Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:31, 15 August 2023

MV5BMTMxNTY0MzU1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODgwNjQ3. V1 SY317 CR7,0,214,317 .jpg

Poster for The Emperor's New Groove, the film it eventually became.

Status: Partially Found

Kingdom of the Sun, also known as Kingdom in the Sun, was an animated Disney film due to be released in December of 2000. It was the predecessor to what would become known as the The Emperor's New Groove, sharing only a few similar characters, plot elements, and themes; such as the Incan civilization.

Original Premise

The protagonist, Pacha, is an eighteen-year-old llama herder with a strong affection for the Sun. While herding his llamas one morning, Pacha happened upon the arrogant and greedy Emperor Manco. The two quickly realize that they shared an uncanny resemblance to one another. Mancha; becoming bored with Palace life, proposes to switch lives with Pacha in a bid to escape his royal duties.

Pacha quickly enjoys life masquerading as the Emperor. And Nina, Manco's fiancée, quickly falls for Pacha, not knowing that her future husband has switched identities. Meanwhile, Manco, along Mata, the female llama herder begin their journey back towards the Grand Palace.

Yzma, a powerful sorceress, and member of the Emperor's Royal Court - soon finds out about the sudden switch. With her deep hatred for the Sun and the longing for the return of her youthful beauty. Yzma quickly grabs at her unforeseen opportunity to seize the throne and plunge the Empire into total and complete darkness with the help of the Dark God Supai.

Using her magic, Yzma turns the unsuspecting Pacha into an ordinary-looking llama with the inability to speak. Threatening him with the punishment of death for his crime of impersonating the Emperor. Blackmailed, Pacha surrenders control of the throne to Yzma, who now has complete control over the darkened Empire.

Her sidekicks consist of three animated mummies; named Mick, Bowie, and Lemmy. (Kronk, a main character in The Emperor's New Groove, does not exist in this version of the story.) As well as a small, rather grumpy, anthropomorphic Talisman named Huaca. Who spends most of his time keeping a watchful eye on Pacha.

Manco, traveling along with Mata, begins his journey back towards the Palace. Where along the way he learns humility and a new perspective on life. Which propels him forward to return to his home only to find Pacha having turned into a llama and Yzma sitting on his throne.

The protagonists (Pacha, Manco, and Nina) must now fight off the powerful forces of the Dark God Supai. Together, they manage to lasso the Sun. Using its powerful rays, the trio manages to destroy Supai's incredible darkness. Freeing the Empire, and allowing the Sun's rays to shine once more.

Retool

The movie was plagued with various rounds of delays and constant changes. Many executives at Disney weren't fond of the idea and considered the "Prince and Pauper" plot as too cliché. Following much rework and revamped, the film was finally released as its current form: The Emperor's New Groove.

Availability

At least twenty percent of the movie's original animation and the majority of its story was completed before the executive-lead changes. Pieces of the unfinished scenes and sketches were shown in 2012 when the highly controversial documentary, The Sweatbox, reappeared online. In addition to the majority of its characters and plot being altered or removed. Every song was also completely abandoned, but, two original songs did find a second-life in the official soundtrack released for The Emperor's New Groove. (Yzma's antagonist song, "Snuff Out The Light" and "One Day She'll Love Me").

As of right now, the entire The Sweatbox documentary is available on Archive.org.^[1]

Gallery

Images

Poster for when the film was titled Kingdom in the Sun.
Ref sheet for Manco, who would later become Kuzco.
Pacha's original design.
A character breakdown for the film.
The story beats for Kingdom of the Sun (1/4).
The story beats for Kingdom of the Sun (2/4).
The story beats for Kingdom of the Sun (3/4).
The story beats for Kingdom of the Sun (4/4).
Model sheet for Nina.
Sketches of Mata.
Ref sheet for Huaca.
Ref sheet for Snowball, Pacha's pet llama.

Audio

Yzma's cut villain song "Snuff Out The Light" originally meant for Kingdom of the Sun, it's currently one of the few pieces of music from the original project to have been released.

"One Day She'll Love Me" one of the other deleted songs included on The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack.

"Walk The Llama Llama" the third deleted song featured on the soundtrack.

Footage

A compliation of animated clips taken from The Sweatbox.

Fan voiceover for Antonio Navarro's original storyboards.

Yzma and Huaca.

An early animation test of Yzma.

An animation test of Mata.

An animation test of Manco.

An animation test of Nina.

↑ The entire documentary on Archive.org, mirrored from the now-defunct video site Vid.me. Retrieved 19 Jan '18

[1] The entire documentary on Archive.org, mirrored from the now-defunct video site Vid.me. Retrieved 19 Jan '18

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{InfoboxLost
-|title=<center>Kingdom of the Sun - Original Version of "The Emperor's New Groove"
+|title=<center>Kingdom of the Sun (The Emperor's New Groove precursor)</center>
 |image=MV5BMTMxNTY0MzU1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODgwNjQ3. V1 SY317 CR7,0,214,317 .jpg
-|imagecaption=The film it became.
+|imagecaption=Poster for ''The Emperor's New Groove'', the film it eventually became.
 |status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
 }}
+'''''Kingdom of the Sun''''', also known as ''Kingdom in the Sun'', was an animated Disney film due to be released in December of 2000. It was the predecessor to what would become known as the ''The Emperor's New Groove'', sharing only a few similar characters, plot elements, and themes; such as the Incan civilization.
-'''''Kingdom of The Sun''''', also known as ''Kingdom In The Sun'', was an animated Disney film due to be released in Winter of 2000.
+==Original Premise==
+The protagonist, Pacha, is an eighteen-year-old llama herder with a strong affection for the Sun. While herding his llamas one morning, Pacha happened upon the arrogant and greedy Emperor Manco. The two quickly realize that they shared an uncanny resemblance to one another. Mancha; becoming bored with Palace life, proposes to switch lives with Pacha in a bid to escape his royal duties.
-It was heavily modified to ending up becoming ''The Emperor's New Groove'', sharing only a few characters and plot elements with the original project (along with the Inca civilization theme).
+Pacha quickly enjoys life masquerading as the Emperor. And Nina, Manco's fiancée, quickly falls for Pacha, not knowing that her future husband has switched identities. Meanwhile, Manco, along Mata, the female llama herder begin their journey back towards the Grand Palace.
-==Original premise==
+Yzma, a powerful sorceress, and member of the Emperor's Royal Court - soon finds out about the sudden switch. With her deep hatred for the Sun and the longing for the return of her youthful beauty. Yzma quickly grabs at her unforeseen opportunity to seize the throne and plunge the Empire into total and complete darkness with the help of the Dark God Supai.
-The protagonist is Pacha, an eighteen year old llama herder voiced by Owen Wilson. Pacha meets Emperor Manco, with whom he looks and sounds identical to. They decide to switch places in order to let Manco take a break from his royal duties.
-A romantic plot involves Nina, Manco's fiancée, falling for Pacha. Yzma is a sorceress and member of the Royal Court who longs to be young and beautiful like she was years prior. She creates a plan to block out the sun, which has caused her to get wrinkles. Her sidekick is a talking talisman known as Hucua.
+Using her magic, Yzma turns the unsuspecting Pacha into an ordinary-looking llama with the inability to speak. Threatening him with the punishment of death for his crime of impersonating the Emperor. Blackmailed, Pacha surrenders control of the throne to Yzma, who now has complete control over the darkened Empire.
-Yzma turns Manco into a non-talking llama at one point but he becomes a minor character after that, instead of being the focus point of the movie. The climax involves Yzma summoning a dark force called Supai to engulf the kingdom, but ends up ultimately being killed by the sun, which Pacha lassoes and pulls down to Earth.
+Her sidekicks consist of three animated mummies; named Mick, Bowie, and Lemmy. (Kronk, a main character in ''The Emperor's New Groove'', does not exist in this version of the story.) As well as a small, rather grumpy, anthropomorphic Talisman named Huaca. Who spends most of his time keeping a watchful eye on Pacha.
+Manco, traveling along with Mata, begins his journey back towards the Palace. Where along the way he learns humility and a new perspective on life. Which propels him forward to return to his home only to find Pacha having turned into a llama and Yzma sitting on his throne.
+The protagonists (Pacha, Manco, and Nina) must now fight off the powerful forces of the Dark God Supai. Together, they manage to lasso the Sun. Using its powerful rays, the trio manages to destroy Supai's incredible darkness. Freeing the Empire, and allowing the Sun's rays to shine once more.
 ==Retool==
-The movie had several delays and executives weren't fond of it, partly because the "Prince and Pauper" plot was considered too cliché.
+The movie was plagued with various rounds of delays and constant changes. Many executives at Disney weren't fond of the idea and considered the "Prince and Pauper" plot as too cliché. Following much rework and revamped, the film was finally released as its current form: ''The Emperor's New Groove''.
+==Availability==
+At least twenty percent of the movie's original animation and the majority of its story was completed before the executive-lead changes. Pieces of the unfinished scenes and sketches were shown in 2012 when the highly controversial documentary, ''The Sweatbox'', reappeared online. In addition to the majority of its characters and plot being altered or removed. Every song was also completely abandoned, but, two original songs did find a second-life in the official soundtrack released for ''The Emperor's New Groove''. (Yzma's antagonist song, "Snuff Out The Light" and "One Day She'll Love Me").
+As of right now, the entire '' The Sweatbox'' documentary is available on Archive.org.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/SweatboxDocumentaryUneditedVersion The entire documentary on Archive.org, mirrored from the now-defunct video site Vid.me.] Retrieved 19 Jan '18</ref>
+==Gallery==
+===Images===
+<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
+KITS_Poster.jpg|Poster for when the film was titled ''Kingdom in the Sun''.
+MancoRef.jpg|Ref sheet for Manco, who would later become Kuzco.
+EarlyPachaRef.jpg|Pacha's original design.
+KingdomCharacterBreakdown.jpg|A character breakdown for the film.
+StoryBeats_1.jpg|The story beats for ''Kingdom of the Sun'' (1/4).
+StoryBeats_2.jpg|The story beats for ''Kingdom of the Sun'' (2/4).
+StoryBeats_3.jpg|thumb|The story beats for ''Kingdom of the Sun'' (3/4).
+StoryBeats_4.jpg|The story beats for ''Kingdom of the Sun'' (4/4).
+File:Nina_model_sheet.jpg|thumb|Model sheet for Nina.
+File:Mata_Sketches.jpg|thumb|Sketches of Mata.
+File:Hucua_Model_Sheet.jpg|thumb|Ref sheet for Huaca.
+File:Snowball_model_sheet.jpg|thumb|Ref sheet for Snowball, Pacha's pet llama.
+</gallery>
+===Audio===
+{{Video|perrow  =3
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =L_hJxBUMuss
+  |description1 =Yzma's cut villain song "Snuff Out The Light" originally meant for ''Kingdom of the Sun'', it's currently one of the few pieces of music from the original project to have been released.
+  |service2     =youtube
+  |id2          =8Sv3ECj7PdY
+  |description2 ="One Day She'll Love Me" one of the other deleted songs included on ''The Emperor's New Groove'' soundtrack.
+  |service3     =youtube
+  |id3          =smZrEeK5IB8
+  |description3 ="Walk The Llama Llama" the third deleted song featured on the soundtrack.
+}}
+===Footage===
+{{Video|perrow  =3
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =XEJxnW5rl6w
+  |description1 =A compliation of animated clips taken from ''The Sweatbox''.
+  |service2     =youtube
+  |id2          =PwJ8Zvsrujk
+  |description2 =Fan voiceover for Antonio Navarro's original storyboards.
+  |service3     =youtube
+  |id3          =ByrZ3uMiWtU
+  |description3 =Yzma and Huaca.
+}}
+{{Video|perrow  =4
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =_NlaFPMfBY4
+  |description1 =An early animation test of Yzma.
+  |service2     =youtube
+  |id2          =vC31M-KmjwU
+  |description2 =An animation test of Mata.
+  |service3     =youtube
+  |id3          =3HjjWBqB22g
+  |description3 =An animation test of Manco.
+  |service4     =vimeo
+  |id4          =112785123
+  |description4 =An animation test of Nina.
+}}
+==See Also==
+===Advertisements===
+*[[The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)]]
+===Animation (Disney)===
+*[[Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)]]
+*[[Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)]]
+*[[American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)]]
+*[[The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)]]
+*[[Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)]]
+*[[Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)]]
+*[[Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)]]
+*[[Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)]]
+*[[Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)]]
+*[[Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)]]
+*[[Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)]]
+*[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)]]
+*[[Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)]]
+*[[Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)]]
+*[[My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)]]
+*[[Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)]]
+*[[The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)]]
+*[[The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)]]
+*[[Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)]]
+*[[Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)]]
+*[[Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)]]
+*[[Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)]]
+===Animation (Pixar)===
+*[[A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)]]
+*[[The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)]]
+*[[Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)]]
+*[[Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)]]
+*[[Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)]]
+*[[Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)]]
+*[[Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)]]
+*[[WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)]]
+===Audio===
+*[[Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)]]
+*[[Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)]]
+*[[Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)]]
+*[[The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)]]
-Eventually, it was decided to scrap the plot and heavily rework the film from a dramatic musical to to a buddy comedy: ''The Emperor's New Groove''.
+===Live Action===
+*[[101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)]]
+*[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)]]
+*[[Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)]]
+*[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)]]
+*[[Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)]]
-At least 20 percent of the animation was complete and the entire story was created but only a few scenes have been leaked, via the documentary ''The Sweatbox''. In addition to the plot being scrapped, every song from the movie was cut; despite this, Yzma's antagonist song, "Snuff Out The Light", was included on the official soundtrack.
+===Short Films===
+*[[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)]]
+*[[Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)]]
+*[[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)]]
+*[[Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)]]
+*[[Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)]]
+*[[Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)]]
+*[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)]]
+*[[Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)]]
+*[[The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)]]
+*[[Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)]]
+*[[Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)]]
+*[[Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)]]
+*[[Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)]]
-As of right now the entire "Sweatbox" documentary is available on Vid.Me
+==References==
-[https://vid.me/xjIV/the-sweatbox]
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:Lost animation]]
 [[Category:Lost films]]
+[[Category:Partially found media]]