10 Insane Reasons Movies Were Nearly Shut Down

Disney has produced some of the greatest animated films ever made, but they are far from easy to create. They take time, and it's not uncommon for problems to arise, but the production of The Emperor's New Groove proved particularly difficult. It nearly got killed off by Disney for being taking too long to make.

Once the film's production began, it ran into problems meeting the initial target completion date in the Summer of 2000. Around that time, a Disney executive is said to have walked into the producer's office, placed his thumb and forefinger about half-a-centimeter apart, and said, "Your film is this close to being shut down."

Disney became impatient and demanded production kick into high gear, but when Director Roger Allers tried to negotiate for six more months, Disney refused, and he walked. At this point, Disney had already spent $30 million on production, but only 25% of the animation was completed, and a shutdown loomed on the horizon.

Disney gave the producer an ultimatum to salvage the project to the studio's standards and timeline, or be completely shut down in two weeks! Fortunately, the production was salvaged, but the problems persisted. Rewrites ended up angering Sting, who recorded the music for the film. He threatened to walk if they didn't change the ending, which the studio ultimately agreed to do.