25 years ago today, a Disney movie was an outright miracle being as good as it was as it almost didn’t even make it to screens due to all of the troubles behind the scenes while making it. Walt Disney Animation Studios has gone through many different eras over the decades as its slate of films have marked notable periods with fans. But the 2000s were an intriguing time for the studio as while appetites for animated films in theaters were changing, there was a potential to find a whole new level of success with home video releases.
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25 years ago today, on December 15, 2000, The Emperor’s New Groove truly put this all to the test. Though fans didn’t know it at the time, this version of the film was entirely different from where it all first began. The Emperor’s New Groove might have been one of the funniest Disney movies of the 2000s, but it began life in a much different way as a more traditional Disney animated film from previous eras. It was in such a chaotic development spanned across multiple years that it’s a miracle that it came out as good as it did.
The Emperor’s New Groove Debuted 25 Years Ago Today
The Emperor’s New Groove made its debut 25 years ago today, and it really did serve as a turning point for the studio behind it all. It wasn’t well received at first because it seemed dramatically different from films that Disney had produced at the time, like Tarzan and Mulan in the couple of years before. It was a film that skewed far more towards comedy rather than being a full Broadway musical as fans had expected. It starred David Spade, and his sardonic and cynical main character stood out from protagonists past.
It didn’t start out life in that way, however, as The Emperor’s New Groove first began its development with Disney under the title of “Kingdom of the Sun.” This was setting out to be like those previous Broadway musicals, and was being developed by one of the directors behind The Lion King, Roger Allers. There was a hope to bring on famous musician Sting to develop the soundtrack for the film, which was intended to be a film that was faithful to the Inca culture and hoped to explore that on a greater depth much like other Disney films had.
It was also a much different kind of story than the one we’d eventually get with Kuzco (still voiced by Spade) trading places with a peasant and taking on a version of The Prince and the Pauper. But when other films at the time starting to have weaker performances, Kingdom of the Sun was instead retooled to be more of a comedy. Then it sparked many years of back and forth that resulted in Allers eventually leaving the project, and a complete retooling of the project pretty much from top to bottom.
The Emperor’s New Groove Shouldn’t Have Worked
The film then underwent a massive overhaul (which had been documented with The Sweatbox, a famous documentary about the fallout produced by Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler), and changed out members of its cast, characters, and even Sting before it became The Emperor’s New Groove as we knew it. And even then, it still wasn’t really a hit in theaters at the time and performed under expectations that had since ballooned given the struggles in production up until that point. But that’s when something almost magical happened.
The Emperor’s New Groove ended up being released at the perfect time. It was a period far before streaming took over, and it was a big deal to see a film perform well in home media releases. The Emperor’s New Groove became a super hit on VHS (even as the format was in its early phasing out stages) and did even better on the then emerging DVD format as fans got to see it for themselves for the first time. It was such a massive success that it went on to inspire sequels, a spinoff TV series, and more that really was never expected when it was in the midst of production.
The Emperor’s New Groove had a very rough production and almost didn’t make it out to screens due to everything that had happened to retool it. It was in danger of being cancelled in the midst of this huge change, so it’s really a miracle that it not only got to release 25 years ago today, but ended up being such a notable film within Disney’s catalog that we’re still celebrating it all these years later. Funny enough, it really was a new groove for Disney and we just didn’t know it at the time.
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