Zootopia 2 Eyes the 2025 Box Office Throne—Can It Claim Hollywood’s Crown?
Disney’s Zootopia 2 is stampeding the global box office, roaring past $915.8 million worldwide after just a week and a half in theaters — a turbocharged start that puts the animated sequel on track to be one of the year’s biggest hits.
Disney did not ease Zootopia 2 onto the track. It floored it. Less than two weeks in, the sequel is already steamrolling 2025’s box office race and making some very big movies sweat.
The setup
Quick refresher: Zootopia 2 brings Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde back for another case, with Jared Bush and Byron Howard directing. Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and Ke Huy Quan lead the voice cast. It opened November 26, 2025, and critics and audiences are largely into it — 91% on the Tomatometer, 96% Audience Score, and a 7.7/10 on IMDb.
By the numbers (so far)
- $915.8 million worldwide after about a week and a half in release (per Toonado)
- $556 million global launch across its first five days — the fourth-biggest worldwide debut ever, trailing only Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Spider-Man: No Way Home (per Fortune)
- Already in 2025’s top 10 and has sped past Superman, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- $430 million from China alone, where it is connecting in a huge way — Disney clearly positioned this sequel to resonate with Eastern cultural themes (per Toonado)
- Records flagged so far: biggest global opening ever for an animated movie; fourth-largest worldwide debut overall; strongest Hollywood international opening of 2025
The chase: Ne Zha 2 is the mountain
Zootopia 2 is circling the billion-dollar mark and, at this pace, is the only 2025 release with a real shot at catching the year’s current titan, Ne Zha 2, which sits at $2.01 billion (per The Numbers). Some projections have Zootopia 2 pushing $1.5–$2 billion if it keeps its momentum (per Toonado). That’s a big 'if', but the trajectory is, frankly, wild.
Can it actually take the crown for 2025? Too early to call. If it barrels past $1.5 billion without losing steam, then we’re in genuine dogfight territory. Also looming: James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash. The man has three $2B movies on the board, so yes, that’s real competition. I would not bet the farm against him, but Zootopia 2 is making this a race.
Where things stand
At this point, the sequel isn’t just a hit — it’s one of the fastest climbers of the year and the first non-Ne Zha juggernaut to make the top spot look reachable. The China surge is the swing factor, and if that keeps humming while domestic and other international markets hold, $1.5B becomes less of a stretch and more of a checkpoint.
Zootopia 2 is now playing in theaters in the U.S.