New Disney Smash Breaks an Avengers: Endgame Box Office Record — and It’s Not Avatar 3
Zootopia 2 just knocked Avengers: Endgame off the throne in China, becoming the country’s top-grossing Hollywood release of all time. The sequel’s record-smashing run keeps rewriting the box office playbook.
Zootopia 2 just pulled off a wild one in China: it slipped past Avengers: Endgame to become the country’s top-grossing Hollywood release ever. Yep, the animated sequel outpaced Marvel’s final boss. Here’s how it happened and why it matters.
What happened in China
After 61 days in Chinese theaters, Zootopia 2 has banked $632.2 million there, nudging past Endgame’s long-standing $632.1 million haul. That push came after nine straight weeks of strong play, which is rare staying power for any import, let alone an animated sequel.
By the numbers
- China: $632.2 million after 61 days (now the highest-grossing Hollywood release ever in the market), topping Avengers: Endgame’s $632.1 million
- Worldwide total: about $1.744 billion
- North America: $401 million
- Note on China totals: earlier counts had China at $624.6 million; updated reporting puts it at $632.2 million as it kept climbing
Why it clicked
Disney did not just dump a global version and hope for the best. According to Disney Animation chief creative officer Jared Bush, they worked with regional teams to adjust jokes and language so the movie would actually hit locally. That extra effort is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes tinkering that can add up in territories like China.
"We’re so lucky that we have collaborators worldwide that could not just translate our jokes and the story, but actually tailor it to the audiences. And so you’ll get a wholesale different pun in different parts of the world that will work for that audience"
The movie itself
Critics and audiences are into it: Zootopia 2 sits at 91% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 96% with audiences. The story sends Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde after a thorny new case kicked off by a mysterious reptile who shows up in the city and throws everything off balance. It is a bigger, weirder case file, and clearly the crowd is here for it.
The bigger picture
With China now one of the film’s biggest contributors and a global haul north of $1.7 billion, Zootopia 2 is already in the conversation as one of Disney’s most successful animated releases ever. Beating Endgame’s China record is just the cherry on top — and not the one many of us would have predicted.