document_title: The Emperor's New Groove

question_text: where did the emperors new groove take place

root

text: The Emperor's New Groove

text: Plot[edit]

text: Kuzco is the selfish, egotistical emperor of the Inca kingdom, who routinely punishes those that throw off "his groove". When he lets go of his conniving adviser Yzma, she plots revenge to poison and kill him and take the throne herself. Her dim-witted henchman Kronk mistakes a transformation potion for the vial of poison, and Kuzco instead turns into a llama. Yzma improvises, knocks Kuzco out, and orders Kronk to bag him and take him out of the capital to kill him. While doing so, Kronk has a stroke of consciousness and decides not to go through with it, but unfortunately misplaces the bag on a cart belonging to Pacha, a man from a distant village. Pacha had come to see Kuzco earlier in the day to ask him to reconsider the plans to raze his village to build his resort "Kuzcotopia", but Kuzco waved off his concerns.

tag: p

text: Pacha does not discover Kuzco until he arrives back at the village. After the shock and surprise at being a talking llama, Kuzco orders Pacha to return him to the capital. Pacha offers, but only if Kuzco would change his mind about Kuzcotopia. Kuzco refuses the offer and sets off on his own, but quickly ends up in trouble with the local wildlife. Pacha arrives to rescue him, and extends his offer. Kuzco accepts Pacha's help, though secretly plans to go back on his word once he is safe. The two survive many ordeals in the jungle, and Pacha finds Kuzco has a good side to him underneath his ego.

text: Meanwhile, Yzma has taken the throne, but learns that Kronk failed to kill Kuzco. The two set out to kill him.

text: The two pairs arrive at a jungle diner at the same time, unaware of the others' presence. Kuzco argues with the cook, while Pacha overhears Yzma's plan, and attempts to warn Kuzco when he returns, but he doesn't believe Pacha, knowing he is beloved by his kingdom. However, Kuzco soon overhears more of Yzma's and Kronk's scheming, and realizes no one in his kingdom misses him, and leaves the diner on his own, planning on living out the rest of his life as a normal llama. Pacha catches up, still willing to help Kuzco return to normal after knowing his life is in danger. Kuzco apologizes for his self-centeredness before they set off back towards Pacha's house to get supplies.

text: When they arrive, Yzma is already there. Pacha has his family delay Yzma, giving he and Kuzco a head start back to the capital. They find Yzma's secret lab and numerous transformation potions including one to return one to human, but Yzma and Kronk arrive shortly thereafter. Yzma orders Kronk to kill the pair, but he refuses to, and she drops him through a trap door and orders her guards to capture them. Pacha grabs a handful of vials and he and Kuzco flee, trying the various vials during their flight to find the one. As they are cornered on the ledges of a giant wall structure, they find they are down to two vials. Yzma chases them, knocking away the vials. She grabs one and drinks it, planning on becoming a large creature to kill them, but instead transforms into a helpless kitten. Pacha and Kuzcu use teamwork to reach the other vial before Yzma, and though she grabs it first, she is knocked off the wall by a wall panel suddenly opened by Kronk, who found his way out of the trap door. Kuzco recovers the vial and drinks it.

text: Later, Pacha is getting ready to return to his village, but Kuzco, back to normal, takes Pacha's suggestion of moving Kuzcotopia over to a nearby, unoccupied hill. Some time later, Kuzco joins Pacha and his family at his modest resort. Elsewhere, Kronk has become a scoutleader, and trains a new batch of scout, including the reluctant Yzma, who still remains a kitten.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text:
David Spade as Emperor Kuzco, the spoiled 18-year-old[2] emperor of the Inca Empire. He initially is narcissistic, arrogant and cruel, and pays no heed to the needs of others. However, after being transformed into a llama and bonding with Pacha, he becomes a better person.
John Goodman as Pacha, a kind, caring village leader who apparently foils Kuzco. Despite his ego, Pacha befriends and trusts Kuzco, and believes that Kuzco is capable of being a better person.
Eartha Kitt as Yzma, Kuzco's ex-advisor who claims that she "practically raised [Kuzco]". Her appearance is described as "scary beyond all reason" and "living proof that dinosaurs once roamed the earth." She is also incredibly vain, arrogant, manipulative, diabolical, and self-serving.
Patrick Warburton as Kronk, Yzma's dimwitted and muscular henchman. Despite working for her, he is very kind and good-natured. Kronk is a talented chef and has the ability to communicate with squirrels. His moral dilemmas manifest themselves in the form of an angel and devil that appear on his shoulders.
Wendie Malick as Chicha, Pacha's caring pregnant wife. She gives birth to her third child at the film's ending.
Kellyann Kelso and Eli Russell Linnetz as Chaca and Tipo, Pacha and Chicha's two young, rambunctious children.
Bob Bergen as Bucky the Squirrel, Kronk's companion who has an unpleasant encounter with Kuzco and is sickend by Yzma for her coldness.
Tom Jones as the Theme Song Guy, Kuzco's personal theme song conductor.
Patti Deutsch as Matta, a waitress at Mudka's Meat Hut.
John Fiedler as Rudy, a kindly old man who meets and befriends Kuzco.
Joe Whyte as the Royal Recordkeeper, a worrying official in charge of affairs on Kuzcos's palace.

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Kingdom of the Sun[edit]

text:
"Kingdom of the Sun was such a heart-breaking experience for me. I put four years of my heart and energy into that one... I was creating an "epic" picture mixing elements of adventure, comedy, romance and mysticism. The head of Disney Features at the time was afraid that we were doing, in his opinion, too many films in the same vein. He was also uncomfortable with the spiritual and cultural (Inca) aspects of it. Hence, he decided to make it a simple slapstick comedy... Would it have worked out if we had had more time? I would hope so, but one can never know these things."

Roger Allers, reflecting on the troubled history of Kingdom of the Sun[3]

tag: div

text: The idea of Kingdom of the Sun was conceived by Roger Allers and Matthew Jacobs,[4] and development on the project began in 1994.[5] Upon pitching the project to then-Disney CEO and chairman Michael Eisner, Allers recalled Eisner saying "it has all of the elements of a classic Disney film,"[6] and because of his directorial success on The Lion King that same year, Eisner allowed Allers to have free rein with both the casting and the storyline.[7] By January 1995, Variety reported that Allers was working on "an Inca-themed original story".[8]

text: In 1996, the production crew traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru, to study Inca artifacts and architecture and the landscape this empire was created in.[9][10]

text: Kingdom of the Sun was to have been a tale of a greedy, selfish emperor (voiced by David Spade) who finds a peasant (voiced by Owen Wilson) who looks just like him; the emperor swaps places with the peasant to escape his boring life and have fun, much as in author Mark Twain's archetypal novel The Prince and the Pauper. However, the evil witch Yzma has plans to summon the evil god Supai and destroy the sun so that she may retain her youth forever (the sun gives her wrinkles, so she surmises that living in a world of darkness would prevent her from wrinkling). Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the real emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her. During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the pauper falls in love with the emperor's so to be fiance Nina (voiced by Carla Gugino) who thinks he is the emperor that has change his ways. Meanwhile the emperor-llama learns humility in his new form, and even comes to love a female llama-herder named Mata (voiced by Laura Prepon).[11] Together, the girl and the llama set out to undo the witch's plans. The book Reel Views 2 says the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style".[12]

text: Following the underwhelming box office performances of Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, studio executives felt the project was growing too ambitious and serious for audiences following test screenings, and needed more comedy.[13] In early 1997, producer Randy Fullmer contacted Mark Dindal, who had just wrapped up work on Cats Don't Dance, and offered him to be co-director on Kingdom of the Sun.[14] Meanwhile, Allers personally called Sting, in the wake of Elton John's success with The Lion King's soundtrack, to compose several songs for the film.[6] He agreed, but on the condition that his filmmaker wife Trudie Styler could "document the process of the production".[15] This film, which was eventually entitled The Sweatbox, was made by Xingu Films (their own production company). Along with collaborator David Hartley, Sting composed eight songs inextricably linked with the original plot and characters.[5]

text: In summer 1997, it was announced that Roger Allers and Mark Dindal would serve as the film's directors and Randy Fullmer as producer. David Spade and Eartha Kitt had been confirmed to voice the emperor, Manco, and the villainess, while Carla Gugino was in talks for the role of Nina.[16][17] Harvey Fierstein was also cast as Hucua, Yzma's sidekick.[6]

text: By the summer of 1998, it was apparent that Kingdom of the Sun was not far along enough in production to be released in the summer of 2000 as planned. At this time, one of the Disney executives reportedly walked into Randy Fullmer's office and, placing his thumb and forefinger a quarter-inch apart, stated "your film is this close to being shut down."[18] Fullmer approached Allers, and informed him of the need to finish the film on time for its summer 2000 release as crucial promotional deals with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and other companies were already established and depended upon meeting that release date. Allers acknowledged that the production was falling behind, but was confident that, with an extension of between six months to a year, he could complete the film. When Fullmer denied Allers's request for an extension, the director decided to leave the project.[18] On September 23, 1998,[5][19] the project was dead with production costs amounting towards $25–30 million[5][7] and twenty-five percent of the film animated.[20]

text: Production overhaul and script rewrite[edit]

text: Upset that Allers left the project, Michael Eisner reportedly gave Fullmer two weeks to salvage the film or production would be shut down.[21] Fullmer and Dindal halted production for six months to retool the project retitling it to Kingdom in the Sun,[14] making it the first Disney animated feature to have an extensive overhaul since Pinocchio.[22] Meanwhile, following Eric Goldberg's pitch for the Rhapsody in Blue segment for Fantasia 2000, the animators were reassigned to work on the segment.[23] In the interim, Chris Williams, who was a storyboard artist during Kingdom of the Sun,[24] came up with the idea of making Pacha an older character as opposed to the teenager that he was in the original story.[25] Following up on the new idea, former late-night comedy writer David Reynolds stated, "I pitched a simple comedy that's basically a buddy road picture with two guys being chased in the style of a Chuck Jones 'toon, but faster paced. Disney said, 'Give it a shot.'"[26] One of the new additions to the revised story was the scene-stealing character of Yzma's sidekick Kronk.[27] Meanwhile, the name Manco was changed to Kuzco following Fullmer's discovery of the Japanese slang term manko, which translates to vagina.[7] Due in part of the production shutdown, Sting began to develop schedule conflicts with his songwriting duties interfering with his work on his next album he was planning to record in Italy. "I write the music, and then they're supposed to animate it, but there are constantly changes being made. It's constantly in turnaround," the singer/songwriter admitted, but "I'm enjoying it."[6][28] Because of the shutdown, the computer-animated film Dinosaur assumed the summer 2000 release date originally scheduled for Kingdom.[7]

text: Andreas Deja declined to return to the film observing his more serious version of Yzma was incompatible with the wackier, comedic tone of the film, and moved to Orlando, Florida, to work on Lilo & Stitch. Animator Dale Baer would replace Deja as the supervising animator for Yzma.[29] Fulmer would inform Sting by telephone that his songs, related to specific scenes and characters that were now gone, had to be dropped.[6][30] Bitter about the removal of his songs, the pop musician commented that "At first, I was angry and perturbed. Then I wanted some vengeance." Disney eventually agreed to allow three of the six deleted songs as bonus tracks on the soundtrack album such as Yzma's villain song titled "Snuff Out the Light", the love song titled "One Day She'll Love Me", and a dance number called "Walk the Llama Llama".[31] The plot elements such as the romance between the llama herder Pacha and Manco's betrothed Nina, the sun-capturing villain scheme, similarities to The Prince and the Pauper stories, and Inca mythology were dropped.[32] The character of Hucua was also dropped from the story, though he would make a cameo appearance as the candle holder during the dinner scene in the finished film.[33] Kuzco – who was a supporting character in the original story – eventually became the protagonist.[34]

text: By summer 1999, cast members Owen Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, and Trudie Styler were dropped from the film.[35] Eartha Kitt and David Spade remained in the cast, Dindal commented, "[a]nd then John Goodman and Patrick Warburton [who played Elaine's boyfriend Puddy on the Seinfeld series] came aboard."[36] After Sting's songs for Kingdom of the Sun were dropped from the new storyline, Sting remained on the project, though he was told by the studio that "All we want is a beginning and an end song."[37] The song, "Perfect World", was approached "to open the movie with a big, fun number that established the power of Kuzco and showed how he controlled the world", according to Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher.[38] The filmmakers had asked Sting to perform the song for the film, though Sting declined telling them that he was too old to sing it and that they should find someone younger and hipper. They instead went with Tom Jones, who is eleven years older than Sting.[39]

text: In February 2000, the new film was announced as The Emperor's New Groove with its new story centering on a spoiled Inca Emperor – voiced by David Spade – who through various twists and falls ends up learning the meaning of true happiness from a poor peasant, played by John Goodman. The release date was scheduled for December 2000.[40] Despite the phrasing of the title, the film bears no relation to Hans Christian Andersen's classic Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" (although both stories involve an emperor being tricked).[41] However, according to Mark V. Moorhead of the Houston Press, the film's plot does bear some resemblance to that of The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, wherein a man is turned into a donkey. [42]

text: Eisner worried that the new story was too close in tone to Disney's 1997 film Hercules, which had performed decently yet below expectations at the American box office. Dindal and Fullmer assured him that The Emperor's New Groove, as the film was now called, would have a much smaller cast, making it easier to involve audiences. Towards the end of production, the film's ending originally had Kuzco building his Kuzcotopia amusement park on another hill by destroying a rainforest near Pacha's home, and inviting Pacha and his family to visit. Horrified at the ending, Sting commented that "I wrote them a letter and said, 'You do this, I'm resigning because this is exactly the opposite of what I stand for. I've spent 20 years trying to defend the rights of indigenous people and you're just marching over them to build a theme park. I will not be party to this."[43] The ending was rewritten so that Kuzco constructs a shack similar to Pacha's and spends his vacation among the villagers.[44]

text: Design and animation[edit]

text: During production on Kingdom of the Sun, Andreas Deja was the initial supervising animator of Yzma, and incorporated supermodeling poses published in magazines in order to capture Yzma's sultry, seductive persona.[45] Nik Ranieri was originally slated as the supervising animator for Yzma's rocky sidekick, Hucua. During the research trip to Peru in 1996, Ranieri acknowledged that "I was researching for a character that looked like a rock so I was stuck drawing rocks for the whole trip. Then when we got back they piled it into this story about ancient Incas."[46] Mark Pudleiner was to be the supervising animator of Kuzco's proposed maiden, Nina.[47] In early 1997, David Pruiksma came on board to animate the llama, Snowball.[48] According to Pruiksma, Snowball was "a silly, vain and egotistical character, rather the dumb blond of the llama set. I really enjoyed developing the character and doing some early test animation on her as well. Before I left the film (and it was ultimately shelved), I created model sheets for not only Snowball, but for the rest of the herd of seven other llamas and for Kuzco as a Llama."[49] When the film was placed on production shutdown, Pruiksma transferred to work on Atlantis: The Lost Empire being developed concurrently and ultimately the llama characters were dropped from the storyline.[48]

text: Following the production overhaul and the studio's attempts for more cost-efficient animated features, Mark Dindal urged for "a simpler approach that emphasized the characters rather than overwhelming special effects or cinematic techniques".[50] Because of the subsequent departure of Deja, animator Dale Baer inherited the character of Yzma. Using Eartha Kitt's gestures during recording sessions, Baer commented that "She has a natural voice for animation and really got into the role. She would gesture wildly and it was fun just to watch her. She would come into each session almost serious and very professional and suddenly she would go wild and break up laughing."[51] Ranieri was later asked to serve as the supervising animator of Kuzco (as a human and a llama), though he would admit being reluctant at first until he discovered that Kuzco "had a side to him, there was a lot of comedy potential and as a character he went through an arc".[46] Pudleiner was also reassigned to work as an animator of the human version of Kuzco.[52] In addition to drawing inspiration from David Spade during recording sessions, the Kuzco animation team studied llamas at the zoo, visited a llama farm, watched nature documentaries, and even observed the animals up close when they came for a visit to the studio.[50] For the rewritten version of Pacha, animator Bruce W. Smith observed that "Pacha is probably the most human of all the characters," and further added that he "has more human mannerisms and realistic traits, which serve as a contrast to the cartoony llama he hangs out with. He is the earthy guy who brings everything back into focus. Being a big fellow about six-foot-five and weighing about 250 pounds we had to work hard to give him a sense of weight and believability in his movement."[50]

text: Actual animation began in 1999, involving 400 artists and 300 technicians and production personnel.[46] Outside of the Walt Disney Feature Animation studio building in Burbank, California, animators located at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida and Disney Animation France assisted in the production of The Emperor's New Groove.[53] During the last eighteen months of production, a 120-crew of clean-up artists would take an animation cel drawing from the animation department, and place a new piece of paper over the existing image in order to draw a cleaner, more refined image. "We're basically the final designers," said clean-up supervisor Vera Pacheco, whose crew worked on more than 200,000 drawings for Groove.[54]

text: Release[edit]

text: After the release date had shifted to winter 2000, similarities were noted between the film and DreamWorks Animation's The Road to El Dorado.[55] Marc Lument, a visual development artist on El Dorado, claimed "It really was a race, and Katzenberg wanted ours out before theirs." Lument also added that, "We didn't know exactly what they were doing, but we had the impression it was going to be very similar. Whoever came out second would face the impression that they copied the other."[4] Fullmer and Dindal denied the similarities with the latter commenting "This version [The Emperor's New Groove] was well in the works when that movie came out," and further added "Early on, when our movie got to be very comic, all of us felt that you can't be making this farce about a specific group of people unless we are going to poke fun at ourselves. This didn't seem to be a proper choice about Incas or any group of people. It was more of a fable."[56]

text: The marketing campaign for The Emperor's New Groove was relatively restrained as Disney opted to heavily promote the release of 102 Dalmatians, which was released during Thanksgiving.[56][57] Nevertheless, the film was accompanied with six launcher toys of Kuzco, Kuzco as a llama, Pacha, Yzma, Yzma as a cat, and Kronk[58] accompanied with Happy Meals at McDonald's in North America. The European, Asian and Australian toys from 2001 were different from the North American set. Stuffed animals were also made and sold in places like The Disney Store.

text: Home media[edit]

text: The standard VHS and DVD was released on May 1, 2001, as well as a "2-Disc Collector's Edition" that included bonus features such as Sting's music video of "My Funny Friend and Me", a Rascal Flatts music video of "Walk the Llama Llama" from the soundtrack, audio commentary with the filmmakers, a multi-skill level Set Top Game with voice talent from the movie, and a deleted scene among other features.[59] Unlike its theatrical box office performance, the film performed better on home video, becoming the top-selling home video release of 2001.[60] In September 2001, it was reported that 6 million VHS units were sold amounting towards $89 million in revenue. On DVD, it was also reported it had sold twice as many sales. The overall revenue averaged toward $125 million according to Adams Media Research.[61]

text: Disney re-released a single-disc special edition called "The New Groove Edition" on October 18, 2005. Disney digitally remastered and released The Emperor's New Groove on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013 bundled in a two-movie collection combo pack with its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove.[62] On its first weekend, it sold 14,000 Blu-ray units grossing $282,000.[63]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: On its opening weekend, The Emperor's New Groove premiered at fourth place grossing about $10 million behind strong competitions such as What Women Want, Dude, Where's My Car?, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.[64] Overall, the film grossed $89.3 million at the U.S. box office and an additional $80 million worldwide; totals lower than those for most of the Disney Feature Animation productions released in the 1990s.[1]

text: Because of its pre-Columbian setting and Latin American flavor, Disney spent $250,000 in its marketing campaign towards the Latino market releasing dual English and Spanish-language theatrical prints in sixteen multiplexes across heavily populated Latino areas in Los Angeles, California in contrast to releasing dubbed or subtitled theatrical prints of their previous animated features in foreign markets.[65] By January 2001, following nineteen days into its theatrical general release, the Spanish-dubbed prints were pulled from multiplexes as Latino Americans opted to watch the English-language prints with its grossing averaging $571,000 in comparison to $96,000 for the former.[66]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, The Emperor's New Groove holds an 85% approval rating based on 128 reviews and an average of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Emperor's New Groove isn't the most ambitious animated film, but its brisk pace, fresh characters, and big laughs make for a great time for the whole family."[67] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[68] Many critics and audiences generally consider the film to be one of the better films of Disney's post-Renaissance era and also one of the most comedic.[69]

text: Writing for Variety, Robert Koehler commented the film "may not match the groovy business of many of the studio's other kidpix, but it will be remembered as the film that established a new attitude in the halls of Disney's animation unit".[70] Roger Ebert, writing his review for Chicago Sun-Times, awarded the film 3 (out of 4) stars distinguishing the film as "a goofy slapstick cartoon, with the attention span of Donald Duck" that is separate from what's known as animated features. Ebert would later add that "it doesn't have the technical polish of a film like Tarzan, but is a reminder that the classic cartoon look is a beloved style of its own."[71] Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum graded the film a B+, describing it as a "hip, funny, mostly nonmusical, decidedly non-epic family picture, which turns out to be less of a hero's journey than a meeting of sitcom minds".[72]

text: Published in The Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov gave the film 2/5 stars noting the film "suffers from a persistent case of narrative backsliding that only serves to make older members of the audience long for the days of the dwarves, beauties, and poisoned apples of Disney-yore, and younger ones squirm in their seats". Savlov continued to express his displeasure in the animation in comparison to the previous year's Tarzan writing it "is also a minor letdown, with none of the ecstatic visual tour de force."[73] Movie reviewer Bob Strauss acknowledged the film is "funny, frantic and colorful enough to keep the small fry diverted for its short but strained 78 minutes", though except for "some nice voice work, a few impressive scale gags and interesting, Inca-inspired design elements, there is very little here for the rest of the family to latch onto". Strauss would target the massive story overhaul during production as the main problem.[74]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
List of Awards and Nominations

Year
Award
Category
Recipients and nominees
Results

2001
Golden Satellite Award
Best Animated or Mixed Media
The Emperor's New Groove
Nominated

Best Original Song
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Nominated

58th Golden Globe Awards
Best Original Song
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Nominated

28th Annie Awards
Best Animated Feature
The Emperor's New Groove
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Directing
Mark Dindal
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Writing
Mark Dindal, Chris Williams, David Reynolds
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Storyboarding
Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Production Design
Colin Stimpson
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Character Animation
Dale Baer
Won

Individual Achievement in Voice Acting
Eartha Kitt
Won

Patrick Warburton
Nominated

Individual Achievement in Music
Sting, David Hartley
Won

Individual Achievement in Music Score
John Debney
Nominated

73rd Academy Awards
Best Original Song
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Nominated

Phoenix Films Critics Society Awards
Best Song
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Won

Best Animated Film
The Emperor's New Groove
Nominated

Best Family Film
The Emperor's New Groove
Nominated

Las Vegas Critics Society Awards
Best Family Film
The Emperor's New Groove
Nominated

Best Song
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Nominated

2002
44th Annual Grammy Awards
Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
"My Funny Friend and Me"
Nominated

tag: table

text: The Sweatbox[edit]

text: The Sweatbox is a documentary that chronicled the tumultuous collaboration of Sting and David Hartley with the Disney studios to compose six songs for Kingdom of the Sun (the film's working title).[75] The documentary featured interviews from directors Roger Allers and Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer, Sting (whose wife created the documentary), Disney story artists, and the voice cast being dismayed by the new direction. Disney was not believed to be opposing Trudie Styler's documentary with Disney animation executive Thomas Schumacher, who had seen footage, commenting that "I think it's going to be great!"[76]

text: The film premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, but has gone virtually unseen by the public ever since. Disney owns the rights, but has never officially released it.[77] In March 2012, a workprint of the documentary was leaked online and was uploaded onto YouTube, by a United Kingdom cartoonist, before it was ultimately pulled.[78] As of April 2015, some scenes from the documentary could be seen from the home media release, including the behind the scenes and the making of My Funny Friend and Me.

text: Adaptations and sequel[edit]

text: In April 2005, it was announced that DisneyToon Studios was producing a direct-to-video sequel entitled Kronk's New Groove, which was released on December 13, 2005, timed with the premiere of the Disney Channel cartoon series the film is based on called The Emperor's New School.[79] Patrick Warburton, Eartha Kitt and Wendie Malick reprised their roles for the sequel and series, while J.P. Manoux replaced David Spade for the series and Fred Tatasciore voiced Pacha in season 1. John Goodman subsequently reprised his role for the second and final season for the series.

text: Kuzco appears as a guest in the animated television series, Disney's House of Mouse, and its direct-to-video spin-off film, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

text: Two video games were developed and released concurrent with the film. The first, for the Sony PlayStation, was developed by Argonaut Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The second, for the Nintendo Game Boy Color, was developed by Sandbox and published by Ubisoft. Both titles were released in PAL territories the following year. The PlayStation version was re-released for the North American PlayStation Network on July 27, 2010.

text: The Tokyo DisneySea rollercoaster attraction Raging Spirits took visual inspiration for its Inca ruins theme from the buildings in the film, with a structure based on Kuzco's palace similarly crowning the ruins site.[80]


document_title: Timeline of computer animation in film and television

question_text: what was the first disney movie to use cgi

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Rendering of a planned highway
1961
In 1960, a 49-second vector animation of a car traveling down a planned highway at 110 km/h was created at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology on the BESK computer. The short animation was broadcast on November 9, 1961 on national television.[1][2]

Hummingbird
1967
A ten-minute computer animated film by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer. This was awarded a prize at the 4th annual International Experimental Film Competition in Brussels, Belgium and in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York City. The subject was a line drawing of a hummingbird for which a sequence of movements appropriate to the bird were programmed. Over 30,000 images comprising some 25 motion sequences were generated by the computer.[3][4]

Kitty
1968
A group of Soviet mathematicians and physicists headed by N. Konstantinov created a mathematically computable model of the physics of a moving cat. The algorithms were programmed on the BESM-4 computer. The computer then printed hundreds of frames to be later converted to film.[5][6][7] An accompanying scientific paper describes the foundation of the employed physics simulation techniques that nowadays are commonly applied to animation films and computer games.[8]

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Metadata
1971
This is an experimental 2D animated short drawn on a data tablet by Peter Foldes, who used the world's first key frame animation software, invented by Nestor Burtnyk and Marceli Wein.[9][10][11][12]

A Computer Animated Hand
1972
Produced by Ed Catmull, the short demonstrates a computer animated hand, as well as human faces. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2011.

Westworld
1973
First use of 2D computer animation in a significant entertainment feature film. The point of view of Yul Brynner's gunslinger was achieved with raster graphics.[13][14]

The Six Million Dollar Man
1974
First television series to use CGI in the intro.

Faces (Faces & Body Parts)
1974
Fred Parke's thesis film on facial modeling at the University of Utah.[15]

Great
1975
The Oscar-winning 1975 short animated film about the life of the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel contains a brief sequence of a rotating wire-frame model of Brunel's final project, the iron steam ship SS Great Eastern.

Futureworld
1976
First use of 3D computer graphics for animated hand and face. Used 2D digital compositing to materialize characters over a background.[14]

Star Wars
1977
Used an animated 3D wire-frame graphic for the trench run briefing sequence. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 1989.

The Black Hole
1979
Used raster wire-frame model rendering for the open credits depicting a 3D wireframe of a black hole.[16]

Alien
Used raster wire-frame model rendering for navigation monitors in the landing sequence.[14] Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2002.

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Looker
1981
First CGI human character, Cindy. Also, first use of 3D-shaded CGI.[16][17]

The Works
1982
The New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab premiered a trailer at SIGGRAPH for their CGI project. This would have been the first feature-length CGI film, but it was never completed.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
ILM computer graphics division develops "Genesis Effect", the first use of a fractal-generated landscape in a film.[18] Bill Reeves leads the Genesis Effect programming team, and creates a new graphics technique called "Particle Systems".

Tron
First extensive use (15 minutes fully computer generated) of 3D CGI including the famous Light Cycle sequence.[19] Also includes very early facial animation (for the Master Control Program).

Golgo 13
1983
First animated film to incorporate CGI sequences.[20] Entirely digital models of revolvers, skeletons, helicopters, and skyscrapers (created by Toyo Links Corporation and Osaka University's CG division) are used in the film's title sequence and part of the climax; the remainder of the film is traditionally animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha.

Dream Flight
First 3D generated film telling a story, shown in Electronic Theater in SIGGRAPH ‘83

Rock & Rule
First Western animated film to use computer graphics.[21]

The Last Starfighter
1984
Uses CGI for all spaceship shots, replacing traditional models. First use of "integrated CGI" where the effects are supposed to represent real world objects.[21]

Lensman: Secret of The Lens
Uses CGI for spaceships and other scenes.

The Adventures of André and Wally B.
Lucasfilm's computer animation division creates an all-CGI-animated short. The first CGI animation with motion blur effects and squash and stretch motion.

2010: The Year We Make Contact
Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere is CGI-rendered, mostly during the black spot shots.

Tony de Peltrie
1985
First CGI-animated human character to express emotion through his face and body language.[22]

Young Sherlock Holmes
Lucasfilm creates the first photorealistic CGI character, "stained glass knight" with 10 seconds of screentime.[23][24]

"Money for Nothing"
The first computer-generated music video.[24] The animators would go on to found Mainframe Entertainment.

Flight of the Navigator
1986
The first use of reflection mapping in a feature film, used for the flying alien spacecraft.[24]

Labyrinth
First realistic CGI animal.[24]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
First use of the Cyberware 3D scanner, first 3D morphing.[24]

Luxo Jr.
First use of shadows in CGI, made with the specially developed software Photorealistic Renderman. First Pixar film, and first CGI film to be nominated for an Academy Award. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2014.

The Golden Child
First use of primitive photorealistic morphing.[25]

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
1987
First TV series to include characters modeled entirely with computers.

Knightmare
First game show with interaction between humans and computer-generated surroundings.

Rendez-vous in Montreal
First 3D generated film involving virtual actors Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart

Willow
1988
First extensive photorealistic use of morphing effect in a feature film.[26]

Akira
CGI is used to animate the pattern indicator, and to plot the paths of falling objects, model parallax effects on backgrounds, and tweak lighting and lens flares.[20]

Tin Toy
First computer-animated short film to win an Oscar. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2003.

The Abyss
1989
First digital 3D water effect.[27]

The Jim Henson Hour
TV series with real-time and rendered CGI featuring digitally puppeteered CG character "Waldo."

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
First all-digital composite.[27]

Les Fables géométriques
First broadcast series of animated CGI shorts.

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Die Hard 2
1990
First digitally-manipulated matte painting.[27]

RoboCop 2
An early use of real-time computer graphics or "digital puppetry" to create a character in a motion picture.[28]

Backdraft
1991
First use of photorealistic CGI fire in a motion picture.[28]

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
First realistic human movements on a CGI character.[27] The first partially computer-generated main character and the first blockbuster movie to feature multiple morphing effects.[29] First use of a personal computer to create major movie 3D effects.

Death Becomes Her
1992
First human skin CGI software.[27]

Jurassic Park
1993
First photorealistic CG creatures.[27]

Live & Kicking
First TV program to feature a live computer-generated character as part of its cast.

VeggieTales
First completely computer animated direct-to-video release.

Babylon 5
First television series to use CGI as the primary method for its visual effects. First TV use of virtual sets.

Insektors[30]
First fully computer animated TV series. First use of character animation in a computer animated television series.

Radioland Murders
1994
First use of virtual CGI sets with live actors.[31]

ReBoot
First half-hour computer animated TV series.[32]

The Flintstones
First CGI-rendered fur.[27]

The Crow
First deceased actor (Brandon Lee) to be re-created through CGI.

Waterworld
1995
First realistic CG water.[27]

Casper
First CGI lead character in a feature-length live-action film, and first CGI characters to interact realistically with live actors.

Toy Story
First CGI feature-length animation. Added to the United States National Film Registry in 2005.

Cassiopeia
1996
A Brazilian CGI animated feature film produced and released by NDR Filmes in Brazil on April 1, 1996. First CGI feature-length animation that did not use scanned models for heads.

The Island of Dr. Moreau
First film to use motion capture CGI to portray a character.

DragonHeart
First 2D all-CGI backgrounds with live actors. First film to use ILM's Caricature software (created during the film's production).

Beast Wars: Transformers
First CGI Transformers animated series produced by Mainframe Entertainment. Sequel to the original Transformers.

Star Wars (Episodes IV, V and VI Special Editions)
1997
First re-release of a film to incorporate CGI characters and elements.

Marvin the Martian in 3D
First CG film created for viewing with 3D glasses.

Titanic
First wide-release feature film with major elements rendered under the open-source Linux operating system.[33] Also included a number of advances, specifically in the rendering of flowing water.

A Bug's Life
1998
First CG anamorphic widescreen film. First all-digital transfer to DVD. First film to be reframed for home video releases.

Invasion: Earth
First major use of digital effects in a British TV series

What Dreams May Come
First use of 3D CGI in combination with 3D location scanning (Lidar) and motion-analysis based 3D camera tracking in a feature film.

Fight Club
1999
First realistic close-up of detailed facial deformation on a synthetic human.

The Matrix
First use of CG interpolation with bullet time effects. Added to the National Film Registry in 2012.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
First film to use CG extensively for thousands of shots, including backgrounds, environmental effects, vehicles, and crowds. Several CG characters stood alongside real actors in dozens of shots, making them the first CG "supporting" cast members.

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
2001
First feature-length digital film to be made based on photorealism and live action principles. The first theatrically released feature film to utilize performance capture (motion capture) for all of its characters actions.[34]

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
First CGI feature-length movie made using off-the-shelf hardware and software.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
First use of AI for digital actors (using the Massive software developed by Weta Digital).

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002
First virtual actor to win an award (Critics' Choice Movie Awards by Andy Serkis playing Gollum), in the newly created category Best Digital Acting Performance

Ice Age
First full-length feature animated film exclusively rendered with a ray tracer (CGI Studio).[35]

The Matrix Reloaded
2003
The Burly Brawl - the first use of "Universal Capture", the combination of dense (rather than point-based) motion capture, per-frame texture capture and optical flow of pixels over the data from 7 camera setup bought into a shared UV space by projection onto a neutral expression geometry leading to the introduction of realistic digital look-alikes, last missing piece into puzzle to make fully virtual cinematography possible.

Able Edwards
2004
First movie shot completely on a green screen using digitally scanned images as backgrounds.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
First movie with all-CGI backgrounds and live actors.[36]

The Polar Express
First computer-animated 3D film to be created with motion capture.

Elephants Dream
2006
First CGI short movie released as completely open source. Made with Open Source software, theatrical and DVD release under Creative Commons License.[37] Unique that all 3D models, animatics and software are included on the DVD free for any use.

Flatland
2007
First CGI feature film to be animated by one person. Made with Lightwave 3D and Adobe After Effects.[38]

Plumíferos
2009
First CGI feature-length movie made using Open Source/Free Software for all 3D models, animation, lighting and render process, under GNU/Linux operating system.

Avatar
First full-length movie made using performance capture to create photorealistic 3D characters and to feature a fully CG 3D photorealistic world. The first virtual art department and complete virtual production pipeline was developed by director James Cameron and team to create the film in real-time.

Up
First computer-animated feature to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture.

text:
Film
Year
Notes

Toy Story 3
2010
First CGI feature-length movie to gross more than $1 billion.