“Zootopia 2” Becomes Disney Animation’s Highest-Grossing Film, Powered by China Box Office

On the last day of 2025, a rabbit cop and a con artist fox pushed Walt Disney Animation Studios into new territory.

A new record for Disney’s flagship animation studio

“Zootopia 2,” the sequel to the 2016 hit about a sprawling, species-divided metropolis, has generated about $1.46 billion in worldwide ticket sales, Disney said this week. That total, reported widely by box-office trackers and first highlighted in a year-end dispatch from Reuters, edges past the roughly $1.45 billion earned by “Frozen 2” in 2019 and makes the film the highest-grossing release in the 102-year history of Disney’s flagship animation studio.

The milestone caps a year in which family-oriented animation emerged as one of the few reliable engines of theatrical revenue. It also underscores how much Disney’s fortunes now hinge on a handful of global franchises—and on audiences far from the company’s Burbank headquarters, especially in China.

Disney’s breakdown puts “Zootopia 2” at about $333 million in the United States and Canada and roughly $1.13 billion from international markets as of Dec. 31. More than a third of that global haul has come from China alone, where the sequel has taken in over $560 million, according to studio estimates.

Industry analysts say those figures reflect both pent-up demand for recognizable brands and the altered landscape of the post-pandemic box office.

“This is a beloved franchise delivering what audiences were looking for around the world,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, said in an interview after the film’s opening weekend. He described the Thanksgiving frame, when “Zootopia 2” debuted in North America, as “a great result and a big momentum builder for the box office as we head into the final four weeks of the year.”

A blockbuster Thanksgiving debut

Released in U.S. theaters on Nov. 26, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, “Zootopia 2” opened to an estimated $96 million over the three-day weekend and about $156 million over the five-day holiday period in the United States and Canada. That ranks as one of the strongest Thanksgiving launches on record, trailing only fellow Disney release “Moana 2” among animated titles.

Globally, the sequel’s first weekend produced approximately $556 million in ticket sales, the biggest opening ever recorded for an animated film and the fourth-largest debut of any movie. It crossed the $1 billion mark 17 days after its U.S. release, faster than any animated feature before it.

What the record does—and doesn’t—cover

The new record is narrowly drawn. It applies specifically to Walt Disney Animation Studios, the in-house unit behind films such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “The Lion King,” “Frozen” and “Moana,” and does not include Pixar Animation Studios, which Disney acquired in 2006.

On all-time lists for animated movies, “Zootopia 2” now sits behind Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” Disney’s 2019 remake of “The Lion King”—often categorized as animated despite its “live-action” marketing—and this year’s Chinese blockbuster “Ne Zha 2.”

Still, for Disney’s main animation division, the climb past “Frozen 2” is symbolically significant. The studio stumbled at the box office earlier in the decade as the COVID-19 pandemic forced theater closures, compressed theatrical windows and pushed several high-profile titles, including “Soul” and “Luca,” directly to streaming. Later releases such as “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Strange World” and “Wish” failed to match the billion-dollar heights of the “Frozen” and original “Zootopia” era.

Recent successes have helped reverse that trend. “Moana 2,” released in 2024, finished with more than $1 billion worldwide, and a live-action “Lilo & Stitch” remake earlier in 2025 also joined the billion-dollar club. With “Zootopia 2” added to the tally, Disney’s various film labels generated about $6 billion at the global box office this year, the company’s strongest theatrical performance since 2019, when its slate included “Avengers: Endgame” and a string of other mega-hits.

China’s central role

No single market has been more important to “Zootopia 2” than China, where the original film became a surprise sensation nearly a decade ago. The 2016 “Zootopia” earned about $235 million there, at the time the highest total ever for an animated film in the country. Its anthropomorphic city, visual gags and themes of resilience and cooperation struck a chord with Chinese audiences and helped turn the property into a durable brand.

Disney spent years deepening that connection. In December 2023, Shanghai Disneyland opened the world’s first “Zootopia”-themed land, featuring a major attraction, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, and extensive character-driven merchandising. The new area gave the franchise a year-round presence in one of Disney’s key parks and, as it turned out, an ideal launchpad for the sequel.

Ahead of the Chinese release of “Zootopia 2,” Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger traveled to Shanghai for a locally focused premiere. The company partnered with Chinese firms, including a themed jetliner collaboration with China Eastern Airlines, and emphasized marketing language around personal resilience and societal harmony—messaging that experts said resonated with both audiences and regulators.

Ashley Dudarenok, a China marketing consultant and founder of digital agency Alarice, called “Zootopia 2” “Disney’s most important movie in China this year” in a recent interview. She said the sequel benefited from “a rare combination of long-lasting affection for the first film and themes that align well with mainstream Chinese values.”

Chinese moviegoers responded. “Zootopia 2” collected an estimated 1.9 billion to 2 billion yuan (about $272 million to $276 million) in its first six days of release in China, capturing roughly 95% of all tickets sold in the country during its opening weekend, according to box-office tracking services. Within three weeks, it had passed $500 million there, making it one of the most successful Hollywood releases in China in several years.

The surge came in a year when China’s film authorities remained selective about Hollywood imports amid ongoing trade and political tensions with the United States. Analysts noted that the prominence of “Zootopia 2” on the release calendar did not necessarily indicate a broad thaw in relations, but rather suggested that a few globally recognized franchises could still secure favorable dates and screen counts.

At the same time, China’s own industry reached new heights with “Ne Zha 2,” a locally produced animated feature based on a mythological figure. That film has surpassed $2 billion in domestic ticket sales, according to Chinese media, making it the top-grossing movie worldwide this year without a conventional U.S. theatrical release.

Creative continuity and audience response

Creative continuity and positive word of mouth also played a role in “Zootopia 2” reaching its record. The sequel reunites directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, and brings back voice actors Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde. New voice cast members include Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, “Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson, Andy Samberg and Danny Trejo.

The story, which Disney has described in broad terms, follows Judy and Nick as they are framed for a series of crimes and must clear their names in a city again wrestling with interspecies mistrust. Early audience surveys have been strong. CinemaScore, which polls U.S. moviegoers on opening night, gave the film an A grade, matching the original “Zootopia,” while exit-poll firm PostTrak reported high overall satisfaction and strong “definite recommend” numbers.

In a statement celebrating the film’s passage of the $1 billion mark earlier in December, Bush praised the production team for pouring their “heart, soul and passion” into a movie he said was “full of joy, imagination and thoughtfulness.” He thanked fans around the world for returning to Zootopia’s streets.

What it signals for the industry

The scale of the release matched its ambitions. People familiar with the campaign said Disney spent more than $200 million on global marketing and promotion, including cross-promotions with fast-food chains and automakers and localized campaigns in major markets. Exhibitors saw the film as a key test of whether family-friendly event movies could still pull younger audiences off their couches and away from streaming platforms.

So far, the answer has been yes—at least for brands with established followings. In addition to “Zootopia 2,” the past three years have produced major animated or family-skewing hits such as “Inside Out 2,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Moana 2” and several Chinese releases. By contrast, many adult-oriented dramas and mid-budget comedies have continued to struggle theatrically, with some shifting directly to streaming.

That pattern is likely to shape studio decision-making in the years ahead. The outsize performance of sequels like “Zootopia 2” gives executives a clear commercial incentive to prioritize follow-ups and spin-offs that can be leveraged across film, streaming, merchandise and theme parks. It also raises questions within the industry about how much room remains for original stories and smaller-scale productions, especially in animation, where labor groups have voiced concern over intense production schedules and the concentration of resources on a few high-stakes projects.

For now, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde have secured their place in Disney’s record book. In a year when China produced the world’s top-grossing movie and global moviegoing remained below pre-pandemic levels, an animated sequel set in a fictional city of animals has become Disney Animation’s biggest hit—powered as much by Shanghai and Shenzhen as by Los Angeles and New York.