In this post-pandemic world, it has become hard to tell which films will become huge box office successes. The climate has changed due to evolving viewing habits, streaming, the economy, and other factors that have made it hard to pinpoint the films audiences will make a priority to see in theaters. With all that being said, certain demos are starved for excellent content to make that trip worth it, and this is especially true of family films.

When the market is craving a film to bring families together, it can turn into box office gold, and that is being proved by the success of Zootopia 2, which broke records over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Some are surprised by the film’s box office success, but some signs pointed to the Disney sequel being the medicine that the industry needed before closing out the year.

The success of Zootopia 2 began with the release of the first film in 2016. The Disney magic was all over Zootopia, which was a huge critical and financial success, registering a 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing a staggering $1.024 billion worldwide on a budget of $150 million. The movie played well in the States ($341.3 million), and it proved to be a success in other markets, particularly China ($235.6 million), where it has the wacky title of Crazy Animal City.

At the time of its release, in that particular market, it was labeled the biggest Hollywood film in terms of its box office grosses since the release of 2015’s Jurassic World ($229 million). Other overseas markets that were robust include Japan ($70.1 million), Russia ($39.2 million), Germany ($34.2 million), and the UK ($34.2 million), to name a few.

Zootopia 2 entered the marketplace over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and proved that Disney should be very thankful for this IP. The movie gradually picked up steam heading into the weekend, with pre-sales and tracking indicating that a $500 million global opening was in the cards, with $200 million+ expected from the China opening alone. As many were scratching their heads, wondering how this could possibly happen because Hollywood films have had fickle openings in China since the pandemic, Zootopia 2 proved that actions were better than words. Over the lucrative five-day holiday period, Zootopia 2 topped its global opening tracking with a gross of $559.5 million, with $158 million of that coming from the domestic front.

The weekend prior, the industry was rightly praising the $147 million domestic opening for Wicked: For Good, but Zootopia 2 was waiting in the wings, prepared to tell Elphaba and Galinda to hold its beer. In terms of records broken on the domestic front, the $158 million opening made it the second-highest Thanksgiving opening ever, behind another Disney animated sequel, Moana 2 ($225.4 million), and the third-highest 3-day domestic opening for Disney ($98.8 million), behind Moana 2 ($139.7 million) and Frozen II ($130.2 million). While those domestic records are impressive, it gets even more stellar once the global records are factored in.

With its $559.5 million global launch, Zootopia 2 is the highest global animated opening of all time and the fourth highest global opening of all time behind the likes of Avengers: Endgame ($1.2 billion), Avengers: Infinity War ($640.5 million), and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($600.5 million). The fact that Disney claims three of those records is just a testament to their monopoly over the marketplace and their ability to leverage their marketing around the world.

Remember that Zootopia opened extremely well in China back in 2016 ($235.6 million) and that number increased for the sequel with a $272 million take. The movie particularly exploded on Saturday in the marketplace with a gross of $104 million, making it the biggest single day for an American film in the country. To indicate just how huge the sequel is in the area, the film is the second-biggest opening for a Hollywood release behind 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($300 million). The fact that the animals of Zootopia are putting up Marvel numbers is a clear indication of how robust this IP is in China, in particular.

Box office analysts are quick to point out that China isn’t suddenly a reliable marketplace. Hollywood movies used to take off pretty big there, especially tentpole releases, but that has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. There has also been the issue of the China-U.S. trade war, which saw Beijing cut the number of Hollywood movies that were allowed to be shown in China as a retaliation move over higher tariffs on Chinese goods and services. The industry has learned not to rely solely on China for success, but given how the first Zootopia performed there, Disney was smart to make China a primary marketing force.

Not only is it a fun animated film, but its themes seem to resonate in that market. Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China digital consultancy Chozan, said of its success, “It is Disney’s most important movie in China this year for sure” due to the sequel’s themes that speak to personal resilience. Disney wasn’t going to leave the market out and made sure to signify its importance by partnering with China Eastern Airlines on a Zootopia 2-themed plane, and having CEO Bob Iger making his way to Shanghai for the film’s local premiere. Additionally, the Shanghai Disneyland resort features the only Zootopia-themed land, which opened in 2023, capitalizing on the continued popularity of the first film.

Audiences have also been starved for strong animated content this year. Disney itself had Elio released in June, but the movie proved to be a box office misfire for the studio, grossing a mere $72.9 million domestically and $154.2 million worldwide on a staggering $150 million budget. It was a rare miss for their Pixar banner and highlighted the difficulty of releasing original animated films in the marketplace, but even an animated film that had a relatively successful first entry didn’t exactly crush the box office either. The Bad Guys, released in 2022, was a word-of-mouth hit at the time of its release and went on to gross $97.4 million domestically and $250.3 million worldwide on a $70 million budget.

The movie also scored with critics, going on to be certified fresh at 87 percent. The Bad Guys 2, released this year, scored an identical 87 percent fresh score, but its box office grosses were down from its predecessor. The sequel went on to gross $82.5 million domestically and $239 million globally, proving that even if the IP feels fresh, some are stronger than others.

There is comfort in familiar IP, and this can be especially true of family and animated films. Last year, Disney Pixar proved just that when Inside Out 2 came out of the gate with an opening of $154.2 million before ending its run with a domestic total of $652.9 million and $1.6 billion worldwide. This proved to be no fluke later in the year when Moana 2, which was originally slated as a Disney+ release, opened to $139.7 million over the three-day period last Thanksgiving weekend on its way to a domestic total of $460.4 million and a global take of $1.059 billion.

Zootopia 2 found itself in the same familiar IP territory with families and audiences of all ages embracing it because of the affection generated by the first movie. The first film wasn’t just the family movie of the moment; it also happened to be very good. Keep in mind, Zootopia went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 89th Academy Awards and was named as one of the top-ten films of the year by the American Film Institute.

Aside from animated family films, movies made for the young and the old are still very important to the marketplace. The live-action Lilo & Stitch cleared $1 billion at the global box office and is currently the only Hollywood movie to do so this year (Zootopia 2 will likely take that title with some saying a final global take of $1.5 billion is in the cards). Earlier this year, A Minecraft Movie scored for Warner Bros. with a $957.9 million worldwide haul, while the live-action How to Train Your Dragon was also successful with a global gross of $636.2 million.

These global grosses for PG fare topped comic book films such as The Fantastic Four: First Steps ($521.8 million) and Superman ($616.6 million). That’s not to say that the marketplace should be flooded with family releases because studios should let these films breathe and find success, but the gaps between their releases do indicate that there isn’t quite enough out there to get families to the movie theater. However, if the product is good, and Zootopia 2 is good with its 91 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, they will make seeing it a priority.

Disney just knew what to do with Zootopia 2. They saw just how well-received the first movie was and built up anticipation by allowing nearly a decade to by before releasing the sequel. Sometimes that can be a detriment, as too much time can allow other films and IP to take hold of an audience, but Disney kept Zootopia in the minds of the audience with a television spinoff series, Zootopia+, in 2022, and the film continues being viewed on Disney+. The brand was never out of the minds of the audience, and once you throw in a prime release date, Disney knew they’d hit it big with the sequel.

The first movie opened in March 2016 to a still solid $75 million during a time when bigger tentpoles were beginning to open sooner as a sort of precursor to the summer. Disney could’ve stuck with that timeframe, but after seeing what Moana 2 did over the Thanksgiving holiday last year, they were likely very confident that an arguably strong IP could perform just as well during the same frame. Needless to say, they were right. No matter how you look at it, Disney had the secret sauce with this release, and during a time when the box office can be very uncertain, it’s amazing to see a movie that proves audiences are still willing to make a trip to their local movie theater.

Zootopia 2 is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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