Zootopia 2 Axed Its Tribute to the Only Horror Film to Win Best Picture to Keep Younger Viewers
Zootopia 2 directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard revealed they trimmed a fan-pleasing homage after it proved too intense for kids, cutting down a jailhouse sequence where Nick briefly lands behind bars and crosses paths with a locked-up Bellwether.
Disney leaned into some horror love in Zootopia 2, but the directors admit they had to slam the brakes on at least one gag before it freaked out the kids. Yes, we got nods to Hannibal Lecter and The Shining in a family movie. It works, mostly. But there was one homage that nearly swallowed the whole thing.
The Hannibal bit that almost went too far
Jared Bush and Byron Howard told Variety they originally built a full-on Silence of the Lambs homage around Bellwether, who pops up in a jail scene when Nick gets briefly locked up. The plan: stage her like Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, and mirror that first Lecter/Clarice exchange beat for beat.
They went all in at first — the homage was scripted to run around four minutes and even included the guard's specific instructions from the movie.
'All the way down the left, stay to the right.'
And then, as Bush put it: 'That is where we go, and now we have lost our younger audience members.'
They trimmed it down, because, yeah, a word-for-word Lecter scene in a PG world is a choice. Fun trivia note: The Silence of the Lambs is still the only horror movie to win Best Picture, which makes the homage pretty cheeky for a Disney sequel.
Spoilers ahead: the Kubrick homage is not subtle
Major plot spoiler warning for Zootopia 2 below.
Silence of the Lambs wasn’t the only horror wink. During the film's final showdown, the movie takes a very obvious swing at The Shining: there is a sprawling mansion with a massive hedge maze out front, and Pawbert (voiced by Andy Samberg) limps through it in a way that clearly echoes Jack Nicholson's snowy maze chase. It's an intentional, on-the-nose tribute.
Where the horror references came from
Howard and Bush say the idea has been in the film since early drafts. Bush explained they had a version with lynxes as the obvious villains, which naturally led to a grand manor setting and a giant maze in the back — perfect playground for a Kubrick homage. The directors kept the horror nods to give adults something extra to chew on while the kids enjoy the adventure, and based on the movie's success, it seems to have landed.
A quick reality check on the numbers
One thing to flag: there is some conflicting info floating around. The film is said to be 'currently screening in theaters (USA),' yet it is also listed with a release date of November 26, 2025. Those two do not line up. Treat the performance stats below as what's being reported right now, with that caveat in mind.
- Zootopia 2 basics: Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard; starring Ke Huy Quan, Jason Bateman, and Ginnifer Goodwin; produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Release date: November 26, 2025
- IMDb rating: 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
- Worldwide box office (so far): $616 million
- Also includes those Silence of the Lambs and The Shining homages — the latter featuring Pawbert (Andy Samberg) in a maze set-piece
I like a well-placed genre nod, and these are bold ones for a family movie. Did the horror references work for you, or should Disney have kept the Lecter energy locked up?