How ‘Zootopia 2’ Can Be a Box Office Success

Nine years after Zootopia became a box office and critical hit, Walt Disney Animation is returning for another adventure with Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde in Zootopia 2 (which, for some reason, is not called 2ootopia or ZooTwopia). Where in previous decades sequels to Walt Disney Animated films were typically sent straight to home video and produced by outside studios, the 2010s and 2020s have seen Disney revisit many of its biggest original films, like Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, and now Zootopia. Part of this shift is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted the release of original movies like Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto. These challenges ultimately contributed to later box-office flops like Strange World and Wish.

For animated films, audiences are more willing to rush out to a theater for a sequel than to an original idea. This makes Zootopia 2 a safe bet for Disney. Zootopia‘s buddy-cop setup naturally lends itself better to a sequel than some of its contemporaries. But how big can this safe bet be, and could it actually be bigger than the previous film? Based on Walt Disney Animation’s past few years, barring a major downturn, Zootopia 2 will likely be a smash hit and one of the highest-grossing films of 2025.

The First ‘Zootopia’ Was a Big Hit

The Sequel Will Likely Follow Suit

The original Zootopia opened in theaters on March 4, 2016, grossing $75 million in its opening weekend. Zootopia would hold the number one spot at the domestic box office for three weeks in a row, ending its domestic run with $341.2 million. Worldwide, it was an even bigger hit, grossing $1.02 billion and becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016. In fact, the worldwide top five in 2016 were all Disney films, with Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, and The Jungle Book claiming the first, second, third, and fifth spots respectively. It was the height of Disney’s box-office powerhouse run, which truly kicked off with The Force Awakens in December 2015 and seemingly lasted until The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019.

Zootopia is also the fourth-highest-grossing Walt Disney animated film, behind only Frozen II, Moana 2, and Frozen. Zootopia was such a big hit that it actually outgrossed the other Walt Disney animated film of 2016, Moana. Considering that Moana has been the most popular film on Disney+ for five years, leading to Moana 2 grossing $1.059 billion worldwide, that certainly suggests Zootopia 2 will be another billion-dollar hit for Disney. After all, the original Zootopia has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, so it is riding a lot of audience goodwill and nostalgia.

The template for Zootopia 2‘s box office might have been set last year with the dual releases of Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 and Pixar Animation’s Inside Out 2. Like Zootopia 2, those were both sequels to critically acclaimed animated films from the mid-2010s. Inside Out 2 and Zootopia 2 are both films released nine years after their first entry. Inside Out 2 earned the second-best opening weekend of 2024, with $154 million, surpassing the $90 million opening weekend of the first film in 2015. Inside Out 2 later grossed $652 million domestically and $1.69 billion worldwide, briefly holding the title for the highest-grossing animated film of all time until the release of Ne Zha 2. Moana 2 then broke the Thanksgiving weekend record set by Frozen 2 with $225 million over the five-day holiday before grossing $1 billion worldwide.

Disney’s Recent Track Record With Animated Sequel Looks Good for ‘Zootopia 2’

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Disney has typically reserved the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to cash in on families going to the movies. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin all opened during this weekend. When Disney Animation moved The Lion King to summer, Pixar films like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story 2 would take advantage of the Thanksgiving weekend. When Pixar became Disney’s number one animation studio and shifted to the summer movie season, Walt Disney Animation made a major comeback in the 2010s during Thanksgiving weekend with titles like Tangled, Frozen, and Moana. Yet it wasn’t always a guarantee of success, as the holiday weekend didn’t save Wish, Strange World, or Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur from flopping.

Zootopia 2 is opening on Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, fellow Disney sequels Ralph Breaks the Internet and Moana 2 opened on Thanksgiving weekend. Frozen II got a head start a weekend prior. This means all four Disney Animated sequels to the 2010s animated films have been released in theaters near the Thanksgiving holiday. Below is a breakdown of the three films, how much they made over the five-day holiday period, and their final domestic and worldwide totals, and what this means for Zootopia 2.

In a worst-case scenario, Zootopia 2 performs similarly to Ralph Breaks the Internet, which grossed $84.7 million over the five-day weekend. That would be less than the original Zootopia‘s opening back in 2016. That would be considerably lower than Zootopia 2‘s predecessor, and it would also be bad for its budget. No exact budget details about Zootopia 2 have been released, but if it follows the pattern of recent Walt Disney Animation films, it would be between $150 to $180 million. Fortunately for Zootopia 2, Zootopia was a more profitable and acclaimed film than Wreck-It Ralph, so it has a better chance at the box office.

While Zootopia 2 might not beat Moana 2‘s Thanksgiving weekend record, it does have a chance of matching or surpassing Frozen II‘s second weekend Thanksgiving total. Reviews and word of mouth will be a significant factor in Zootopia 2‘s box office success, as the slightly more mixed reaction to Moana 2 likely kept it from overtaking Frozen II, despite a higher opening weekend. Considering all the data, Zootopia 2 will likely be one of the year’s highest-grossing movies and another hit for Disney. Zootopia 2 will be released in theaters on November 26, 2025.

Zootopia 2

Release Date

November 26, 2025

Director

Byron Howard, Jared Bush

Writers

Jared Bush

Producers

Jennifer Lee