12] Filming on sound stages did help "retain some of the theatricality of the original play", something which Hogan thought was important.

According to actor Jason Isaacs, the filmmakers were impressed with actress Ludivine Sagnier's performance and decided to abandon their plans to make Tinker Bell entirely computer-animated.

"[16] Sumpter grew several inches over the course of the film's production, requiring staging tricks to retain Hook's height advantage over Peter in face-to-face scenes late in the process.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Solid if far from definitive, this version of Peter Pan is visually impressive, psychologically complex and faithful to its original source.

"[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[4] The film's failure was partly due to its competition with the highly anticipated epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King released the week before, and the family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, which opened on the same day.