Here’s Why Zootopia 2 Is Having Historic Box Office Success In China

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The new movie Zootopia 2 has had an incredibly successful opening in China, quickly becoming one of the biggest box office surprises of the year. This is especially notable because other Hollywood films haven’t performed consistently well in China recently. Now that Zootopia 2 is exceeding expectations, both fans and industry professionals are trying to understand what’s driving its record-breaking success.

The animated film Zootopia 2 had a record-breaking opening weekend in China, earning $217.6 million in just three days. This makes it the biggest opening ever for a Hollywood movie in the country, even beating the previous record held by Avengers: Infinity War.

The film earned $271.8 million in its first five days, making it the second-highest opening weekend of all time, behind only Avengers: Endgame. It also grossed more in total than Avatar: The Way of Water did throughout its entire run in China.

The highly-praised sequel rapidly became one of the top ten highest-grossing Hollywood films ever in China, and broke records for the biggest single-day opening of any animated film from a US studio.

The film had a record-breaking opening weekend worldwide, earning $556 million, with $156 million of that coming from the United States. This is the biggest global debut ever for an animated movie and the fourth-highest opening weekend of all time. Experts at TopMob predicted the film would reach $1 billion in earnings, and it’s on track to do so in 2025, becoming only the second film to reach that milestone that year (alongside Lilo & Stitch).

The film’s widespread success is largely thanks to the Chinese box office, which has been changing a lot in recent years. 2025 saw a particularly strong performance there, primarily because the Chinese film Ne Zha 2 earned a record 1.8 billion yuan domestically.

Hollywood films haven’t been performing consistently well in Chinese theaters recently. Even major franchises like Marvel have faced challenges this year: Captain America 4 earned $14.3 million, Thunderbolts brought in $16 million, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps only made $5.5 million.

Even other big Disney films, like Lilo & Stitch, only made $25.2 million in China. Before recently, the most successful Hollywood movie there was Universal’s fourth Jurassic World film, which earned $79 million. However, Zootopia 2 quickly surpassed that amount in just a few days.

Why is Zootopia 2 Having Historic Box Office Success In China?

The new Zootopia movie is doing incredibly well in China, and Ke Huy Quan has joined the cast. This success is due in part to the first Zootopia‘s popularity there back in 2016, when it earned $236 million and gained a dedicated fanbase that continues to grow.

Disney capitalized on this excitement by launching Zootopia: Hot Pursuit at Shanghai Disneyland in 2023, which quickly became the main attraction in the new Zootopia area. They further strengthened this connection in late 2025 with A Day in the Life of Zootopia, a series of animated shorts created in China to generate buzz among local viewers.

This has allowed the series to stay popular with audiences, even though many American movies haven’t been successful in this market lately.

American movies have become much less popular in Chinese theaters during the 2020s. This is largely because China is increasingly focused on promoting its own film industry.

As a result, China’s film industry has grown quickly, something Hollywood leaders worried about. Recent hits like The Battle at Lake Changjin, Hi, Mom, and now Ne Zha 2 have become major box office successes.

I’ve noticed that even with all the new rules and less interest in American movies here, Zootopia is still incredibly popular. It’s amazing how much people love it! Because of that, Zootopia 2 is doing really well, much better than most other Hollywood films are managing to do right now. It seems like that local connection is making all the difference.

Now that Bob Iger is back as Disney’s CEO, how soon will he approve a third sequel? He’s already prioritized Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash as key films for the company’s box office success this year.

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2025-11-30 21:05