Families took the opportunity during the holidays, and that the children had a holiday, to experience Zootopia 2 on the big screen.
A week after the musical sequel Wicked: For Good broke box office records at launch, another film series has surpassed it and dominated the long Thanksgiving weekend. Families took the opportunity to see Zootopia 2 in theaters, bringing in $156 million in the first five days of the 2025 calendar and a staggering $556 million worldwide when international revenue is added.
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The fourth-best Thanksgiving
Zootopia 2, combined with Wicked: For Good, made the Thanksgiving weekend rank as the fourth-best of all time with approximately $293 million in total box office revenue across all films.
A sequel starring voices
The film, released nearly a decade after the first Zootopia to grossed over $1 billion globally, follows lead voice actors Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman. It is produced with a budget that is reported to be $150 million.
Good reception – but not quite perfect
The film currently has a score of 92% on aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, which is slightly lower than the near-perfect 98% that the original still holds.
An extraordinary year for animation
This has been an extraordinary year for animation so far, with Ne Zha 2 becoming the first animated film in history to surpass $2 billion globally, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle becoming the highest-grossing anime film ever, and KPop Demon Hunters becoming the biggest original success in Netflix history. You can watch Zootopia 2 in theaters.
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China was the largest marketplace
However, it was internationally – and specifically in China – that the majority of the revenue came from. The animated sequel raised $400 million from markets outside North America, which together with its domestic revenues amounted to $556 million globally. This makes for the best global debut of the year so far in 2025 and the biggest premiere ever for an animated film.
About $272 million of this came from China alone, where the film series is particularly popular. According to Variety, they have even recently opened Zootopia Land in Shanghai Disneyland. Not only was Zootopia 2 the most successful theatrical release in China for an animated film ever, it’s also the country’s second-best premiere overall, beaten only by 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Greater success than the original in North America
In the US and Canada, the sequel surpassed, with Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman voicing Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, respectively, its predecessor from 2016’s first three days. The first Zootopia opened in March of that year with $75 million, compared to the $96.8 million that Zootopia 2 received from Friday to Sunday. The original went on to collect $341 million domestically and surpassed $1 billion worldwide – not to mention winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
The success
of the first film was definitely a factor in how excited people were for the Disney sequel and a throwback to the titular land of anthropomorphic animals. It also helps that the critical response has been good – 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, an “A” on CinemaScore, and a 4-out-of-5-star rating in CinemaBlend’s review of Zootopia 2.
