Zootopia 3 Release Date Just Got A Major Boost, Director Reveals
Fresh off Zootopia 2’s global box-office roar, directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard are already teasing when Part 3 will land, hinting at a release window in a new interview.
Well, that did not take long. With Zootopia 2 tearing it up at the box office, the directors are already talking about Part 3. Nothing official to circle on the calendar yet, but there is a timetable starting to form.
So... when is Zootopia 3?
Directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard did a Q&A with users on Weibo (via Sina) and said they have started mapping out the third movie. Bush explained they are at the very beginning of Disney Animation's typical 5-year production cycle for a feature. Translation: they are in the blue-sky, idea-exploration stage, which he said usually eats up the first 2 to 3 years of that cycle.
Bush also ribbed his co-director for the long road to the sequel, joking that Howard likes to take his time. Howard owned it and promised the gap will not be that brutal this round.
'I do like to take it slow, but 9 years was too long. We promise the next one won't take that long.'
Bush backed that up, saying it will definitely be less than nine years between movies. If the current 5-year plan holds, you are looking at something around 2030. Of course, animation schedules have a way of shifting, but that is the ballpark.
Why the wait this time?
If you like a little behind-the-scenes production math: Disney Animation tends to run these films on a 5-year track. The first 2 to 3 years are pure concept and story exploration, then the back half is when the thing actually gets built. That is where they are now on Zootopia 3 — no plot details yet, just the early creative phase.
Meanwhile, Zootopia 2 is already huge
The sequel has passed the original worldwide. Per Box Office Mojo, Zootopia 2 is sitting at about $1.2 billion globally, ahead of the first movie's lifetime $1 billion. For context: the original hit theaters in 2016, and the sequel arrived nine years later in November 2025. So even if Part 3 does land in 2030, that would still be a shorter break than last time.
Bottom line: Zootopia 3 is happening, it is in the very early idea phase, and if the directors stick to the plan they just laid out, 2030 is a reasonable guess.