ZOOTOPIA 2 Smashes Records to Become Disney’s Highest-Grossing Animated Film Ever
Disney has a new animation champion, and it comes with paws, badges, and a whole lot of box office muscle. Zootopia 2 has officially become Walt Disney Animation Studios’ highest-grossing animated film of all time, pulling in an incredible $1.46 billion worldwide and narrowly edging out Frozen 2, which previously held the crown with $1.45 billion.
The sequel’s numbers are pretty staggering and unexpected. Domestically, the film has earned $333 million, while international markets have delivered a massive $1.13 billion. Even in its fifth week of release, the movie is still charging ahead.
Over the Christmas holiday weekend alone, Zootopia 2 added another $87.9 million to its total, proving its staying power well beyond opening weekend hype.
What makes this run even more impressive is how fast it happened. The film crossed the $1 billion mark in just 17 days, making it the fastest PG-rated movie in history to reach that milestone. That kind of momentum is rare, especially for an animated sequel.
A huge part of the film’s global success comes from China, where Zootopia 2 has become an absolute phenomenon. The movie has already soared past $500 million at the Chinese box office, making it by far the highest-grossing U.S. release in the country.
That’s a huge achievement at a time when many Hollywood films have struggled to connect with Chinese audiences. For comparison, the only recent title even in the same conversation is Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is approaching $100 million after its December 19 debut.
In fact, Zootopia 2 is one of only three films to cross the $1 billion global mark this year. The others include Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch remake, which sits at $1.03 billion, and China’s animated powerhouse Ne Zha 2, the year’s biggest movie overall with more than $2.2 billion worldwide.
On the story side, the sequel reunites fans with the characters who made the original such a hit. Ginnifer Goodwin returns as the endlessly determined rabbit cop Judy Hopps, alongside Jason Bateman as the smooth-talking fox Nick Wilde.
This time around, the buddy cops are thrown into a new case involving a mysterious reptilian threat that could flip the carefully balanced world of Zootopia upside down. I loved the movie and it’s awesome to see it find this kind of success.
Nearly a decade after the original film took audiences by surprise in 2016, Zootopia 2 has done something even harder. It didn’t just live up to expectations, it shattered records. With its historic box office run, global appeal, and strong word of mouth, Disney’s animal metropolis has officially become the studio’s most successful animated world ever.