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Zootopia is a 2016 American animated buddy cop comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore and written by Jared Bush and Phil Johnston, the film features the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Shakira. The film follows rookie police officer rabbit Judy Hopps and con artist fox Nick Wilde as they work together to uncover a conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.
Zootopia premiered at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 13, 2016, and was released in the United States on March 4. The film received largely positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, animation, and subject matter. The film opened to record-breaking box office returns in several countries, and grossed over $1billion, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016. Among other accolades, the film was named one of the top-ten films of 2016 by the American Film Institute and won Best Animated Feature at the 89th Academy Awards. A television spin-off series, Zootopia+, premiered in 2022, and a sequel, Zootopia 2, is scheduled for release on November 26, 2025.
Having ascertained that Nick was the last to see Emmitt, Judy Blackmail him into helping her by recording his confession to tax evasion. Tracking a limousine that picked up Emmitt, they learn the vehicle is owned by Mr. Big, an arctic shrew crime boss whom Nick has a history with. Mr. Big explains that Emmitt unexpectedly "went savage" and mindlessly attacked the limousine's chauffeur Renato Manchas, a black jaguar. Judy and Nick question Manchas, who explains that Emmitt yelled about "Night Howlers" before attacking him. Manchas also suddenly turns savage and pursues them. Judy traps Manchas and alerts the ZPD, but Manchas vanishes before backup arrives. Bogo demands Judy's resignation, but Nick reminds him that Judy still has ten hours left to solve the case. He later reveals to her that as a child, he was bullied by his peers due to their prejudiced beliefs about foxes.
At City Hall, Bellwether allows them access to Zootopia's Traffic camera, which reveal Manchas was abducted by timberwolves, whom Judy assumes are the Night Howlers. Following the wolves, Judy and Nick locates Emmitt and the other missing predators, who are all "savage" and imprisoned in an Asylum seeker. Zootopia's mayor, Leodore Lionheart, had ordered the quarantine and is trying to determine what caused their feral behavior. Lionheart and the asylum staff are arrested, and Bellwether becomes the new mayor.
Judy, praised for solving the case, invites Nick to join the ZPD as her partner. At a press conference, she accidentally implies that the predators' physiology caused the savageness epidemic. Disappointed and offended, Nick abandons Judy, whose comments incite fear and discrimination against predators throughout Zootopia. Wracked with guilt, she quits her job and returns to Bunnyburrow.
Later, while managing her parents’ vegetable stand, Judy learns that Night Howlers are actually Midnicampum flowers, which have severe, lasting psychotropic effects if ingested. Realizing that someone is using the flowers to turn predators savage, she returns to Zootopia and reconciles with Nick. Aided by Mr. Big, they interrogate Weaselton, who admits that a ram named Doug hired him to steal the Night Howler bulbs. They find Doug in his laboratory hidden in the subway, where he manufactures a serum from the Night Howlers to use against predators via a tranquilizer dart. Judy and Nick obtain a serum pistol as evidence after a pursuit in the subway, but before they can reach the ZPD, Bellwether confronts them in the Natural History Museum and reveals herself to have masterminded a Supremacism conspiracy. Bellwether traps Judy and Nick in an exhibit, shoots Nick with the serum pistol in an attempt to have Judy killed and orders the ZPD to capture him, but Judy and Nick reveal that they had replaced the darts with blueberries and recorded Bellwether's confession.
Bellwether and her accomplices are arrested, while the still-incarcerated Lionheart publicly disregards her scheme, insisting that imprisoning the infected predators was "doing the wrong thing for the right reason". The predators are cured and rehabilitated, and Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. Months later, Nick graduates from the police academy, becoming Judy's partner and the first fox police officer.
Howard and Bush continued to develop the film with the assistance of the Disney Story Trust, the studio's top creative personnel who meet regularly to review and discuss all projects in development. The most delightful part of the spy film turned out to be its first act, set in a city created by and for animals. To focus on the all-animal city, Howard eventually dropped the 1960s setting, along with the espionage and international aspects, and changed the film into a contemporary police procedural in which Nick Wilde was the lead role and Judy Hopps was essentially his sidekick. For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of the story, but then in November 2014, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed the roles to instead focus on Hopps as opposed to Wilde. The change in perspective involved dropping several characters, including two characters known as "The Gerbil Jerks" who were described as "trust-fund gerbils that had nothing better to do than harass Nick."
Research for the film took place in Disney's Animal Kingdom, as well as in Kenya and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where animators spent eight months studying various animals' walk cycles as well as fur color. Eight hundred thousand forms of mammals were created for and featured in the film. To make the characters' fur even more realistic, they also went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to closely observe the appearance of fur with a microscope under a variety of lighting. The filmmakers drew inspiration for Zootopias urban design from major cities including New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Brasília. To develop a city that could actually be inhabited by talking mammals ranging in size from to and from drastically different climates, the filmmakers consulted Americans with Disabilities Act specialists and HVAC system designers. For assistance with designing motor vehicles appropriate for so many different types and sizes of mammals, the filmmakers consulted with J Mays, former chief creative officer of the Ford Motor Company. During the development process, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn suggested that Nick should expressly state his disappointment ("Just when I thought someone actually believed in me...") after discovering that Judy still fears him as a predator. In March 2015, it was revealed that Rich Moore ( Wreck-It Ralph) had been added as a director of the film, in addition to Jared Bush ( ) as co-director.
Zootopia was the second time Disney used the Hyperion renderer, which they had first used on Big Hero 6. A new fur paradigm was added to the renderer to facilitate the creation of realistic images of the animals' dense fur. Nitro, a real-time display application developed since the making of Wreck-It Ralph, was used to make the fur more consistent, intact, and subtle much more quickly, as opposed to the previous practice of having to predict how the fur would work while making and looking at silhouettes or poses for the character. The tree-and-plant generator Bonsai, first used in Frozen, was used to make numerous variations of trees with very detailed foliage.
Zootopia was produced in makeshift quarters in a giant warehouse in North Hollywood (together with Moana) while Disney Animation's headquarters in Burbank was being renovated.
Commenting on the casting of Goodwin, Moore said that she brought "very centered sweetness, tremendous heart and a great sense of humor"; he described Judy as "a little Pollyanna mixed with Furiosa". Goodwin stated about her character: "People mistake kindness for naïveté or stupidity, and she is a good girl through and through. But she's not a dumb bunny."
In addition, the studio devoted considerable marketing attention to the furry fandom demographic, believing that they would logically be most interested in this film project.
In China, the state's SAPPRFT granted the film a rare two-week extension to play in theaters in addition to its limited 30-day run, which was to have ended on April 3.
On July 20, 2020, it was announced that the film would be returning to theaters in China, along with Big Hero 6 and the Chinese debut of Sonic the Hedgehog on July 31, 2020.
As part of Disney's 100th anniversary, Zootopia was re-released in Helios theaters across Poland on October 22, 2023.
Worldwide, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind Civil War, Rogue One, and Finding Dory), the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2016, the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (second-highest overall) of all time in its original release (after Frozen), the second-highest-grossing original film (behind Avatar), and the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $294.9 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the fifth-most profitable release of 2016.
In its second weekend, it fell gradually by 31% to $51.3 million and recorded one of the best holds for an animated film, more or less on par with Wreck-It Ralphs second weekend drop of 32%, but a bigger drop than The Lego Movies 27%. It continued to top the box office for the third weekend, earning $37.2 million, falling by 28% from its previous weekend while passing the $200 million mark. This made it the second-biggest third weekend for a film that did not open at over $100 million, behind Avatar ($68 million) and ahead of Skyfall ($35 million). The film was overtaken by the superhero film in its fourth weekend, despite only a marginal decline. It spent a total of 13 consecutive weeks in the top ten, more than any other film except for Avatar (14 weeks) and Frozen (16 weeks) over the last decade.
It ended its theatrical run on August 4, 2016, after playing in theaters for a total of 154 days. It became the second-highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film (behind Frozen), the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2016, and the tenth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In June 2020, due the worldwide closure of cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic and limits on which films played, Zootopia returned to 280 theaters—mostly Drive-in theater—and grossed $393,600.
In its opening weekend—which varied between markets—the film grossed $3.1 million in Spain and an additional $1.7 million in Belgium and Denmark. In Belgium, it had the biggest ever animated opening for a Disney or Pixar film. It broke opening records for a non-Pixar Disney animated film in China ($23.6 million), France ($8.1 million), Russia ($7.8 million), Germany ($6.6 million), Hong Kong ($1.5 million), Poland ($1.2 million), and India. It opened in the United Kingdom and Ireland with $7.5 million, Mexico with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.2 million, Brazil with $2.6 million, and in Italy, on a non-holiday weekend with $3.1 million. The film had number-one openings in Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland, with significant competition from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the animated family film Kung Fu Panda 3, the film had a £5.31 million ($7.6 million) opening weekend from 579 theaters, including £1.74 million ($2.5 million) worth of previews, debuting in second place behind Dawn of Justice and falling just short of Walt Disney Animation Studios' best opening in the UK. It fell just 24% in its second weekend.
Zootopias largest markets overseas are China ($235.6 million), followed by Japan ($70.1 million), Russia and the CIS ($39.2 million), Germany ($34.2 million), the UK ($34.2 million), France ($31.9 million), and South Korea ($31.6 million). In China, it is the highest-grossing Disney film in local currency (Chinese yuan1.530 billion), surpassing (¥1.464 billion), as well as the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. In Russia, it is the second-highest-grossing film of all time in local currency (Russian ruble2.3 billion), behind only Avatar (₽3.6 billion). It topped the Russian and German box office for three weekends, and the Chinese and Korean box office for two weekends.
In China, where it was locally known as Crazy Animal City (疯狂动物城), the film exceeded expectations and was considered Hollywood's biggest breakout success in China since 2015's Jurassic World made $229 million. It had an opening day of $3.4 million on its way to $23.6 million for its three-day opening weekend, debuting in second place and scoring the biggest non-sequel animated opening, as well as the second-biggest three-day opening and IMAX opening for an animated film, behind Kung Fu Panda 3. In its ninth day of release (a Saturday), it recorded the biggest single-day gross ever for an animated film, with $25 million (compared to $10.6 million on its first Saturday), and passed the lifetime total of Big Hero 6 to become the highest-grossing Disney animated film in China. In its second weekend, it grossed $60 million, an enormous increase of 139% from its previous weekend, and crossed the $100 million mark to become the third animated film in China to do so, after Kung Fu Panda 3 and . This also marked the single best weekend for an animated film. In mid-March, the combined total of Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia alone broke 2014's record of $286 million in box office grosses for American animated features in China. In its third weekend, it grossed $40 million for a total of $175 million, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China. On March 27, its seventeenth day of release, it passed the $200 million mark, becoming the first animated film, the second Disney film, and the sixth Hollywood film overall to pass that milestone. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2016, behind only The Mermaid.
It opened in Japan on April 23 and earned $4 million in its opening weekend, debuting at second place in the box office, behind , and had the third-biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut in that market, behind Frozen and Big Hero 6. Deadline.com pointed out that the average opening number might have been due to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, which could have affected moviegoers. In a rare achievement, it topped the box office in its third weekend after two weeks at No. 2. In the following two weekends, it continued to increase its ticket sales, and topped the box office there for four consecutive weekends. After four straight wins, it was finally overtaken by the R-rated superhero film Deadpool. It was the No. 1 western/Hollywood film for eight consecutive weekends. The Hollywood Reporter cited that strong word of mouth, audiences watching both the English and Japanese versions, and 3D and 4DX screenings, as well as a popular Japanese version of the "Try Everything" song by Dream Ami, all helped boost Zootopias performance. Its strong run in the market aided the film to propel past the $1 billion mark worldwide. It remained in top three for 11 consecutive weekends and has grossed a total of $70.1 million there.
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times considered the movie "funny, smart, and thought-provoking". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Zootopia "may be the most subversive movie of" 2016, giving the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praising its timely message about the harm of prejudice in the face of the prevailing xenophobic political rhetoric at the time of the film's release, and the film's humor. Peter Debruge at Variety opined that Zootopia "plays directly to the studio's strength". IGN reviewer Eric Goldman gave the film a 9.0 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying " Zootopia is a wonderful example of how Disney, at its best, can mix its past and present together in a very cool, compelling way. It takes the classic animation trope of animals walking, talking, and acting like humans, but gives it a modern spin both in terms of its humor and animation style ... and also in its themes, which are meaningful and fascinatingly topical."
Writing in British Sunday newspaper The Observer, reviewer Mark Kermode:
In the UK daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Robbie Collin noted, "The lion doesn't just lie down with the lamb, they run for City Hall on a joint ticket. It's the diversity dream come true. Or is it? … Think Busytown by way of Chinatown. It's almost certain to be the most existentially probing talking animal cartoon of the year." Collin added, "Like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs., albeit considerably cuter, Judy and Nick make a hilariously strained but effective double act – not least thanks to Goodwin and Bateman's tremendous vocal work, which trips along with the effortless swing and snap of great bebop."
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com, despite generally liking the film (three out of four stars), had trouble with the film's central metaphor that conflicted with its message:
Also in The Daily Telegraph, Rosa Prince singled out the film's lead character, Judy Hopps, as a welcome change for Disney animated feature film heroines, such as the Disney Princess franchise. She found that unlike those characters' focus on romance or family loyalty, Hopps' focus is on her dream career as a police officer and serving her city.
Some were critically divided of the message about universal prejudices of all sorts interpreted as an allegory of American racism. Nico Lang of Consequence of Sound felt that Disney delivered a kids' version of Crash. Others criticized the use of prey and predator species in the "allegory" while critics at The Root stated positively that the movie acknowledges culpability of systemic racism and white supremacy. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that the film "uses its premise to examine cultural biases, stereotypes and prejudices, including conveying a strong anti-racist message. It avoids the species A = race Y trap; though the viewer needs to accept that, in this context, animal behaviour is being treated as a stereotype."
In May 2018, it was announced that a Zootopia graphic novel was set to be published by Dark Horse Comics. The graphic novel, titled Disney Zootopia: Friends to the Rescue, was written by Jimmy Gownley, with art by Leandro Ricardo da Silva. It was released on September 25, 2018.
On September 9, 2023, it was announced at Destination D23 that the It's Tough to Be a Bug! attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida would be replaced by a Zootopia show in the Tree of Life theater. The show was revealed to be titled Zootopia: Better Zoogether! in 2024, at the Disney Experiences showcase at D23, with a premiere of late 2025. The attraction is scheduled to open on November 7, 2025.
Among the episodes include an action parody starring Bonnie and Stu Hopps, a musical starring Duke Weaselton, a Real Housewives spoof with Fru-Fru, a film noir parody with Mr. Big, a dance competition parody with Clawhauser, Bogo, and Gazelle, and a romantic comedy parody with Flash and Priscilla. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde cameo in the action parody and make other appearances throughout. All the cast members from the movie reprised their roles. The music is composed by Curtis Strong and Mick Giacchino (Michael's son), with Michael scoring the "Duke the Musical" episode with lyrics by Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel ( Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Central Park).
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