Zootopia 2 breaks records in China with $275 million opening

SHANGHAI: Zootopia 2 became the highest-grossing animated foreign film ever in China, despite generally muted interest in overseas movies in the country.

As of Monday morning Beijing time, box office tracker Maoyan showed Zootopia 2’s local box office tally reaching 1.95 billion yuan ($275.6 million) in its first six days of release.

“It is Disney’s most important movie in China this year, for sure,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China digital consultancy Chozan, with its themes of personal resilience and societal harmony resonating with local audiences.

Its runaway success in China—where Zootopia 2 sales accounted for around 95% of all movie ticket sales over its opening weekend – is particularly notable given the changing environment for foreign films in China over the nine years since the first Zootopia film was released. The original Zootopia also became China’s most popular foreign animated film when it was released in 2016.

Hollywood films were caught up earlier this year in the China-U.S. trade war. Beijing curbed the number of U.S. films that were allowed to be shown in China in retaliation for higher tariffs on Chinese goods – a move analysts said would only have a limited impact, given the waning influence of foreign films in China.

Hollywood studios once looked to China, the world’s second-largest film market, to help boost their box office performances. But domestic movies increasingly have outperformed Hollywood fare in China. Earlier this year, local animation “Ne Zha 2” eclipsed Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” to become the world’s highest-grossing animated film of all time after raking in nearly $2 billion at the Chinese box office.

Even so, Disney seemed confident that Zootopia 2 would find a significant audience in China, with Chief Executive Bob Iger travelling to Shanghai for a local premiere a fortnight ago. In addition, Disney partnered with China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS), opens new tab on a Zootopia 2-themed plane.

And the Shanghai Disneyland resort is home to the world’s only Zootopia-themed land, which opened in 2023 to capitalise on local affection for the original film.