Zootopia 2 Could be One of the Highest Grossing Movies of the Year
Zootopia 2 has all the elements to become a massive hit at the box office. Let's analyze them...
This November, Disney will release Zootopia 2, the sequel to the mega-hit from 2016. Jared Bush and Byron Howard are directing (the latter also co-directed the first movie), while Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman will return to voice their characters once again. While we haven’t seen any official footage (at least not to the public), we actually have any reason to believe why this movie is going to be one of the highest grossing movies of 2025.
Zootopia was released in March of 2016. The movie received critical acclaim (98% on Rotten Tomatoes), won best animated feature film at the Oscar, and above all, grossed over 1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. The movie had massive legs thanks to the positive word-of-mouth, and the audience came time after time. In fact, this is the second highest grossing original movie of all time behind Avatar. The movie was also huge in China and Japan, where it grossed over 200 million and 70 million, respectively.
Now, 9 years later, the sequel is coming, and it reminds me of another huge animated hit: Inside Out. The first Inside Out was released in Summer 2015, received critical acclaim, won the Oscar, and grossed over 858 million. Last year, exactly 9 years after the original, Inside Out 2 was released. That movie received great reviews (while they weren’t as good as the first movie, they were still pretty incredible), and grossed 1.69 billion – Not only it was nearly double than its predecessor overall gross, but it became the highest grossing animated movie of all time.
Zootopia 2 will have the exact situation – arriving 9 years after the very-beloved original, so you have the combination of goodwill and nostalgia. As long as the movie is good, it will almost certainly cross the billion-dollar mark. Unlike the first movie, which was released in March, this one will be released in November, where it’ll have the holidays. It’s the same time when Frozen, Frozen 2 and Moana 2 opened and grossed 1.2 billion, 1.4 billion and 1 billion respectively.
Moana 2 is actually another great example. The first movie was released in November of 2016 to critical acclaim. And while it grossed “only” 687 million, it became a worldwide phenomenon on Disney+ over the years. Last November, 8 years after the original was released, Moana 2 opened. Yes, the reviews weren’t as good as the original (61% vs 95% on Rotten Tomatoes), it was still gross over 1 billion, a massive jump from the first, thanks to the goodwill, popularity and nostalgia of the original.
In the end, as long as Zootopia 2 will be at least a worthy follow-up to the original, it should have no problem to become one of the highest grossing movies of the year.