Unlike most live-action films, which have a (at least mostly) completed script before cameras ever begin to roll, animated films are usually much more in flux. The “story” part of an animated film is never really done, which has resulted in many animated movies going through big changes from their inception to their completion. It’s not unusual for entire characters to be added or removed from stories, or to see plots go through major overhauls. But few films have gone through quite as many changes as The Emperor’s New Groove, which was so different at the beginning that it's fair to call it an entirely different movie.
Titles change so often in all kinds of movies. Disney’s Frozen was originally going to be called Anna and the Snow Queen, but despite the fact that Elsa went from being a villain to a misunderstood hero of the movie, the core elements of that movie never really changed. However, The Emperor’s New Groove is a movie that was built from the ashes of a very different film called Kingdom of the Sun.
Kingdom Of The Sun Was Supposed To Be An Epic Follow Up To The Lion King
The story of The Kingdom of the Sun actually begins following the surprise success of another animated Disney film, The Lion King. That and Pocahontas had been in production around the same time, with the animators divided between the two films. However, Pocahontas was largely seen as the top project, with Disney Studios chief Jeffrey Katzenberg seeing it as the film that might finally win the Best Picture Oscar for an animated movie that Beauty and the Beast had made look possible. The Lion King was then largely made by the "B-team."
However, the "B-Team" would create something amazing. Pocahontas would struggle and certainly wouldn’t be the awards darling that it was intended to be, while The Lion King would go on to become the highest-grossing animated film ever at the time. This made its director, Roger Allers, something of a star, but it also increased expectations for his next project.
Allers was encouraged to look for a movie idea in South American culture, and he decided to set a movie in the Inca Empire. The hope was that Kingdom would be just as epic a story as Lion King had been. In an attempt to make the music suitably sweeping, Sting was asked to join the project to play a similar role as that of Elton John in Allers’ previous film by handling most of the movie's songs.
What The Kingdom Of The Sun Was About
While Kingdom of the Sun would use the Inca Empire for its setting in time and place, its plot would be significantly more contemporary. The story was inspired by Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. In this version, Manco (David Spade) would be an obnoxious and conceited emperor who discovers that he looks identical to a llama herder named Pacha (voiced at the time by Owen Wilson).
The pair would agree to switch places, but High Priestess Yzma (Eartha Kitt), who wishes to resurrect the shadow god Supai, would discover the deception and attempt to kill Manco, but inadvertently transform him into a llama. Meanwhile, Pacha would attempt to keep up his deception with the help of Huaca, an advisor to the emperor who was a talking stone talisman. Pacha would, of course, be a very different sort of leader, and Manco would learn how to rule by watching what the common man did.
Kingdom of the Sun would also include at least one love story. Nina would be the bride-to-be for Manco, but neither one had any particular interest in the other. He was only marrying because he was required to do so as emperor, and she had no choice once he chose her. Pacha, however, would fall in love with Nina, and as the two became closer during Pacha’s impersonation, the feelings would begin to be reciprocated. A later iteration of the story would also include a llama herder named Mata, whom Manco would fall in love with while in his llama form.
As that description makes clear, there was a lot going on in Kingdom of the Sun. This was one of the film’s major problems. Upper-level executives like producer Thomas Schumacher and Walt Disney Feature Animation President Peter Schneider felt the characters were too hard to follow, the tone and pacing didn’t work, and the movie was too similar to countless versions of The Prince and the Pauper that had been made before, including one starring Mickey Mouse only a few years previously.
How Kingdom Of The Sun Became The Emperor's New Groove
Two years after production had begun, Mark Dindal was brought in to act as co-director on Kingdom of the Sun in the hopes that he could fill in the gaps and bring the project into better focus. Unfortunately, Dindal’s style tended to drift more towards comedy than Allers’ epic musical drama, so that didn’t really work out.
It was decided by 1998 that the movie was likely not going to make its summer 2000 release date. Allers didn’t actually disagree with this assessment, but felt that with an additional year, he would be able to make it all work. Disney refused to give him any more time, and in frustration, Allers quit the project entirely.
At this point, Kingdom of the Sun went dormant, with most of the animators going to work on other projects, including Fantasia 2000. When work resumed under Dindal as the sole director, the movie had shifted from Allers' epic drama to more of a buddy comedy. With the new title The Emperor’s New Groove, the story had been trimmed down, with fewer major characters and a much simpler plot.
With the change in story came several other significant changes. Pacha was no longer a dead ringer for the young Kuzco. Instead, he was an older father figure, and this change in character would necessitate a change in voice actor, resulting in Owen Wilson being replaced by John Goodman.
The movie was also no longer a musical, which meant Sting’s music would be removed from the film. While a few of the songs would still be included on The Emperor’s New Groove soundtrack album, the only Sting songs in the final version of the film would be "Perfect World," sung by Tom Jones in the film's opening, and “My Funny Friend and Me,” which is sung by Sting himself over the closing credits.
The Legacy Of The Emperor's New Groove
Ironically, the attempted production of one movie we'll never see also led to the creation of another movie you've probably never seen. As part of Sting's deal to write songs for Kingdom of the Sun, his wife, Trudy Styler, produced a documentary film made up of interviews from the chaotic production. The Sweatbox was produced in 2002, and while it was shown in a few private screenings, the film has never been officially released.
In the end, The Emperor's New Groove would make it to theaters in December 2000, only a few months later than originally planned, which a pretty impressive feat all things considered. Still, the movie would largely fail to impress audiences and would be seen as a failure at the box office. However, in retrospect, while The Emperor's New Groove certainly isn't the best Disney animated movie, it has achieved a sort of cult status as it is recognized for its uniqueness as one of Disney's great underrated movies. The buddy comedy formula is one we hadn't seen from Disney before this, and we really haven't seen it since.
But one certainly has to wonder what Kingdom of the Sun could have been. An epic, dramatic story set in the Inca Empire with the music of Sting sounds, on paper, like an absolutely fascinating movie, it's one that a lot of people would love to see. It's a shame that in order to get one of Disney's most unique animated features, we had to sacrifice another one.
