The Emperor's New Groove: 10 Facts About the Voice-Over & Behind-the-Scenes Chaos | 25th Anniversary

It Was Originally Titled “Kingdom of the Sun”

It seems strange that this animated film was ever going to be something completely different. Fresh off his “Lion King” triumph, director Roger Allers was tapped to direct an animated film based on the indigenous cultures of South America. Allers chose the Incan empire in modern-day Peru, and thus “Kingdom of the Sun” was born. Beginning development in 1994, the film would focus on the Incan creation myth, focusing on a selfish emperor and humble peasant that change places, prince-and-the-pauper style, and fall in love with each other’s respective love interests. Meanwhile, the villain, Yzma, plans to destroy the sun and stay young and beautiful forever. Unfortunately, this conception was short-lived, as we shall see.

Sting Wrote a Whole Slew of Songs that Were Ultimately Scrapped

For the film’s soundtrack, following the success of Elton John’s work in “The Lion King,” Allers hired Sting. Sting took the project at once, but only agreed to write songs if his wife, Trudie, could film the process in a documentary, eventually called “The Sweatbox.” Sting wrote eight songs for “Kingdom of the Sun.” Yzma especially got a fun villain song, “Snuff Out the Light” and even a reprise of “Perfect World.” There was at least one love song. But as the film changed drastically in tone, most of these songs were cut. Poor Sting tried to quit several times, but the team refused his resignation letters. Sting did get an Oscar nomination for “My Funny Friend and Me,” so that’s something, at least.

Dindal vs. Allers

It was producer Randy Fullmer who sounded the alarm on “Kingdom of the Sun.” The story was so convoluted that it took Fullmer the whole airplane trip from New York to Los Angeles to explain it to a fellow passenger. There were also problems with the slow pacing. After the underperformance of ambitious Disney films like “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” the producers decided a change in tone was needed. Fullmer thus hired Mark Dindal as co-director to pare it down. The result was two teams, one working with Allers on a Disney epic, and one working with Dindal on a buddy comedy. The winner was Dindal. Allers understood the decision, but was heartbroken at the loss of his film.

Happy Meal Deadline

Part of what complicated “Kingdom of the Sun”’s production was the very short turn around. Disney had made promotion deals with McDonald’s and Coca-Cola that needed to be fulfilled in the summer of 2000. By 1998, the project’s budget had ballooned up to $30 million. Producer Thomas Schumacher was in full panic mode, almost begging Fullmer to give him something to give to CEO Michael Eisner. This pressure led to the film being stripped from its epic mythological elements and refashioned into the buddy comedy we all know and love. Thanks… McDonald’s?

David Spade & Eartha Kitt Were Kuzco & Yzma from the Beginning

It is astounding to say, given the wide variety of changes the film underwent, but it is true. David Spade as Manco, eventually renamed Kuzco, and Eartha Kitt as Yzma were locked in stone from the get-go. Even when Yzma’s original animator Andreas Deja left the project, replaced by Dale Baer, Kitt stayed on. David Spade was called to do his signature sarcastic voice for the greedy emperor, although in the original version he worked with the similarly young Owen Wilson as Pacha. When the character was reimagined as a middle-aged father, John Goodman replaced Wilson in the role. With voices as perfect as Spade’s and Kitt’s, we’re not surprised they were retained.

The Original Ending Had Kuzco Destroy a Rainforest

This really stung Sting. With the switch to a more comic register, the plot quickly gained elements of Looney Tunes-style mayhem and merriment. One of the extra gags included an ending where a reformed Kuzco builds his Kuzcotopia on another hill, destroying a rainforest in the process. This change especially disturbed the environmentally-conscious songwriter. Sting, who had spent 20 years fighting for indigenous rights, wrote a letter where he threatened to resign from the project if this ending were kept. Fortunately, it was scrapped for the more wholesome ending we know today. Thanks, Sting.

Disastrous 1998 Screening

The impetus for the change from “Kingdom of the Sun” to “Emperor’s New Groove” has to be this one screening. There, the original film’s flaws were glaring, at least to Schumacher. He gave the team some really critical notes, saying the tone was leaden and the pacing was off. Moreover, it just wasn’t fun. He even went so far as to say that if it hadn’t been Allers’ movie, he would have shut the whole thing down. Although shaken from this feedback, a professional Allers tried to modify his original pitch. Meanwhile, Dindal was brought in with a new, more comic approach. The rest is history.

Disney Refuses to Release “The Sweatbox”

All throughout “Kingdom of the Sun”’s and eventually “Emperor’s New Groove”’s troubled production was Trudie Styler, quietly documenting this behind-the-scenes drama. That’s right, the original deal with Sting was faithfully kept. Some of the documentary made it into the “Emperor’s New Groove” DVD featurette. But the film in its entirety did receive a release at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2002, as well as two other short runs. This candid look into the creative process, particularly the clashes between artists and producers, was perhaps too revealing. In fact, Disney refused to give the documentary a wider release and, in essence, has banned it. Sometimes it resurfaces on the Internet, though, if you know where to look.

New Release Date & “Emperor's New Groove”’s Marketing Campaign

The refashioned movie had shown much promise in early screenings, especially among younger audiences. Disney, however, was Disney. Instead of a Thanksgiving release date, they decided to move the release to December 15. Instead, Disney’s live-action remake, “102 Dalmatians,” would fill the Thanksgiving slot. Moreover, “Kingdom of the Sun” got its final title as “The Emperor’s New Groove,” which baffled the animated team. The marketing team decided to emulate Kuzco’s narcissistic attitude with certain sassy posters. But for the most part, the film didn’t receive a fulsome marketing campaign compared to other Disney movies. Sure enough, despite favorable critic reviews, the film underperformed at the box office.

No Script

One of the more bizarre aspects of “Emperor”’s long and strange history is that, in the end, there was no completed script. That’s right, Sting had to write his songs completely without context. When it was retooled into the finished comedy, the production team went for a let’s-throw-everything-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks type of process. As a result, the production team didn’t have a full script until after the film was released in theaters. A poor intern probably stapled a bunch of papers together just to have something to hand in! This is ironic, as the film has the best comic writing for an animated film, alongside “Shrek” and “The Road to El Dorado.” Many of its lines are now memes, and for good reason.

Do you agree with the changes that made “Emperor” into what it is, or do you long for the Disney epic we could have had? Let us know in the comments down below!