‘Zootopia 2’ Becomes Disney Animation’s Highest-Grossing Film Ever

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As a huge Disney fan, I was thrilled to hear some good news after a pretty challenging year for the studio. Zootopia 2 just became their biggest hit ever, raking in $1.46 billion worldwide! That’s even more than Frozen II made back in 2019, which held the record at $1.45 billion. It’s a real bright spot, especially since some of their other 2025 releases, like the new Snow White and Captain America: Brave New World, didn’t quite perform as hoped. Hopefully, Zootopia 2‘s success can show them a path forward for other beloved franchises.

The new Zootopia movie has been a huge success, far exceeding the performance of recent animated films like Strange World and Wish. Those films faced criticism for including ideas that many families disagreed with. Zootopia 2, on the other hand, followed the same winning formula that made the first movie a billion-dollar success, and actually surpassed it.

Breaking Box Office Records

Disney announced on December 12th that Zootopia 2 reached over $1 billion worldwide in just 17 days, making it the fastest PG-rated movie to achieve that milestone. It also became Disney’s highest-grossing film ever, reaching the billion-dollar mark quicker than any other.

Jared Bush, a creative leader at Walt Disney Animation Studios, expressed his excitement about the film’s success, explaining that it’s especially meaningful because people are choosing to see it together in movie theaters.

For the past few years, many in the film industry worried that people had gotten used to waiting to watch movies at home. However, the success of Zootopia 2 at the box office shows that families are still willing to go to theaters for films they really want to see—and sometimes even see them multiple times. This is good news not only for Disney, but also for struggling movie theaters, which are benefiting from the film’s record-breaking performance.

The movie was popular worldwide, not just in America, as huge numbers of people saw it internationally.

The 2025 Billion Dollar Club

According to Deadline, Zootopia 2 earned $333 million in the U.S. and $1.13 billion internationally, with China contributing a significant $563.1 million to that total. However, the film saw a remarkable increase in popularity in China in early January. Surprisingly, after being released for six weeks, Zootopia 2 outperformed the newer film Avatar: Fire and Ash, earning $14.67 million compared to Avatar‘s $11.51 million.

In 2025, only three films earned over a billion dollars worldwide, with Disney responsible for two of them. The third was the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which finished the year with $1.03 billion in earnings. However, Ne Zha 2 from China significantly outperformed all other animated movies, grossing $2.15 billion and becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever.

With no major competing films coming out for a while, Zootopia 2 is expected to continue earning significant revenue both domestically and internationally. Given the film’s ongoing popularity, Disney will almost certainly prioritize making sequels to other well-known and successful franchises that appeal to audiences worldwide.

The Path Ahead

Disney hasn’t officially announced a Zootopia 3, but it’s highly likely. Zootopia 2 is Disney Animation’s biggest box office hit, and the ending strongly suggests more stories are possible. Director Byron Howard has even hinted at a potential Keanu Reeves appearance as a character called “Baba Llama.” Ultimately, the film’s success shows Disney that continuing popular stories in creative ways is a great way to reach audiences worldwide.

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2026-01-04 17:56