Zootopia 2 smashes China's local box office

Disney’s “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 the local box office tally for “Zootopia 2” 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 U.S.-China 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 have only 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.