Can Zootopia 2 Pass China’s Record-Breaking Animated Movie At The Box Office After Massive Opening Weekend?

Though Zootopia 2 had a record-breaking opening weekend, it hasn’t surpassed the 2025 record set by China’s Ne Zha 2. Last Thanksgiving, Disney’s Moana 2 led animated films with a global opening of $389 million. This year, Zootopia 2 exceeded that, earning $559.5 million worldwide.

The new movie’s opening weekend was a huge success, breaking the record previously held by Moana 2 and exceeding the global debut of Ne Zha 2 which set the previous record earlier this year with $431.2 million. It’s the highest-grossing movie opening of 2025 and the fourth-biggest of all time, following Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

While the new film had a stronger opening weekend than Ne Zha 2, Ne Zha still leads in overall earnings. With worldwide sales of around $2.2 billion (according to Forbes, though Box Office Mojo lists $1.9 billion), it’s the highest-grossing animated movie ever. That’s a remarkable achievement, and it might be difficult for Zootopia 2 to surpass it.

Zootopia 2 Will Make Over $1 Billion, But Won’t Catch Ne Zha 2

There was some question of whether Zootopia 2 would earn $1 billion, but its strong opening weekend has put those doubts to rest. It’s already over halfway to that mark and exceeded the original Zootopia‘s opening weekend earnings—that film eventually grossed $1.02 billion. Now, everyone’s wondering just how much money the sequel will ultimately make.

Pixar’s Inside Out 2 was Disney’s most successful animated movie, earning almost $1.7 billion worldwide. While it previously held the record for highest-grossing animated film ever, Ne Zha 2 surpassed it this year. Even with estimates ranging from $1.9 to $2.2 billion, it remains one of the very few films to reach such a high total.

While Zootopia 2 proved popular internationally and has the potential for a long run in theaters, Disney’s upcoming film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is expected to attract a large portion of that audience. Avatar is a worldwide success, and will likely dominate the global box office when it’s released on December 19th.

Disney isn’t worried about the competition between the films, but it will likely make it harder for Zootopia 2 to surpass Ne Zha 2 in earnings. Even Fire and Ash might not reach the same worldwide box office numbers as the first film unless it performs just as well.

The movie Zootopia has become a major animated franchise, and a third film, Zootopia 3, is probably being planned due to the excellent performance of the sequel. While Zootopia 2 might not surpass the box office record of Ne Zha 2, it will still be remembered as a huge achievement for Disney.

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2025-12-04 00:31